It’s His Songwriting That Has Made Him Famous
You may not know Michael Smith’s name or even his voice, but his music is almost certainly familiar to you.
Smith, who will appear at Street Music on Thursday, has written scads of truly remarkable songs, many of which have been recorded by the likes of Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker, Jimmy Buffet, Suzy Boguss, the Four Freshmen and We Five.
His song, “The Dutchman,” has been recorded many times, followed closely by gems like “Elvis Imitator,” “Spoon River” and “Hobo’s Mandolin (This Old Mandolin).”
Long regarded as one of the finest songwriters in the country, Smith became a proverbial overnight success in 1992 when he set John Steinbeck’s lyrics to music for the Steppenwolf Company’s Tony Award winning production of “Grapes of Wrath.”
Smith records for Flying Fish Records and his new CD, “Time,” is laden with the kinds of imagery and turns of phrase which distinguish great songwriters from the pack.
He writes with depth and imagination of a poet but in the language of regular folks. Here are some lines from his best-known song “The Dutchman”: “When Amsterdam is golden in the morning/
Margaret makes him breakfast/
She believes him/
He thinks that tulips bloom beneath the snow/ He’s mad as he can be/ But Margaret only sees that sometimes/ Sometimes she sees her unborn children in his eyes.”
Smith writes wistfully on “Time” of the old beat days when “We all wanted to be existentialists, though we didn’t know what the hell it meant.” “I Brought My Father With Me” is a tender portrait of a father/ son relationship, and “This Here Mandolin” honors that humble, evocative instrument.
Smith is one of those songwriters who writes so convincingly it’s easy to fall into the trap that every song represents a piece of his life.
But, “like a lot of people in folk music, I get my culture secondhand,” Smith told an interviewer. “John Stewart used to say that he makes imitation folk songs, and I think that’s what I do, too.”
On the other hand, a childhood accident that left his face scarred appears to have set Smith’s life on a course that gives him a unique perspective.
“I’ve had some unsettling things happen to me - not tragic, necessarily, but when it comes time to make art, I come at it from a strange angle.” xxxx Michael Smith Location and time: Street Music, 117 N. Howard, Thursday, 8 p.m. Tickets: $10, available at Street Music, and by calling 624-7722