Editing Bright Eyes (band) (section)

===1998–1999: ''Letting Off the Happiness''===
On November 2, 1998, Saddle Creek released ''[[Letting Off the Happiness]]'', a ten-track album that displayed a more focused and clearer sound than the previous album. According to the Saddle Creek press release, it features members of [[Lullaby for the Working Class]], [[Neutral Milk Hotel]], and [[of Montreal]]. [[Park Ave. (band)|Park Ave.]] bandmate [[Neely Jenkins]] also contributed vocals. It was predominantly recorded in the Oberst family basement in Omaha on an analog eight track [[reel to reel]]; with some work also done at keyboardist [[Andy Lemaster]]'s [[Athens, Georgia]] studio.<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://cwas.hinah.com/interview/?id=30
 |title       = An interview with Conor Oberst
 |access-date  = August 5, 2006
 |last        = Sakamoto
 |first       = Mariko
 |year        = 2002
 |publisher=Comes with a Smile
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120302065512/http://cwas.hinah.com/interview/?id=30
 |archive-date = March 2, 2012
}}</ref> Although almost all of the tracks feature a full band, "June on the West Coast" is performed with only acoustic guitar and vocals. "Padraic My Prince" gives a dramatic fictional account of the death of his baby brother, a story with a multitude of symbolic meanings. Oberst has referenced the song "Padraic My Prince" more than once in his music. <br>The song "An Attempt To Tip the Scales" on the album ''[[Fevers and Mirrors]]'' has a faux-interview near the end of the track. (Oberst is voiced by [[Todd Fink]], who was a label-mate and had played in other bands with Oberst.) The interviewer is [[Matt Silcock]], another labelmate on [[Saddle Creek Records]]. The interview was meant to be somewhat sarcastic and most of what the Oberst impersonator said was not true. At one point the interviewer asks the question: "So some of these references like babies in bathtubs are not biographical?" The Oberst impersonator replies: "Well I did have a brother who died in a bathtub... he drowned. Well actually I had five brothers that drowned." "No, I'm serious. My mother drowned one every year for five consecutive years. They were all named Padraic, and that's why they only got one song. It's kind of like walking out a door and discovering that it's a window."<ref>{{cite web
 |url         = http://realsaddlecreek.livejournal.com/18877.html
 |title       = A saddle creek faq
 |access-date  = February 16, 2005
 |url-status     = live
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20120406084212/http://realsaddlecreek.livejournal.com/18877.html
 |archive-date = April 6, 2012
}}</ref> Oberst also references the song in "Cartoon Blues" on the ''[[Four Winds (EP)|Four Winds]]'' EP.

In November 1999, Bright Eyes released the five-song ''[[Every Day and Every Night]]'' EP, which included "Neely O'Hara" and "A Perfect Sonnet."