Elliott Smith - Clementine live + interview 1995 (Breakfast Time)
The fever dream performance of "Clementine" on morning television,,,
10/30/20246 min read
I've never been a fan of morning news shows. For one, I'm usually sleeping in past 9am anyways. The other thing is when I do catch these morning broadcasts I'm reminded how mundane and uneventful the average Americans life is. Get up early, take the kids to school, go to work, go out to lunch, finish up at the office and head home in time for dinner and the evening news. That's never been a life that appealed to me. Nothing wrong with it just something I'd never related to. I never wanted to be the type of person these shows would appeal to either. Most of these shows appeal to the lowest common denominator. The simple man. That said, this show was designed from the ground up to be more of an alternative version of the morning news that would appeal to an MTV generation. The FX network created the "Breakfast Time" as a response to mainstream morning television. The set was built to resemble more of an apartment than the usual news studio. The network picked up talk and radio show hosts Tom Bergeron and Laurie Hibberd.
The show featured celebrities and your usual morning show experts to discuss various topics like the hazards of high heels and how to unclog the drain in your bathroom. There were some current event news segments but they were usually around 60 seconds in length. The show was more focused on discussing fun topics and fun banter than most the other morning news programs at the time. The show was unscripted and most of the 2 hour program was spent just joking around. The announcer "Jim" would chime in with jokes and commentary but his face would never be seen. Always obscuring his face with a copy of the USA Today newspaper. "Bob" the puppet on the show was portrayed by Al Rosenberg a long-time personality on shock jock radio with Howard Stern.
One of the more well-known appearances on the show was the one made by "The Bottle Rockets" in January of 1995. This was earlier in the same year that Elliott Smith performed. The Bottle Rockets were supposed to make an episode long appearance, but after performing one song they left the studio. This was supposedly because the band was annoyed by the puppet "Bob." They went and sat in their van and said they wouldn't return on set unless the puppet leaves the set. Very strange.
Hopefully that gives enough background on the "Breakfast Time." As somebody who was born in 1997 I didn't know anything about this show so I've had to do a little bit of research. When I first saw this Elliott Smith segment I was immediately intrigued and had to know more about this show. The decision to feature Elliott on a program like this seemed very odd to me. I figured maybe a little bit of research would help explain it a bit more. I'm still pretty confused by the decision after my research but it does seem like the show would just try random things and see what sticks. The show was basically just improvised so it does make some sense to feature somebody like Elliott to see what kind of reactions it would bring the hosts.
The segment starts with the aforementioned Tom Bergeron doing that gag where you put your hands on your shoulders and rub them sensually while turning away from the camera. The gag where it looks like you're making out with somebody...That was the first thing I saw when I clicked on this video and I remember thinking "Did I click on the right video?" My doubt was immediately interrupted when the narrator of the show introduced Elliott as a "Book-loving, kind angry acoustic-guitarist...Real talented though not yet a household name."
The introduction alone tells you what you're about to witness. He's already being misunderstood and pigeonholed right from the beginning which may be entertaining to watch others try to demystify him but it's upsetting at the same time to say the least. Why can't anybody get this guy right? Maybe there's nothing to get at. Just let the guy talk about what he wants to talk about or just let him play. For some reason every other artist can write lyrics that sound like they came straight out of a diary entry yet for some reason Elliott can't write about anything without being a "sad sack" or whatever. Most of his lyrics are more like short stories anyways and usually told in the third person. Needless to say my expectations for the interview were set from the very beginning. I could already tell it was going to be another interview where Elliott has to explain himself and his music. These are always really difficult to watch.
Elliott sits there with his purple hair maybe somewhat nervously drinking his morning coffee. The purple hair is such an Elliott thing too. I think he did stuff like that to have a punk image that was a little bit ironic and also made a joke out of the people that would pigeonhole him. I feel that. I personally like to dye my hair weird colors sometimes just to see how it makes people who supposedly like me react. It's kinda like a sure-fire way to determine who in your life is a real friend. I've been treated differently by long-time friends after changing my look and it pretty much tells me right away what kind of person they are. Superficial people are a chore to be around and when you change your look, you realize how superficial they are. It proves what you may have already suspected about them. It's kinda fun to do and maybe Elliott did it for the same reasons. I can't say.
Elliott describes his music as "not loud but it tends to be pretty angry." I would say at this time that was probably an accurate description. They go back and forth a little bit with the focus being primarily on whether or not the music is angry and whether or not any of the cast will come to physical harm. All the while it feels like this conversation is below Elliott. The type of anger in Elliotts music is not a violent anger but more of an existential anger. Something that honestly most TV show hosts and the cast aren't likely to understand. It's not really even a platform where you could discuss those things in any meaningful way anyways. Although everybody feels that way from time to time I don't think these people can quite grasp the kind of anger Elliott writes about. Tom Bergeron does a great job though in finding funny things to say and keeping the mood light. As much as it may be doing a disservice to Elliott's music, he is doing an excellent job as a host just maybe not as an interviewer. Considering what this show is, I feel like he handled things well and made a few funny remarks.
Tom (holding up Elliott's self-titled CD): "I noticed on the cover, people are jumping off buildings...That's not necessarily a good approach to dealing with your problems. What's the symbolism of that?"
Elliott (smiling): "I don't know it just looked good."
Tom: "The stunt people didn't think so!"
Elliott then grabs his trusty FG-180 Yamaha Red Label and performs Clementine.
The sound he gets out of that guitar is magical as always. Coupled with the open-tuning that guitar just sings. The light strumming and gentle rhythmic knocks help settle in the tempo. That first dissonant chord and the way it walks down chromatically to it's resolution is such a captivating sound. That resolution is made all the more powerful by the open tuning.
Lyrically this song opens with some of Elliott's most visually stimulating and thought provoking lines. I don't think you can hear this song's lyrics and not picture this bar in your minds eye. The song just immediately tells you where you are and where this story is going to unfold. It's truly just brilliant. I don't think there's a better way to open up a song than the method he uses here. He just naturally transports you to another world with the first line and certainly by the first 4 lines you know exactly where you are. One of the number one things I look for in lyrics is imagery. If I'm listening to a song and 1 minute in to the lyrics I'm not being teleported somewhere else in my mind or hearing anything thought provoking it's usually just not for me. This song is a masterclass in painting a picture with lyrics. The line "Streets wet you can tell by the sound of the cars" is arguably one of the greatest lyrics of all time. It's just so effective in setting the tone.
And man did Elliott set the tone with this performance. Everything went quiet. If you watch other performances on this show they don't look like this at all. That's what makes this Elliott Smith performance so unique. The camera pans to the cast watching in awe. It's really a beautiful moment in Elliott's career and I'm very grateful that this video has resurfaced after all of these years. The camera even pans over to a young Jessica Hecht. An actress many would know for playing the role of "Gretchen" In Breaking Bad. Basically the performance captivates everyone.
I find the whole thing very inspiring. It's great to see how music can completely transform the mood of a room. That's what great art can do and watching this video always reminds me why I love music and creating music for others. It really can help us all slow down and just exist in the moment in a way that only music can.
Watch the video here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwsSbAKs3yo&ab_channel=ShootingStar