EELS

[Dee]

This band, or more precisely, Mark Oliver Everett, known by his stage name as E has been a very precious companion to our lives for over twenty years. My hubby and I have seen his band many times... One day I will have to write a thank you note to this man to thank him for all his music and beautiful lyrics. He's a complete recluse, by the way. Lives alone with his dog most of the time, to recover from the people-intense tours he does quite regularly (bless him for the sacrifice).





So I thought I'd build a little den here for all the songs I'm so thankful for, hoping maybe some of them will reach your hearts too. It's been wonderful to see 'In the Yard, Behind The Church' amongst Lori's Desert Island Discs.

[Dee]

The band was formed in California in 1995 by singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mark Oliver Everett. Band members have changed across the years, both in the studio and on stage, making Everett the only official member for most of the band's work.

Current members:

E (Mark Oliver Everett)
The Chet (Jeff Lyster)
Koool G Murder (Kelly Logsdon)
P-Boo (Mike Sawitzke)
Knuckles (Derek Brown)
Big/Krazy/Tiny/Honest/Upright/Royal Al (Allen Hunter)

Discography:

A Man Called E (as E) (1992)
Broken Toy Shop (as E) (1993)
Beautiful Freak (1996)
Electro-Shock Blues (1998)
Daisies of the Galaxy (2000)
Souljacker (2001)
Shootenanny! (2003)
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations (2005)
Hombre Lobo (2009)
End Times (2010)
Tomorrow Morning (2010)
Wonderful, Glorious (2013)
The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett (2014)
The Deconstruction (2018)

[Dee]

Their first hits from their first album (Beautiful Freak):

[NurseRatched]

Great, new music. Checking it out over dishes!

[NurseRatched]

I really like this guy's voice. His writing and phrasing is unique, too; he doesn't care how many words he puts into a line, if that makes sense..(?) You know? I can't explain it well in this format, but another songwriter may have whittled down the lyrics to fit in a tidy package-Mark uses all his words & makes the music fit, you know?



I think faves so far have to be In the Yard Behind the Church & this song above; they just have that quality that sinks in to the soul!

[Dee]

Yay! A nice song choice... Thank you for joining in with my Eels appreciation party here, NR! Yes, you're right, he's not a conventional songwriter at all. I hope, if you bare with me here, you will find some more soul-food. He has such a wide range of weird and wonderful stuff.

So here is 'Climbing Up The Moon' from the Electro-Shock Blues album.

https://open.spotify.com/track/0102cagi ... v-mZg63gfQ



So I wrote in a letter
But I don't know if it came
The nurse she likes my writing
So she keeps it just like me
So that it won't get away

I won't be denied this time
'Fore I go out of my mind over matters
Got my foot on the ladder
And I'm climbing up to the room

Got a sky that looks like heaven
Got an earth that looks like shit
And it's getting hard to tell where what I am ends
And what they're making me begins

And I won't be denied this time
'Fore I go out of my mind over matters
Got my foot on the ladder
And I'm climbing up to the moon

Saturday in the yard
They'll bring you by
We'll lay down on the grass
And watch as the sky closes in

And I won't be denied this time
'Fore I go out of my mind over matters
Got my foot on the ladder
And I'm climbing up to the moon

~ Mark O. Everett

[Dee]

One of my absolute favourites. A perfect song in my opinion:




You're dead but the world keeps spinning
Take a spin through the world you left
It's getting dark a little too early
Are you missing the dearly bereft?

Taking flight and you could be
Here tomorrow
Taking flight, well, you could get
Here tonight

I'm gonna fly on down for the
Last stop to this town
What?
I'm gonna fly on down then fly away
Well, alright

Taking a spin through the neighborhood
The neighbors scream
What ya talkin' bout?
'Cause they don't know how to
Let you in
And I can't let you out

What if I was not your only friend
In this world
Can you take me where you're going
If you're never coming back

I'm gonna fly on down for the
Last stop to this town
I'm gonna fly on down
Then fly away on my way

Why don't we take a ride
Away up high
Through the neighborhood
Up over the billboards and the factories
And smoke

I'm gonna fly on down for the
Last stop to this town
Yeah
I'm gonna fly on down
Then fly away on my way
Fly away

~ Mark O. Everett, Michael S. Simpson


A lovely live performance, in a very different style:

[Dee]

Both of these songs above come from E's second album, Electro-Shock Blues, which I think is my favourite as a whole. It's E's most personal album, his way of dealing with his sister's mental illness and suicide and his mother's struggle with her terminal lung cancer, and his coming to terms with being the last surviving member of his family. (His father, Dr. Hugh Everett III, a quantum physicist who authored the Many Worlds Theory, died of a heart attack when Mark was 19.)



The album starts with one of the most depressing songs ever: Elizabeth on the Bathroom Floor; followed by a succession of songs about cancer, hospital, death, funeral, loss... but somehow he manages to turn it round and the album finishes with PS: You Rock My World, a beautiful life-affirming song.

https://open.spotify.com/track/59RGuW45 ... 3YBKlGZCrg

I was at a funeral the day I realized
I wanted to spend my life with you
Sitting down on the steps at the old post office
The flag was flying at half-mast
And I was thinkin' 'bout how everyone is dying
And maybe it's time to live

I don't know where we're going
I don't know what we'll do

Walked in to the Thrif-tee
Saw the man with the hollow eyes who didn't give me all my change
But it didn't bother me this time 'cause I know I've only got this moment
And it's good
I went to the gas station
Old woman honked her horn
Waiting for me to fix her car

I don't know where we're going
I don't know what we'll do

Laying in bed tonight I was thinking
And listening to all the dogs
And the sirens and the shots
And how a careful man tries
To dodge the bullets
While a happy man takes a walk

And maybe it's time to live

[Dee]

As well as the Electro-Shock Blues album, Mark has written an autobiographical recount of those turbulent years, and his childhood into early adulthood.
It's a brilliant book. Not only because it allows a rare insight into this fascinating but usually very private man's life, but Mark has proven to be a pretty awesome writer in prose as well.

[Dee]

Just one more biographical sidestep before we get back to the music, but it's so very important.

This is an amazing documentary about Mark trying to find out about his father he never really knew-knew in his life, even though they lived under the same roof. Not only you find out about this introverted genius physician who has come up with the theory of parallel universes, (a concept that would blow anyone's mind, and you get a pretty good explanation here) but gain an insight into Mark's life and mind as well, sprinkled with his music.



Continued here:

Spoiler:

[Lori]

Enjoying this thread a lot!!!

[Dee]