Elliott Smith Quotes

“Things are going to work out, and I’m never going to stop insisting that things are going to work out.” QUOTES:

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Elvis Costello got me through high school. That and The Clash.

Elliott Smith

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1995-05-XX - La Luna - Portland OR

Elliott: This is a song about the moon [about to play Satellite].

Someone in crowd: Just say no to crack!

Elliott: ...There's no crack on the moon....That I know of.

[elliottsm]

It’s not about the serial killer, I’m not sure exactly what it’s about because it’s just sort of like telling someone a dream you had last night. There are some destructive figures in it, ‘Son of Sam’, Shiva… but Shiva’s also associated with creativity… I’m not sure… it’s just an impressionistic song about destruction and creativity, I guess; if it’s about anything.

Elliott Smith talking about his song ‘Son of Sam’ (via elliottsm)

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Olympia WA, 07-17-1999

Elliott: What we need are some dancers. Or maybe ...answers? Does anybody have any answers?

Someone in Crowd: Your ass!

Elliott: My ass!? That's a good answer.

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I don't think the point is to make no mistakes. That's... just not the point.

Elliott Smith on The Jon Brion Show

[royalrex-deactivated20150808]

What’s the point of playing a song badly?

Elliott Smith

[elliottsm]

I write almost exclusively in public places, I just think of stuff, chord changes and words. I know the bartenders, and they don’t think it’s weird if I ask to borrow a pen.

Elliott Smith (in an interview with Rolling Stone 1998)

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I think that's a Western notion of demonizing inactivity. No one can be productive all the time.

Elliott Smith

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I think the suggestion that all my songs are personal is insulting because that assumes that I have a bunch of issues that I feel the need to unload on strangers. That is not the case. It also assumes that I just talk about myself the whole time which, again, is not true.

Elliott Smith

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I haven't done anything yet that I'm ashamed of. I'm bound to fuck up sooner or later. Everybody does.

Elliott Smith

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Even now, it sort of feels like I'm the disappointment because I can't play any one thing very well. I'm not a very good guitar player. I try to do a lot of things but that's not the same thing as being technically good. But I don't mind; the price to pay for being flawless is inhumanity. I like being the way I am, but I can't play like they can.

Elliott Smith

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I just make up songs that to me feel human. And they're bound to be seen by some people as confessional or depressing, some sort of real one-way assessment that is not how they are to me.... And it's really easy not to worry about all that, except for the persistent questions that come up. Maybe not in this interview, but in a lot of them. "Why are you so sad?" ... There must be some reason why I always get these questions, which to me seem like totally surface things about my music.

Elliott Smith

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There's a lot in my music that I find happy and optimistic, in both the melody and the lyrics.

Elliott Smith

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thank you for this blog <3

You're welcome! I'm just happy so many people like it :-)

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I think no one ever lives up to their potential, and that's not a negative thing, though it sounds like that in my songs. I mean, it does bum me out sometimes, but it's impossible to live up to your potential in this world because if you can, potential itself is not worth very much. People are infinitely more capable than what they end up showing.

Elliott Smith

[elliottsmithappreciation-bl-blog]

“I don’t like to keep track of myself a whole lot, you know? Too weird. [Seeing yourself through the prism of someone else’s perception] it’s a weird prism. Not mine. It doesn’t make sense to me, so I don’t look through it very much. I sort of have my own identity that’s not particularly receptive to that sort of thing. No, it’s too weird… reading my own press would be like sitting in an empty room and putting on my own record again and again.”

- Elliott Smith (via elliottsmithappreciation)

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I truly hope the future will bring me something to feel nostalgic about, because there's really nothing much so far I can remember fondly.

Elliott Smith