Elliott Smith - Condor Ave ( 1996 in Arizona)

[@ashore]

Incredibly original, emotional, and sincere. My favorite song by Elliott Smith.

[@davidboguzes9576]

person Me too. Perfect song

[@lowfi1980]

Definitely

[@naotemnada7586]

Same here since i was 14

[@freesolja1]

I've probably heard this song 1000 times over the years but it still feels fresh

[@jumbom5519]

Perhaps the greatest song ever made in my opinion.

[@gordononkyo2713]

Yes, it's shockingly perfect. Maybe you check out too Evan Dando's version of 'Lovely New York'

[@strangeclimate411]

his voice makes my heart feel like its been set alight. he's incredible

[@lynni3nyc863]

This genius breaks my heart.

[@Barren636]

One of the most underrated guitarists of all time as far as i'm concerned.

[@towersofmidnight]

QFT

[@towersofmidnight]

well said Vamphaery, I concur. I play guitar and Elliotts songs are easily some of the most difficult to learn. Partly due to him multitracking his guitar and also due to his intricate chord progressions and fingerpicking style

[@frankiesayspanic]

Rolling Stone agrees!

[@native3218]

I KNOW THATS RIGHT.

[@mglenwright09]

like a fucking boss. one of those songs that just whisks you away...

[@Devilslittleimp]

I love this song, I love Elliott, its so sad that he passed away, I just started listening to him about a month ago, and I will never go back. His music is beautiful and helps me so much with all my problems. XO Elliott

[@janekelly7252]

Happy birthday Elliott. You’ve changed and saved my life in ways you could’ve never imagined. You’re impact will never be forgotten, and i’ll make sure of that. Thank you.

[@AaronAtkinsHonorableChairman]

He wrote this when he was only 17 years old

[@skyfox490]

In 1986?

[@howlongs2416]

Yeah, according to his response to a request to play it at a 1997 Crocodile Cafe concert in Seattle- he stated that the song was written 11 years ago. It was originally a Murder of Crows song.

[@ArkadianDream]

Whenever I listen to this I can't help but think about it and I just. Fuck, wow.

[@thomasoluic1832]

Humility and painful honesty is the source of beautiful art at any age..once in a while we have such a painfully honest, eccentric, shy man or woman of great emotional intensity, who from within continue to blow our minds.. Never firgey

[@toastycabbagewaffles2115]

well to be fair he didn't write any of the lyrics. they were done by his friend.

[@sexyhorrorbubblebath]

wow, saw him play so many times and never once did he play this song. always wanted him to. glad i can finally see it, even if i wasn't there.

[@lowfi1980]

God bless whoever recorded this

[@alexvilanovab]

"That's the one thing that *I* can never do" holy shit...

[@DaveAmico]

I stumbled into the POINT in Atlanta circa. 1997 and saw an amazing Elliott Smith play extremely well... I love this music.

[@songsthatarecatchy]

The chimes fell over each other I fell into my knees... the sound of the car driving off made me feel diseased..

[@imJakey0]

how does he sound all the notes so well while strumming instead of finger-picking. wtf.

[@anodynic749]

Jake Anderson I would also like to know this. Seriously it's bee. Driving me crazy

[@maturtlelaza]

Lol me too. I’m glad I saw this so I don’t feel alone. The same goes for the introduction to angeles when he is strumming but somehow still eccentuates the riff.

[@itsgonnbeok7249]

@@maturtlelaza He's muting the other strings so they don't ring out

[@jaq8604]

@@itsgonnbeok7249 Amen. It takes a lot of practice

[@maturtlelaza]

@@itsgonnbeok7249 So I figured out angeles, you dont actually have to mute any strings. you just strum the G,B and e strings open in between the riff notes on the D string.

[@globelamp]

fucking brilliant…..a haunting song

[@TheAcondragoLamina]

music coming from the veins, heart, stomach .... thanks eliiott

[@fabiomandol]

MY GOOD WHAT A MUSICIAN!!!!

[@gtrob1]

Man i feel like i've been hiding under a rock for the past 15 years. Just discovered Elliott thru a friend from portland. Friggin amazing!

[@ijemand5672]

Just discovered him this year

[@gtrob1]

@@ijemand5672 hell yeah! Dude has a decent sized catalog of great music. Never too late to find good music!

[@patrickcline5944]

How can there not be 10 Million views of this?

[@fabiomandol]

sorry for this second message but i think there's only few people that could teach "how to play guitar" an one of those is this GENIUS

[@spurriousgod]

this song is unreal. elliott at his best - great video!

[@avivabetzer5932]

so heart-wrenching! he's seems so emaciated and so tormented inside and he could never talk to anyone and pour our what's inside of his mind and heart

[@strangeclimate411]

just because we didn't know much about how he truly felt outside of interviews which are often not truthful, that doesn't mean that he didn't speak to anybody... he had plenty of friends that he could (and did) confide in...

[@motleycruee420]

This song has really sad lyrics. Then again, so does every other Smith song. Love it!

[@eloiseripley]

She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue And she locked the car and slipped past into rhythmic quietude Lights burning, voice dry and hoarse I threw the screen door like a bastard back and forth The chimes fell over each other, I fell onto my knees The sound of the car driving off made me feel diseased A sick shouting like you hear at the fairground Now I'm picking up to put away anything of yours that's still around I don't know what to do with your clothes or your letters It'll make a whisper out of you She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue The fairground's lit, a drunk man sits by the gate she's driving through Got his hat tipped bottle back in between his teeth Looks like he's buried in the sand at the beach I can't think about you driving off to leave barely awake To take a little nap while the road is straight I wish that car had never been discovered They took away the bottle and the hat he was under That's the one thing that he could never do And it'll make a whisper out of you She took the Oldsmobile out past Condor Avenue Cops were running around the scene looking for some kind of clue They never get uptight when a moth gets crushed Unless a light bulb really loved him very much I'm lying down, blowing smoke from my cigarette Little whisper smoke signs that you'll never get You're in your Oldsmobile driving by the moon Headlights burning bright ahead of you And someone's burning out, out on Condor Avenue Trying to make a whisper out of you What a shitty thing to say, did you really mean it? You never said a word to me about what passed between us So now I'm leaving you alone You can do whatever the hell you want to Na, na-na-na-na-na

[@alex-cooper]

love this song. love elliott. everything he's done is great.

[@lucianaramoslira9851]

Uff, qué maravilla... conmovedor

[@pressureofdays]

Eight years gone. Thanks for everything.

[@massimilianodigiacinto7932]

This was posted exactly 8 years ago and this blows my mind

[@ryanperrey]

This is the best sound quality and performance i've seen of any of his live videos. Rad.

[@Mike-id9ml]

Ryan Perrey this is a good one too m.kzbin.info/www/bejne/aobRm4dve9h5aKM

[@andrewptob]

You got a lot of great music to dicover for the first time, gtrob1. Nothing's better than that!

[@alamedaxo]

i see where you're coming from and i can definitely agree with that sentiment but this is more fitting..he was a humble and modest genius, makes him that much more likeable =]

[@Wackassrobots]

Thanks for uploading this

[@TheMonolake]

Thx so much fo sharing this.

[@99centstore]

There's a Condor Ave in Portland, Oregon which is where Elliott lived out a good portion of his life. I'm assuming that's the one he's referencing.

[@khurzog7125]

no fairgrounds near by though, unless you count oaks park, which still isn't really close

[@strangeclimate411]

@@khurzog7125 he said that a lot of his songs aren't complete stories so it's highly likely that this song is also one of them

[@AyakiKay-kj8gm]

Thank you 🎉

[@mikefenn00]

ahhh mymaya my hero i haven't seen this video on youtube in forever and had a bit of trouble finding it tytyty

[@Sergio0Oo]

so honest and pure...just a guitar, an amp thank you elliott

[@williambakhache2487]

I love you for posting this.

[@chootleleg]

As good as the beatles, Sometimes better :)

[@ratboysgirl1013]

I would have totally purchased that amp afterwards... ♥ Elliott.

[@crawlingamongthestars3736]

They never get uptight when a moth gets crushed, unless a light bulb really loved him very much...

[@MichaelDooleyProject]

i love this. great song.

[@jomosamify]

this is a fun song to play but also very difficult to sing while playing. southern belle is way harder than this to sing and play. tough to emulate something as creative as this and impossible to recreate. thats why we need to create a new generation of creative songs.

[@natelivingstonn]

jomosamify I can play southern belle on guitar but never tried singing it. It’s really as hard as people say?

[@jumbom5519]

I've found the most important thing is getting your breathing correct, because there's so many words

[@randyhendrickson4735]

Just amazing.

[@revalone3944]

deceptively complicated guitar riff

[@spurriousgod]

amazing lyrics. "got his hat tipped bottle back in between his teeth looks like he's buried in the sand at the beach"

[@JCMELKOR]

that amp did just fine

[@khurzog7125]

I've been listening to this song obsessively lately (go quarantine!) and there's two parts that I think every lyric site has wrong, so I am looking for second opinions. First one - "Bless the light bulb" - instead of - "Unless a light bulb" - since the analogy is about a moth I feel he is taking it one step further and this would be like saying "Bless God" for moths. It's awkward wording either way, but I like how it would add an extra layer of imagination if true. Secondly - "Someone's burnt the hell out on Condor Avenue" - instead of - "And someone's burning out, out on Condor Avenue" - I have never been able to audibly distinguish the leading "and" or the second "out" and (assuming I'm right) that extra inflection in his voice on "hell out" makes it my second favorite line in the song (after the rhyme of "discovered" and "under"). I, of course, make these assessments with no knowledge whatsoever of the origin of the commonly accepted lyrics. I don't even have a copy of Roman Candle so they could be straight from the liner notes for all I know. With that said, if they in some way had Elliott's stamp of approval, then I totally eat my words. Oh, and lastly, this comment is about the song in general and not at all regarding the live recording posted here.

[@MountainStreamLives]

Unbridled genius.

[@whitestripebuzz]

ps. this song is a true Elliott masterpiece.

[@whitestripebuzz]

Elliott shouldn't have had to sit on an amp, it should have been a throne. Imagine that sight.

[@shakemeshakeme]

got any ideas for a tab? I can't seem to find one (not trying to re-create it) i just love it

[@joshuabrookfield2806]

Does anyone know the real tuning to this song please? I play it in standard, capo on the first, and use the same chords he does in this video, but the tone sounds off, I play along sounding fine with other songs of Elliot live, So thinking it must be the the tuning out ??

[@jumbom5519]

Pretty sure the album version is capo 1st fret, however in this set I'm fairly certain that his guitar was tuned a step down. His capo is on the 2nd fret here, so I think it may just be standard tuning.

[@mglenwright09]

yeah it's in standard. he kept the guitar tuned down a half or whole step. i started doing the same. you can either get the lower deeper sounds out of the guitar, or pinch it up and get your frets a little tighter. but yeah, he was usually down at least a half step (Eb standard)

[@runowfilmar]

the guitar tuning was changed after how his voice felt for the day. so the proper tuning is to whatever you can comfortably sing. to an extent of course.

[@ganuenen]

@mymayapapaya your such a sweetheart mymayapapaya!!! love you XO

[@HarryHayesMusic]

great performance, rip elliott :(

[@Meridianlost]

All true artists are tortured souls, it's our pain that therapeutically medicates the world. Modesty is part of our self worth. To those of you that sit and think of havens not thought well. Sit and think of this for a bit and then allow your soul to reply with understanding of your reasoning.

[@plexusnexus]

love you elliott xo

[@pressureofdays]

fantastic

[@MissMisery123]

love....

[@Mohniie]

anyone know where in AZ this was?

[@AaronAtkinsHonorableChairman]

elliott smith mega enthusiast here. this was at stinkweeds in phoenix, arizona. february thirteenth, 1996.

[@mglenwright09]

such a dank set. i listen to it while im going to sleep often

[@paulaboncompagniludovisi9900]

god! on my birthday eve

[@plexusnexus]

Love you Elliott xo

[@juanantoniomartinezromero7085]

La Belleza era él.

[@Sublime_visions]

❤️

[@marsiozo]

well put!

[@TheZatrahc]

Does anyone know where this street actually is? There are plenty of Condor Ave's in America, and I'd like to make a point of seeing the street he wrote this song about before I die.

[@khurzog7125]

it's in Portland, Oregon, just off Barbur Blvd, where Elliott grew up and started his career. It's a very curvy street that climbs up the hill to the OHSU campus, it's short though and there is no fairground near by, so it's unlikely the literal destination and just fit the melody.

[@mymayapapaya]

You shouldn't have taken yours down. :(

[@grimdoomsday]

@whitestripebuzz yeh but to the amps credit... its a really nice twin reverb.

[@taketheveilpluto]

where in arizona is this? looks like phoenix. what venue?

[@damianhood8459]

Does anyone know what kind of amp he's sitting on/playing through?

[@wezzlyn]

Damian Hood Fender Twin Reverb. Definitely not for acoustic guitar but he makes it work pretty damn well.

[@charlyhebdo]

this is so soo genuis

[@zwaqster]

awesome!

[@CrushedPainter]

He's probably referring to Portland.

[@StanleyWiddos]

so fucking beautiful

[@sucramnormark]

I wouldnt say he´s a genius, but yeah. He´s really fucking great.

[@PainDestroyer]

What venue ? I probly walked on the streets he did here

[@mymayapapaya]

Stinkweeds

[@TheseAreMyHooves]

@whitestripebuzz His amp pretty much is his throne ;)

[@sekaya4342]

@whitestripebuzz his amp is a throne

[@sucramnormark]

Well, what comes to my mind when hearing the term "genious" is people like Beethoven, who could write marvelous sympfonies even when he was deaf, or possibly rain man-characters. Or people with perfect pitch, which is really rare. Just because Elliott wrote really great pop songs doesnt mean he was a genetic masterpiece himself.

[@gaybobz]

this rules

[@AppleFaction]

true

[@willwayland1991]

dude was wise.....

[@CarlosMeza-sp1kj]

3:08

[@sallyheartjack]

... XO

[@thr3etwo0ne]

This is such a great song. It's a shame he's gone. Thanks for nothing, Jennifer Chiba.

[@hotmetaldobermans]

fffuuuu, moar of this show please.

[@CrushedPainter]

He preferred a stool.

[@Heathathnasoodua]

Man I want to smack that guy who gets up and walks away...

[@FratDadySigEpThetaPi]

@JesusRebellion or genuine

[@AubreyGrahamMaster]

@JesusRebellion You just aren't looking hard enough.

[@finnboxer9480]

h

[@BeardedSailor1]

he kind of riped of big star a bit :p hes better then them thow ;)

[@seanritz6020]

What song are you talking about?

[@sucramnormark]

You have not even explained your version. You fled by remarking on my spelling. Not that mature, huh? No reason to be rude. Unless you are generally insecure on yourself and the rudeness protects you, I assume :)

[@22yonkers]

@JesusRebellion false

[@sucramnormark]

People tend to use that word too much. Just as people tend to use the word "angst" in situations where they are just sad. Sorry, I dont think he was a genious. I cant see how that upsets you but obviously it does.

[@sucramnormark]

It's obvious you are done with that, yes. When you have nothing else to say you can always be irrelevant and annoy people with telling them how to spell ...

[@rhcp4565]

the voice ruined it. Great guitarist, crappy vocalist. Great lyricist though...but crappy vocalist. Thats why he never became huge.

[@hatta252]

...he performed at the grammys...many people know and love elliott. you are entitled to your opinion, but personally I think his voice is incredible.

[@smipth]

Sinistro Mattia rekt

[@rhcp4565]

Simon Williams I know I love his voice, its really grown on me. I wrote that a while back when I was first getting into him. I believe I was really drunk when I wrote that too lol, i say stupid shit when I'm drunk.

[@Zargon314]

rhcp4565 HAHA thanks for owning up to it man. Elliott voice is definitely one that sticks with you.

[@Zargon314]

rhcp4565 HAHA thanks for owning up to it man. Elliott voice is definitely one that sticks with you.