No Confidence Man

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"Shytown"/"No Confidence Man"
Single by Elliott Smith and Pete Krebs
A-side"Shytown"
B-side"No Confidence Man"
Released1994 (1994)
RecordedAugust 14, 1994
Genre
LabelSlo-Mo
Songwriter(s)Pete Krebs, Elliott Smith
Producer(s)Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith singles chronology
"No Confidence Man" / "Shytown"
(1994)
"Needle in the Hay"
(1995)

"No Confidence Man" is a song by American singer-songwriter Elliott Smith. It was originally released in 1994 by record label Slo-Mo as the B-side to a split 7-inch vinyl single with Pete Krebs, with Krebs' track "Shytown" making the A-side, making it his first solo single.

Recording[edit]

"No Confidence Man" was recorded in one day, on August 14, 1994. Engineering was handled by Smith.[1]

Content[edit]

The lyrics refer to a character named "Charlie", who has been referenced in at least one other of Smith's songs, and is a possible reference to Smith's stepfather Charlie Welch.[2]

Release[edit]

The single was originally released in 1994 by record label Slo-Mo.

It was re-issued in digital format in 2014 by UseMusic.org,[3] with proceeds going to Outside/In, a not-for-profit Portland, Oregon organisation that works with homeless youth. The tracks were remixed by producer and Elliott Smith archivist Larry Crane: "I remixed these recently from excellent transfers of the original 1/4-inch, 8-track master tapes, so the audio is quite a bit better than old transfers pulled off vinyl".[2]

Track listing[edit]

Side A
  1. Pete Krebs – "Shytown"
Side B
  1. Elliott Smith – "No Confidence Man"

References[edit]

  1. ^ Nugent, Benjamin (April 1, 2009). Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing. Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780786738106. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Greenwald, David (January 27, 2014). "Lost Elliott Smith Single Unearthed for Charity | OregonLive.com". OregonLive.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2015. Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  3. ^ Lannamann, Ned (January 29, 2014). "Mike Doughty Reworks Old Elliott Smith Tape, Causes Consternation | Blogtown, PDX | Portland Mercury". The Portland Mercury. Archived from the original on February 20, 2014. Retrieved February 15, 2024.

External links[edit]