Status

Elliott Smith Song

Written By

Elliott Smith

Recording Sessions

January - February 1995 (Uppinghouse Residence, Portland, OR - Self-Titled session)
May 15, 1998 (KUGS-FM Studios, Bellingham, WA - KUGS-FM) - unofficially circulating

Availability of Official Release

Self Titled
Live at Largo (not a studio recording, soundboard recording of a live performance on 4/11/98 at Largo in Los Angeles, CA)

Lyrics

They’re waking you up to close the bar
The street’s wet you can tell by the sound of the cars
The bartender’s singing Clementine
While he’s turning around the open sign
Dreadful sorry Clementine

Though you’re still her man
It seems a long time gone
Maybe the whole thing’s wrong
What if she thinks so but just didn’t say so?

You drank yourself into slo-mo
Made an angel in the snow
Anything to pass the time
And keep that song out of your mind
Oh my darling
Oh my darling
Oh my darling Clementine
Dreadful sorry Clementine

First known live performance

1995-03-08 (Club Congo, Tempe, AZ, USA)

Notes

References the song “Oh My Darling, Clementine”, an American western folk ballad usually credited to Percy Montrose (1884) even though it’s sometimes credited to Barker Bradford; one of many song references in Elliott’s work.

Audio

Self-Titled version

Live electric version, performed on November 10, 2000 in Portland, OR