Songwriter Spotlight: Michael Peter Smith
"He really understood the communication required in a song. " -- James Lee Stanley
I’ve been surprised how often I’m tempted to recommend Michael Smith songs when discussing music on Notes. I think highly of him, and appreciate many of his songs, but I wouldn’t have expected that he would stand out in my mind quite as much as they do.
I think one reason for that is the impressive specificity of his writing. If I’m thinking about songs on a topic, his songs come to mind because they are so much about something. I’ll discuss three songs, pick a section to talk about. The title of each links to the lyrics and I’ll repeat the full lyrics at the bottom.
The first song of his that delighted me was “The Ballad Of Elizabeth Dark”, about an old crush, and about all of the changes in his life since then:
The second verse captures the wry nostalgia of the song:
This was back in the days
Of the folk music craze
Lenny & poetry & jazz
Cats & chicks snappin’ their fingers
To Lord Buckley doing The Nazz
Kierkegaard Ginsberg
Sartre & free love
Parties to cover the rent
We all wanted to be existentialists
None of us knew what the hell it meant
First, the rhyme of “jazz” and “Nazz” would feel too clever except that I believe he’s writing from his experience. I also appreciate the way it moves from the general trappings of scene — what would be visible from the outside — to the rueful personal note of the last nice.
From the same album, “Gamble’s Guitar”; his tribute to the songwriter Gamble Rogers is memorable (a while later I read Jimmy Buffet’s notes , which, comparatively, made no particular impression).
The whole song is full of great writing, but the repeated image of being on the beach, and hearing the memory of Gamble’s playing is powerful, and phrased slightly differently each time it repeats.
[end of first verse]
I was listening to the waves roll in
Humming a tune from I don't know when
Thinking about times that won't come again
And I thought I heard Gamble's guitar
[second half of chorus]
Shot of Merle, jigger of Chet
Little bit of Will McLean I bet
Only the wind in the palms and yet
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar
[end of final verse]
Riding south past Manatee
Heading down to the Florida Keys
Getting things straight between Jesus and me
And I thought I heard Gamble's guitar
I want to sleep beside the sea tonight
Hear the crash of waves, see the tops all white
I want to be grateful for what's gone right
I want to wish upon a star
God bless old friends that have gone before
Bless old banjos and old country stores
Bless old Florida forevermore
And God bless Gamble's guitar
Finally, a different tribute, “I Brought My Father With Me” about the continuity between his father and him (the live performance below opens with a memory of his father’s dry response to Michael’s teenage obsessions:
The final verse is touching and encapsulates the entire song — I particularly appreciate the way in which the image of seeing himself in the mirror, and remembering his father sits carries the emotional weight of the opening and final lines.:
There are some ways I'm just like him
Some ways he was just like me
And sometimes when the mirror's dim
His face is clear to see
Tonight the winds of heaven
Blow the stars across the sky
I brought my father with me
I couldn't say goodbye
Ballad of Elizabeth Dark
Let me sing you the ballad of Elizabeth Dark
I been workin on it since the time
We hung out at this coffeehouse
In Rogers Park
Like two kids at a five & dime
She would read Dostoevsky
By the yellow moon
That hung like an orange in the tree
While I worked on the words
To the mystery tune
Of Elizabeth Dark & meThis was back in the days
Of the folk music craze
Lenny & poetry & jazz
Cats & chicks snappin their fingers
To Lord Buckley doing The Nazz
Kierkegaard Ginsberg
Sartre & free love
Parties to cover the rent
We all wanted to be existentialists
None of us knew what the hell it meantNow I take the El to Loyola
And I walk along the Sheridan sand
Where the waves are breakin over the jetty
Where the wind is like an icy hand
Fyodor says that the criminal
Always returns to the scene of the crime
Maybe I'll see Elizabeth D one more time.Her hair was long and flowin
A river of zen down her back
We had spaghetti with Ferlinghetti
And wine with Jack Kerouac
Things were real cool
One day I came home from school
And Elizabeth Dark wasn't there
No river of raven zen hair
No Dark at the top of the stairsNow I take the El to Loyola...
Sometimes I get out my old bongos
Reminisce about makin the scene
Read my tarot
Tell my fortune from grounds
In a beat up espresso machine
I'm a beatnik lost in the future
Like a Model T Ford out in space
Still as in love with Elizabeth Dark
As the first time I saw her faceNow I take the El to Loyola...
Gamble's Guitar
Down in St. Augustine F-L-A
I was walking along the beach one day
Sun beating down like a steel drum plays
So bright that you couldn't see far
I was listening to the waves roll in
Humming a tune from I don't know when
Thinking about times that won't come again
And I thought I heard Gamble's guitarI had a book and a joint and some chunks of bread
For the seagulls wheeling above my head
Elmore Leonard and Panama Red
And the music from a distant bar
I was thinking about a real good friend
Feeling kind of sorry for myself just then
And a whole lot older than I'd ever been
And I thought I heard Gamble's guitarWhole lot of country, whole lot of blues
Whole lot of sunshine, sand in your shoes
Sound of a player who paid his dues
Put some miles on that Mustang car
Shot of Merle, jigger of Chet
Little bit of Will McLean I bet
Only the wind in the palms and yet
I thought I heard Gamble's guitarIt sang of the snakes and swamps and the vines
Sang of the cypress and the phosphate mines
Nights up late in the whispering pines
Watching for a shooting star
Stony roads and fishing poles
Afternoons at the swimming hole
A mouthbow played by a Seminole
I thought I heard Gamble's guitar
In the old boys picking 'round the front porch stove
Digging for treasure in a pirate's cove
In a coffeehouse down in Coconut Grove
Doesn't matter where you are
Behind Spanish walls in Winter Park
In the smell of jasmine in the dark
Running a speed trap outside Starke
I thought I heard Gamble's guitarWhole lot of country...
Where the sea breeze blows but there's still the heat
With a sunburned nose and sandspurs in my feet
At my high school sweetheart's in old St. Pete
And her husband's saying "Have a cigar"
Riding south past Manatee
Heading down to the Florida Keys
Getting things straight between Jesus and me
And I thought I heard Gamble's guitar
I want to sleep beside the sea tonight
Hear the crash of waves, see the tops all white
I want to be grateful for what's gone right
I want to wish upon a star
God bless old friends that have gone before
Bless old banjos and old country stores
Bless old Florida forevermore
And God bless Gamble's guitarWhole lot of country...
God bless Gamble's guitar
I Brought My Father With Me
I brought my father with me
I hope that you don't mind
I couldn't find it in me
To make him stay behind
Tonight the snow has fallen
The trees are white and old
Their heavy branches bending
Can we come in from the cold?I brought my father with me
Though it's been many years
Since he'd go down to Dolan's
For a shot and a couple of beers
When he'd take me with him
And he'd buy me a coke
It surely made my day
Now I take my father with me
Turnabout's fair playCar trips to Pennsylvania
When all of us would sing
He sang Bells Of Saint Mary's
And he sounded just like Bing
Summer days down at the shore
Remembering how he
Would bless himself with foam before
He'd dive into the seaThere are some ways I'm just like him
Some ways he was just like me
And sometimes when the mirror's dim
His face is clear to see
Tonight the winds of heaven
Blow the stars across the sky
I brought my father with me
I couldn't say goodbye