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February 28, 2007

Chris Garneau Covers Elliott Smith

Chris Garneau's promising debut record ends in tribute to the incomparable Elliott Smith, putting a classical spin on the troubled, Either/Or ballad "Between The Bars," turning it into a slow, fragile piano waltz.

Chris Garneau - "Between The Bars" (MP3)

Nothing's gonna hold up to Elliott, ever -- but Chris's vulnerable vocal and subtle rephrasing makes it worth a listen. Maybe you'll like. Either way tell us your favorite Elliott cover, or if his songs should never be touched. If the latter, that's just 'cause you haven't heard KoRn's version of "Angeles" yet.

Posted at 6:09 PM in
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23 Comments

Metric does a good cover of this.

Ben Folds does a mean Say Yes.

Posted by: Beau at 02/28/07 6:19 PM | Reply
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This pussy is going to have to do three times the amount of drugs Elliott did in his lifetime to get anywhere close.

Posted by: Steven at 02/28/07 6:21 PM | Reply
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Madeleine Peyroux does a really good "Between the Bars". Shit is gold.

Posted by: Werts at 02/28/07 6:22 PM | Reply
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jesus, chris has the most amazingly fragile voice. sometimes when i'm listening to him i'm convinced that his is the most beautiful voice ever.

Posted by: g at 02/28/07 7:41 PM | Reply
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sacrilege. same with madeleine peyroux's cover.
christopher o'riley comes close to doing the original justice.

Posted by: d at 02/28/07 8:11 PM | Reply
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or grant buell, for example.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/4lzn8x

but this cover is execrable.


Posted by: d at 02/28/07 8:16 PM | Reply
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affectation. i can't imagine anyone actually choosing to sound like joanna newsome.

Posted by: d at 02/28/07 8:42 PM | Reply
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thanks to those who mentioned the madeleine pyroux cover. one time when i was in germany at 3 in the morning, late for a train, i hailed a cab and as i shit myself with every passing minute i was getting closer to missing the train, that cover came on the radio and it was amazing. made me feel so much better, and i could never find it online or anything.

Posted by: alan at 02/28/07 9:01 PM | Reply
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Madeleine Peyroux's cover of "Between the Bars" is really good. Explores the song from a slightly different angle and it works.

Posted by: Chris at 02/28/07 9:12 PM | Reply
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Nah... sounds like he? she? is trying too hard to pull a Dresden Dolls, but DD could probably make the tune more interesting.

Posted by: Alex at 02/28/07 10:30 PM | Reply
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I think this cover is mediocre at best, but the rest of Chris Garneau's album is so hair-raisingly spooky-good. Especially "Not Nice." Fuck, what an affecting song. I do think he and Elliott have more than a bit in common.

Does anyone know if it's true that Elliott Smith once tried to jump off a cliff and landed on a tree, which saved his life and scarred his face? I heard it somewhere once and have repeated it many times. Now I'm starting to worry that it's not true ... confirm or deny? Bueller?

Posted by: reverent at 02/28/07 10:49 PM | Reply
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his face is scarred cause he had acne, it's not some sort of tree-related injury.

so i doubt that story is true at all. why exactly have you "repeated it many times" before making sure it was based on fact?

Posted by: stephen at 03/01/07 10:23 AM | Reply
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if i hadnt seen a picture of this guy ida thought he was a chick. this cover is not workin' for me.

Posted by: annie onymous at 03/01/07 12:59 PM | Reply
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tree related incident is definetely true, it happened in north carolina, it was written in roling stone shortly after his death.....

Posted by: bones at 03/01/07 11:50 PM | Reply
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i'm actually on the hunt for as many between the bars covers as i can possibly find.

even though elliott will always be a million times better.

hm, i need to find the metric one on mp3.

Posted by: Crystal at 03/02/07 2:12 AM | Reply
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His show today at Bowery was kind of boring.

Posted by: Eduardo at 03/02/07 5:04 AM | Reply
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I agree that it doesn't hold up to the original, but the rest of Garneau's album, "Music for Tourists" is amazing. He's so graceful and sad, I love it. I can't get enough of "So Far" and "Not Nice."

Posted by: jjschueppert at 03/08/07 3:11 PM | Reply
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pitchfork gives it a 2.3

i'm glad someone still has their head on straight... this music makes me projectile vomit.

"But hidden track 'Between the Bars' is [a cover], and cries out for a metronome as the singer takes a melodramatic shit on the aforementioned Smith's fucked-up memory."

http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/41471/Chris_Garneau_Music_for_Tourists

Posted by: your conscience at 03/11/07 9:58 PM | Reply
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I actually like the cover better live... in this video from Blogotheque, it just sounds better: http://www.blogotheque.net/article.php3?id_article=2889

Posted by: John at 04/03/07 1:46 PM | Reply
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By the way, what Metric album has between the bars on it?

Posted by: John at 04/03/07 1:47 PM | Reply
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I'm not sure whether that post by Marianna Jane Close (UK) is a joke or not. But either way it's just stupid and pointless.

Please do something better with your time.

Posted by: Jonathan at 08/23/07 10:00 PM | Reply
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I love you to Marianna.

Posted by: Elliott at 09/01/07 4:50 PM | Reply
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1.) Are you shitting me!? "The Dresdon Dolls could have made the tune more interesting"? That is the most absurd thing i've ever seen written in the english language. I'm afraid to even read it out loud for fear of spontaneous combustion. Congratulations to Alex for leaving by far the dumbest comment on this entire page, good luck with the rest of your endeavors.

2.) It's a cover. It's not suppose to be better than the original. It's a token of one artists admiration for another. Look at Chris Garneaus' original work if your going to judge him. Love Zombies is one of the best songs to come out in 2007 easily.

3.) I can't believe I left a comment on one of these stupid message boards, I never do this, but what that kid said was so inane. His comment should be deleted from this message board because it is not worth a dragons' queef in a ball jar.

4.) Look how tough STEVEN is, 2nd comment down, that's one cool mother fucker alright.

Posted by: The Truth at 11/04/08 7:24 PM | Reply
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