Mark Oliver Everett - Things the Grandchildren Should Know (2008)
Autobiography – 240 pages – my copy (2008; paperback) from Waterstones for £7.99 in September 2009
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Feel like an old railroad man
Ridin’ out on the bluemont line
Hummin’ along old dominion blues
Not much to see and not much left to lose
(Railroad Man, Eels, 2005)
Mark Oliver Everett is popularly known as ‘E’, the man behind the alternative and influential rock outfit Eels. Songs such as Susan’s House, Novacaine for the Soul and a whole spate oddly released on Shrek movie soundtracks have enlightened many a music enthuasiastcs night. But what lies behind the genius of such tracks?
A much confused family, for starters. This family comprises of a noted and intelligent father who died when Everett was in his late teens; a sister who killed herself after many failed attempts at suicide; while his mum, the last of his immediate family, shortly followed with cancer. Such events, and the over-riding loneliness of his life have been shown in many of his albums and its songs; most notably Electro-Shock Blues, about breakdown of the late 1990s of his family, and his 2005 album, Blinking Lights.
Things the Grandchildren Should Know, then, follows in this vein but in word format. He describes his childhood – the strongest section of the book – as a young and confused kid, lurching from one thing to the next. When feeling at a complete loss he decides to go with the only thing he has, his talent, and move to LA to find a music career to harness his uniqueness: ‘…that was a mission I was on. To keep whittling away until whatever it was that I had that was uniquely mine really started to shine’ (p.82). Bit by bit, he claims his place alongside the rock Gods, a long way off from his wannabe days when washing cars across from the large building of Polygram Records: ‘I would stand there with the hose in my man and look up at the building with reverence, like it was a monument’ (p.82).
However, the rock aspects of his life take a secondary importance to his domestic concerns, which as briefed upon, were devastating. His sister, whom he deeply loved, succumbed to drugs; whilst his mother succumbed to cancer. ‘I held her hand and talked to her, unsure if there was any use in it. I told her that we were all there for her and how much we loved her. Eventually her breathing began to slow down until it was very, very slow. And then there was one last, slow exhale with no inhale after it.’ (p.157).
It is this human, emotional aspect which makes Things the Grandchildren Should Know such a fulfilling read. Throughout all, Everett is under little pretence: he lays it bare, as awkward as that might be. Most of his life he has spent alone, and it is this loneliness that affects the reader deeply: ‘I’d go back to my sweltering apartment and lie on the mattress on the floor listening to Bob Dylan, the man with the secret sense of destiny, singing ‘Sign on the Window’ on the boom box while I cried and thought of giving up an dying’ (p.83).
Despite such openness, the autobiography is ultimately stunted in Everett’s lack of authorial control. A great attempt at his first stab of writing a book, yet the structure of the book suffers, with words and anecdotes being splattered upon the page, denigrating its coherent whole. Whilst the recent years get little of a look in as does his childhood. A further, more biting accusation, would be Everett’s fascination with death, bringing to our attention every funeral he is encountered, being stretched too far for dramatics, such as his ‘hot, blonde cousin’ who died in the 9/11 attacks on America (p.3).
Everett is undoubtedly a man of many talents. The written word may join the many others he occupies. It is the Worm’s sincere hope that he will follow this book up with later instalments, recounting to the world what has been an eventful, emotional and enlightening life.
Autobiography – 240 pages – my copy (2008; paperback) from Waterstones for £7.99 in September 2009
- 3 nods out of 5 -
Feel like an old railroad man
Ridin’ out on the bluemont line
Hummin’ along old dominion blues
Not much to see and not much left to lose
(Railroad Man, Eels, 2005)
Mark Oliver Everett is popularly known as ‘E’, the man behind the alternative and influential rock outfit Eels. Songs such as Susan’s House, Novacaine for the Soul and a whole spate oddly released on Shrek movie soundtracks have enlightened many a music enthuasiastcs night. But what lies behind the genius of such tracks?
A much confused family, for starters. This family comprises of a noted and intelligent father who died when Everett was in his late teens; a sister who killed herself after many failed attempts at suicide; while his mum, the last of his immediate family, shortly followed with cancer. Such events, and the over-riding loneliness of his life have been shown in many of his albums and its songs; most notably Electro-Shock Blues, about breakdown of the late 1990s of his family, and his 2005 album, Blinking Lights.
Things the Grandchildren Should Know, then, follows in this vein but in word format. He describes his childhood – the strongest section of the book – as a young and confused kid, lurching from one thing to the next. When feeling at a complete loss he decides to go with the only thing he has, his talent, and move to LA to find a music career to harness his uniqueness: ‘…that was a mission I was on. To keep whittling away until whatever it was that I had that was uniquely mine really started to shine’ (p.82). Bit by bit, he claims his place alongside the rock Gods, a long way off from his wannabe days when washing cars across from the large building of Polygram Records: ‘I would stand there with the hose in my man and look up at the building with reverence, like it was a monument’ (p.82).
However, the rock aspects of his life take a secondary importance to his domestic concerns, which as briefed upon, were devastating. His sister, whom he deeply loved, succumbed to drugs; whilst his mother succumbed to cancer. ‘I held her hand and talked to her, unsure if there was any use in it. I told her that we were all there for her and how much we loved her. Eventually her breathing began to slow down until it was very, very slow. And then there was one last, slow exhale with no inhale after it.’ (p.157).
It is this human, emotional aspect which makes Things the Grandchildren Should Know such a fulfilling read. Throughout all, Everett is under little pretence: he lays it bare, as awkward as that might be. Most of his life he has spent alone, and it is this loneliness that affects the reader deeply: ‘I’d go back to my sweltering apartment and lie on the mattress on the floor listening to Bob Dylan, the man with the secret sense of destiny, singing ‘Sign on the Window’ on the boom box while I cried and thought of giving up an dying’ (p.83).
Despite such openness, the autobiography is ultimately stunted in Everett’s lack of authorial control. A great attempt at his first stab of writing a book, yet the structure of the book suffers, with words and anecdotes being splattered upon the page, denigrating its coherent whole. Whilst the recent years get little of a look in as does his childhood. A further, more biting accusation, would be Everett’s fascination with death, bringing to our attention every funeral he is encountered, being stretched too far for dramatics, such as his ‘hot, blonde cousin’ who died in the 9/11 attacks on America (p.3).
Everett is undoubtedly a man of many talents. The written word may join the many others he occupies. It is the Worm’s sincere hope that he will follow this book up with later instalments, recounting to the world what has been an eventful, emotional and enlightening life.
