Elliott Smith "Son of Sam" Harmonic Analysis

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2025

ความคิดเห็น • 42

  • @kaarelkilk6022
    @kaarelkilk6022 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +17

    Based on previous content, I knew I could give a thumbs up before even watching it.

  • @lvrinvn3080
    @lvrinvn3080 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    man, please please please don't ever stop making these Elliott analyses! this is such high quality content and i appreciate it immensely!
    (yes, i think you're ready for that dog)

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Thank you for the encouragement! (in both departments )

  • @Lydian7lc
    @Lydian7lc 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Amazing video dude, Elliott's songwriting sophistication was unreal.

  • @stefanpredoi4564
    @stefanpredoi4564 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I think that "misdirection" is a core part of what makes this song work. The odd bar structure makes this song quite unpredictable. I hear this kind of thing quite a lot in music from the late 90s and early 00s indie scene where it felt like most of the obvious metric possibilities had been used up. What it means in the context of the song, I'm not entirely sure, but it could tie into the whole lyrical idea of being compelled by a higher power, maybe one which is pushing Elliott's songwriting into uncomfortable territory, or maybe he is wrestling for control over his own life and it's reflected by the refusal to follow a standard 4-bar structure? I can't be sure but I can tell it's brilliant.

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Love that. Thank you for offering your thoughts and contributing to the discussion.

  • @AprilBaum
    @AprilBaum หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Love this video! excitedly awaiting more ES videos is the future!

  • @fishylogic222
    @fishylogic222 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Excellent as always. Would love a whole video dedicated to jazz composers playing with the blues form, that was fascinating!

  • @fruppy
    @fruppy 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I just picked up the piano a few weeks ago and I can understand some of this theory but a lot of it is way out of reach currently but I can tell this is a great video still

  • @davidburnettmusic
    @davidburnettmusic 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

    this is one of the coolest videos i've seen in a long time on yt, thanks for putting in so much time and effort to make it. i learned some things! son of sam is one of my favorites, and it was really cool to take a look under the hood and see what makes it tick. i think a "jazzier" "espac" might be a #4-7b5 4min6 I, which is a sequence I like a lot.

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      Oh you did both HW 1 and 2 in one answer eh?? So like in key of C:
      f#halfdim7 f-6 C ?
      That's nice. Hey thanks so much for writing!

  • @woah117
    @woah117 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Honestly such incredible lessons, and on piano too (every time I try to learn an Elliott song on piano I take one look at the chords with all the add/7/9s etc and just give up)

  • @riordanskt
    @riordanskt 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Thanks a lot for this man! I'm trying to decipher/study "Figure 8" and it's difficult. This one came in the most appropriate time. Elliott is the best, the more harmonic analysis videos of his music, the better! Congrats!

  • @greattree
    @greattree 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I've always wanted to be able (if not define) at least put some words or a magnifying glass to those special flavors that these truly unique voices in indie/underground music create. Say, Bjork's note choice melodies or Omar Rodriquez-Lopez's labyrinthian way of writing riffs in ATDI/Mars Volta. Elliott Smith is another. I know these songs inside and out and have attempted to learn many of them (at least a simplified version of them). Just hearing the chord progression played out in stark open whole notes, welled up tears in my eyes. So freaking gorgeous. Glad I've been studying enough to get a bit out of the music theory side of this too. Wonderful. Sometimes the internet is a lovely place.

  • @ceticobr
    @ceticobr 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I love these videos. I am guaranteed to learn something interesting while getting to know artists I was not familiar with. Keep it up.

  • @felixtkm
    @felixtkm 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    i love this and all your theory analysis vids

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Thanks, you are so kind!

  • @frullmusic
    @frullmusic 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

    These videos are a huge blessing, and you are really good at not only the analysis itself but also explaining things concisely so even someone like myself (whose theory is pretty shaky) can understand. The bit about the variable area using how jazz musicians shake up the 12 bar blues as an example was especially clear and useful!

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  29 วันที่ผ่านมา +1

      Thank you kindly for writing! And really glad that they are helpful.

    • @frullmusic
      @frullmusic 29 วันที่ผ่านมา

      @addyd.3140 No problem! Thank you for all the videos!

  • @iDeathh
    @iDeathh หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    i love your videos thank you for making them! they’re super informative and enjoyable. thank you!

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  หลายเดือนก่อน

      Thanks for sayin' that!

  • @sowososmooth
    @sowososmooth 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    ya love to see it

  • @jsullivan2112
    @jsullivan2112 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    That was amazing.

  • @My_whole_life123
    @My_whole_life123 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Awesome content. Thank you!

  • @waynebeam
    @waynebeam 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Amazing. I love these videos so much. Thank you!

  • @Tuckermoore
    @Tuckermoore 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    heyo Addy, always love an Elliott analysis from ya. would you wanna work through one of your songs as a video? Sea Creature is one of my favorites!

    • @Tuckermoore
      @Tuckermoore 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      also im watchin the new judee sill doc rn. great so far!

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Haha! You're very kind, I'd love to I don't think anyone would watch it though!

  • @montigol
    @montigol 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    10/10

  • @oliviapalmer8042
    @oliviapalmer8042 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Could you do Independence Day by Elliott?

  • @treeishtrees449
    @treeishtrees449 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    i love addy d

  • @grimsontube
    @grimsontube 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    You have to ask yourself - what is the love from a dog really a substitution for?

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Yikes...hmm. Love from a god?

  • @Khayyam-vg9fw
    @Khayyam-vg9fw 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Some David Ackles analyses would be good, especially of the ballads (e.g. "Love's Enough", "Another One Night Stand", "Waiting For The Moving Van", "I've Been Loved", "One Good Woman's Man"), which often feature interesting piano playing and instrumental arrangements.

  • @HermitTheFraud
    @HermitTheFraud 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What a joy to listen to! I went through so many similar thought processes when I was making a cover of this song. I'd love it if you'd check it out and let me know what you think. The video just shows me lip syncing while playing an acoustic guitar, but the audio is a track by track recreation of the song.

  • @alex-jt8yh
    @alex-jt8yh 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Pls do everything means nothing to me

  • @levigonzalez2498
    @levigonzalez2498 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    the funny thing is Elliott didn't think in these terms. He knew his chord names (kinda) but that was about it
    great video nonetheless

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Thanks for writing! I did not intend to imply anything about his mode of thinking while composing, simply to describe the musical patterns in the most objective way possible. Which is admittedly a difficult task! being that our terms for harmonic analysis are still centered around baroque music, and modern day analysis is undergoing a certain identity crisis IMO. Functions have totally altered, yet we feel the baggage of 100s of years of tradition/language.. This way or that way of thinking is not "right" or "wrong" and it's all very personal. I'll stop myself, ...Interesting stuff, be well!

    • @levigonzalez2498
      @levigonzalez2498 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@addyd.3140 Oh for sure! I'm not implying you did and not implying that it's a bad thing!
      Just pointing out that it's ironic that Elliotts level of theory was not highly advanced and yet he made these masterpieces!

    • @addyd.3140
      @addyd.3140  3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@levigonzalez2498 I gotchu! I would just put in for consideration that his "language" of theory was maybe not very advanced, (as you say, didn't use these terms/names) but in "practice," his arsenal of tools and tricks was very advanced. And he knew what he was doing. Much more valuable than reciting textbooks if you ask me! I guess all I'm trying to say is that all songwriters use music theory (no matter what they say), and knowing the agreed-upon terms is just the next layer of language/communication. And totally less cool than writing masterpieces, if you had to choose one or the other, lol.

    • @levigonzalez2498
      @levigonzalez2498 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @addyd.3140 great points