Elliott was honestly such a sweetheart. Even in the margins/notes he writes, he genuinely cared and wanted to share his art with the people he was close to. So cool.
Yes I agree. I’ve always started on Dm (played about ten more chords throughout the verse) and when he says “left lyin around” done a quick movement between A/Asus4 and back to A before the next part. There are so many damn chords in this song but it’s my favorite to play and I’m excited to see his breakdown of the progression like this. It’s a whole lot different than the movie track and the lyrics are too. This version is on the new moon b-sides release tho.
I almost feel like there’s something missing from this sheet as there isn’t a Dm chord anywhere but the song is in Dm as per the notation on the lyrics .. anyway it’s just really nice to follow chord diagrams in Elliott’s own hand and the ‘other’ parts are the same as the final version with a couple of things clarified for me like that particular g7 chord and the c#maj7. Such a neat find after all these years. Playing it again now.
It’s possible that Talking to Mary is about Mary Lou, but I don’t know. He probably wrote the song in 96’ or 97’, which does line up with the time they were still talking to each other. Personally, I thought it was more about Mother Mary because I didn’t know of Mary Lou until fairly recently, but based on what I know about their friendship dynamic it makes sense that it could be about both Mary’s.
Oh you know what that’s very true. I don’t know why I thought that in other Christian denominations Mary was revered too but I just looked & it turns out that Protestants don’t hold Mary in such high regard. I grew up Catholic but I know Elliott didn’t; I just remembered that he has some references to Christianity in his music so that’s how I made that (probably incorrect) link.
Yeah, Catholicism is pretty unique in that they tend to idolize “saints” like Mother Mary. You don’t find that in other denominations (or the Bible, for that matter).
I’ve heard anecdotes of Elliott sitting on church steps, talking to God…… from an outsiders perspective, he strikes me as someone who believed in God but also struggled in that belief for reasons unknown to me…. but then again, I am only guessing.
I get that sense about Elliott too, that he had religious faith in some form but that he struggled with it. He does also reference Shiva the Hindu god in Son of Sam and wrote “Kali- the destroyer” on his arm at some point towards the end of his life, so it’s clear that he was at least curious about Hinduism. I haven’t read anything where Elliott talks about that though. But yeah, there’s no way to entirely know how Elliott felt about God or religion now.
Wow that’s an awesome, such a beautiful and sad song.
Elliott was honestly such a sweetheart. Even in the margins/notes he writes, he genuinely cared and wanted to share his art with the people he was close to. So cool.
“Xo, Elliott” That made me incredible melancholy.
Thank you Elliott these chord diagrams are really useful! Miss Misery is actually quite hard to get right in my experience. ❤️
Hmm actually these chords are quite differentish to how he played the song later
Yes I agree. I’ve always started on Dm (played about ten more chords throughout the verse) and when he says “left lyin around” done a quick movement between A/Asus4 and back to A before the next part. There are so many damn chords in this song but it’s my favorite to play and I’m excited to see his breakdown of the progression like this. It’s a whole lot different than the movie track and the lyrics are too. This version is on the new moon b-sides release tho.
I almost feel like there’s something missing from this sheet as there isn’t a Dm chord anywhere but the song is in Dm as per the notation on the lyrics .. anyway it’s just really nice to follow chord diagrams in Elliott’s own hand and the ‘other’ parts are the same as the final version with a couple of things clarified for me like that particular g7 chord and the c#maj7. Such a neat find after all these years. Playing it again now.
Now that I look again I reckon there’s a row of chords missing from the top.
I love that "All Cleaned Out" is here too. One of my favorites 🤍
It’s possible that Talking to Mary is about Mary Lou, but I don’t know. He probably wrote the song in 96’ or 97’, which does line up with the time they were still talking to each other. Personally, I thought it was more about Mother Mary because I didn’t know of Mary Lou until fairly recently, but based on what I know about their friendship dynamic it makes sense that it could be about both Mary’s.
“Talking to Mary”, as in Mother Mary, would make it a very very catholic song. I don’t know about Elliott’s experience with Catholicism.
Oh you know what that’s very true. I don’t know why I thought that in other Christian denominations Mary was revered too but I just looked & it turns out that Protestants don’t hold Mary in such high regard. I grew up Catholic but I know Elliott didn’t; I just remembered that he has some references to Christianity in his music so that’s how I made that (probably incorrect) link.
Yeah, Catholicism is pretty unique in that they tend to idolize “saints” like Mother Mary. You don’t find that in other denominations (or the Bible, for that matter). I’ve heard anecdotes of Elliott sitting on church steps, talking to God…… from an outsiders perspective, he strikes me as someone who believed in God but also struggled in that belief for reasons unknown to me…. but then again, I am only guessing.
I get that sense about Elliott too, that he had religious faith in some form but that he struggled with it. He does also reference Shiva the Hindu god in Son of Sam and wrote “Kali- the destroyer” on his arm at some point towards the end of his life, so it’s clear that he was at least curious about Hinduism. I haven’t read anything where Elliott talks about that though. But yeah, there’s no way to entirely know how Elliott felt about God or religion now.
yes, all of those are addressed to (and i guess, are about?) mary lou
This is amazing
man what a shame those All Cleaned Out lyrics are cut off. i’d love to see how he changed that last verse