The Life of an Eel

Things the Grandchildren Should Know- Mark Oliver Everett

When Time Magazine’s Joel Stein calls Mark Oliver Everett a better writer than he himself is, you’ve got take that for the gospel truth.  Things the Grandchildren Should Know is not your average memoir.  Everett tells you himself in the first few pages that he never intended to write a memoir but that his buddy urged him to because he has led such a crazy life.  Not a crazy famous person kind of life, filled with rock star parties and drug induced jam sessions, but a life of death and awkwardness and struggle.  Who knew celebrities were just like us?

Mark Oliver Everett begins his story as a kid.  He’s got the emotionally unavailable father (who also happens to be a bonafide genius, a.k.a the quantum mechanic who authored the Many Worlds Theory), a mother who could never quite be a mother, and a sister who committed suicide, but first instilled in Everett a love for music and the minimum amount of self-esteem to keep doing what he loves.  He also happens to be the one who finds his father’s dead body.  And he nurses his cancer-stricken mother until she succumbs in his arms.  And then there’s the sister.

Never a good student, Everett skips school, does drugs, and writes ditties in his free time.  He admits over and over again that his life story is not that of a rock star’s, but isn’t the heart of all music about tragedy, about the way it can be expressed, the exquisite pain that comes from each drowning moment?  Of course, and Everett, sadly, has a great spring of misfortune from which to dip.

Chapters with titles like I Love Crazy Girls and Hope Ya Like Starvin’ add a comedic presence to the dark material presented.  And that’s the most interesting thing about the book.  Listen to any Eels album and the emotion seethes from his voice, you can feel the music like you can feel your heart breaking.  But in this memoir, Everett never says, “Whoa is me,” never complains about his lot in life.  He recalls the most horrifying and isolating experiences like he were describing making a PB&J.  You know his heart was being ripped from his chest, but his recounts are not for sympathy, he is simply telling his story.  Even the happiest moments, like being signed for the first time or his collaboration with his idol Tom Waits, are told in the calmest of tones.

Everett’s a laid back guy in every way except when it comes to making albums. His confessions of his album-making experiences and his inspiration for that music are like being let in on the secret to great music.  His compulsion to do what he loves, his drive to succeed, and his subsequent success are a joy to read in his own words.  He’s very nonchalant about everything he’s been through which shows great humility, and perhaps great passivity, which seems necessary in a life like his.  Things the Grandchildren Should Know is a must read for Eels fans, and can be a great book for anyone who’s ever felt like they’ve gotten the short end of the stick.  Everett’s stick is much shorter, but the music that he creates is some of the most heartfelt in rock today.