Elliott Smith Quotes

Elliott Smith's page feels like a quiet confession of music, love and pain, ideal for listeners who crave raw honesty.

58 quotes

1. 'I think the music business will eventually crush me, but I [smiles]... I'm ready.' - in Strange Parallel

2. [when asked about cigarettes] 'I don't recommend them... but I smoke them.' - seen at http://youtube.com/watch?v=nJN1wdDUpDg

3. 'Everybody gets a tag. If you listen to a Velvet Underground record, you don't think, 'Godfathers of Punk.' You just think, 'This sounds great.' The tags are there in order to help try to sell something by giving it a name that's going to stick in somebody's memory. But it doesn't describe it. So 'depressing' isn't a word I would use to describe my music. But there is some sadness in it -- there has to be, so that the happiness in it will matter.'

4. 'I don't intend to write depressing songs and I'd probably rather write happy ones'

5. 'I hope that Dreamworks can sell enough records that they're happy - so I don't get dropped.'

6. What we need are some dancers. Or maybe...answers? does anybody have any answers?'

7. 'If you play acoustic guitar you're the depressed, sensitive guy.'

8. 'Sometimes people seem to think that my songs are more personal than somebody else's and I don't really think that's true. Y'know, I think my songs reveal whatever they reveal, they say certain things about who I am, whereas Will Smith singing 'Gettin' Jiggy With It' reveals certain things about who he is. Like for one thing that he doesn't mind singing a senseless song but I don't know, it's just--I don't know it's sort of like if no one is playing--if people who are by and large on the radio and television really don't give a shit what words they're singing then someone comes along who actually sings about things that matter to them, then everybody thinks that their lyrics are really personal. But it's just situational.'

9. 'Well, I try not to think about the general public since I have no idea what the general public is and I don't think anybody does.'

10. 'Here's a song I made up while I was watching Xena the Warrior Princess with the sound off. It's a fact. I had a secret crush on Xena. It was a secret to me too. I wouldn't admit it. She's pretty fuckin' tough. She has a good yell... she kills the stupid gladiators with the log-trap. Release the log-trap! She releases the log-trap and they all get... crushed. They'd all wanna be with her if they could, but unfortunately they're not on her side. It's a lot better with the sound off. Really, it is. And the song didn't have anything to do with Xena... but... I was about half a bottle through Jameson's... if that makes any sense.'

11. 'Playing it safe is the most popular way to fail.'

12. 'New songs are where its at, as far as I'm concerned.'

13. Church bells and now I'm awake And I guess it must be some kind of holiday I can't seen to join in the celebration But I'll go to the service And I'll go to pray And I'll sing the praises of my maker's name Like I was as good as she made me...

14. I'm a roman candle My head is full of flames I want to hurt him I want to give him pain And make him feel this pretty burn.

15. I can't beat myself I can't beat myself And I don't want to talk. I'm taking the cure so I can be quiet Whenever I want. So leave me alone You ought to be proud that I'm getting good marks.

16. You turned white, like a saint But I'm tired of dancing on a pot of gold... ...Flecked paint.

17. I'm a junkyard full of false starts And I don't need your permission To bury my love under this bare light bulb. The moon is a sickle cell It'll kill you in time.

18. Drink up, baby, look at the stars I'll kiss you again Between the bars Where I'm seeing you there With your hands in the air Waiting to finally be caught Drink up one more time and I'll make you mine...

19. I could make you satisfied in everything you do, All your secret wishes could right now be coming true And be forever with my poisoned arms Around you. No one's gonna fool around with us.

20. I'm going out now like a baby A naive unsatisfiable baby Grabbing onto whatever's around For the soaring high or the crushing down With hidden cracks that don't show, but that constantly just grow.

21. Crooked spin can't come to rest, I'm damaged bad at best.

22. I'm in love with the world, Through the eyes of a girl, Who's still around the morning after.

23. It's a picture perfect evening And I'm staring down the sun Fully loaded, deaf, and dumb And done waiting for sedation to disconnect my head Or any situation where I'm better off than dead

24. They took your life apart And called your failures art They were wrong, though They won't know 'Til tomorrow

25. She appears composed So she is, I suppose Who can really tell? She shows no emotion at all Stares into space like a dead china doll

26. London Bridge is safe and sound No matter what you keep repeating Nothing's gonna drag me down To a death that's not worth cheating

27. The first time I saw you I knew it would never last I'm not half what I wish I was I'm so angry I don't think it'll ever pass And I was bad news for you just because I never meant to hurt you

28. I waited for a bus To separate the both of us And take me off far away from you 'Cause my feelings never change a bit I always feel like shit I don't know why; I guess that I 'just do'

29. Bored in a role, but he can't stop Standing up to sit back down, and lose the one thing found. Spinning the world like a toy top 'till there's a ghost in every town.

30. Everything here is free Everything but you and me This painting never dries Stupidity tries

31. What I used to be will pass away, and then you'll see That all I want now is happiness for you and me.

32. The first true love that folded at the slightest touch, brought down like an old hotel, people digging through the rubble for things they can resell.

33. I didn't know how many people knew who Ferdinand was.

34. I didnt know how many people knew who Ferdinand was.

35. Somewhere where people aren't so mad would be nice, but I don't know if there is anywhere like that.

36. Because God only knows why people like what they like and don't like something else.

37. My girlfriend at the time convinced me to send these songs to Cavity Search. When they wanted to put out my record I was totally shocked.

38. People think they know all these things about other people, and if you ask them why they think they know that, it'd be hard for them to be convincing.

39. I didn't think I was gonna be playing on the Oscars or anything.

40. I can't think of anything off the top of my head that seems more important than something designed to raise money to keep something going that keeps IV drug users from dying.

41. I went walking around the city some more, people watching with a cold, blank stare. And I saw your face in everyone, I swear.

42. There are lots of things I like about playing in a band, the things I can't do by myself you know.

43. The band's filter, but playing live is a lot of fun.

44. People can be chaos but it's hard to fit it into some creative piece that you made. It's hard.

45. A lot of people are kind of depressed. I'm happy some of the time, and some of the time I'm not.

46. Nobody broke your heart./ You broke your own,/ 'cuz you can't finish what you start.

47. It's a lot easier to tell the truth usually.

48. I don’t think it’s important who I am. I really like playing music, but I don’t really want to be anything in particular.

49. I didn't have a hard time making it. I had a hard time letting it go.

50. You can take a picture of New York and one person looking at it will think it looks really depressing, frightening; and someone else will look at it and think of all the fun things you can do in New York. I think songs are kinda like that.

51. I don't really like New York better than Portland. It's just a different place.

52. So if somebody writes a song that appears to have some meaning then everybody thinks that it's a really heavy song.

53. It was hard to sing like how I wanted to because playing live I had to just be at the top of my lungs all the time, and it made me sound like I had a really bad cold or something.

54. I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.

55. Haven't laughed this hard in a long time. I better stop now before I start crying. Go off to sleep in the sunshine...I don't want to see the day when its dying.

56. Music is worth doing just because. It doesn’t have to be justified by some political point of view, and it’s kind of insulting to the music to make it a tool for something else.

57. There's lots of ways people can be dependent, on another person, or drugs.

58. Burning every bridge that I cross to find some beautiful place to get lost.