Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smithwas an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and lived for much of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity. Smith's primary instrument was the guitar, though he was also proficient with piano, clarinet, bass guitar, drums, and harmonica. Smith had a distinctive vocal style, characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery", and used multi-tracking to create vocal layers, textures, and harmonies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth6 August 1969
CityOmaha, NE
CountryUnited States of America
Elliott Smith quotes about
I just wanted to move out of Portland to do something.
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.
If you play acoustic guitar you're the depressed, sensitive guy.
All your secret wishes could right now be coming true.
Fights problems with bigger problems.
He made his life a lie so he might never have to know anyone.
People can be chaos but it's hard to fit it into some creative piece that you made. It's hard.
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.
I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.
It's hard to represent chaos, or like an absence of something. It's much easier to represent the presence of something or a situation.
People are so... seem so chaotic internally, but being filtered through some form, like making a record, sort of filters it down into something that can be understood.
You can't get better at things you never play.
There's always that argument to make - that you're in better company historically if people don't understand what you're doing.
I think the music business will eventually crush me, but I [smiles]... I'm ready.