Elliott Smith Quotes

I mean people just have a way of - y`know they`ll review your record in two sentences and put you in this little stupid box that you don`t want to be in.

There`s always that argument to make - that you`re in better company historically if people don`t understand what you`re doing.

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

It`s just that a lot of songs that are popular right now, they don`t have any meaning.

I think that record gave me a reputation for being a really dark, depressed person but I think I`m just about as happy as all the other people I know.

I was trying to do the same thing that I always do which is make an interesting record.

They don`t put any pressure on me to do anything in particular and Dreamworks didn`t either so this was a really easy record to make.

It was kind of ridiculous to carry it up to a certain point and then drop the ball or the bomb, like quitting the band right after we had signed to Virgin.

I walked out and Jack Nicholson was sitting about six feet away, so I avoided that area and I looked up at the balcony in the back and sang the song.

I didn`t know how many people knew who Ferdinand was.

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

It`s a lot easier to tell the truth usually.

I don`t really like New York better than Portland. It`s just a different place.

I didn`t think I was gonna be playing on the Oscars or anything.

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.

I watched myself put my paw in the bear trap on that one because there was this clause about leaving members.

I rode on a float in one of the parades in Mississippi. It`s an experience.

I actually don`t think that I`m gonna sell a lot of records.

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.

I just wanted to move out of Portland to do something.

Because God only knows why people like what they like and don`t like something else.

I don`t think that Dreamworks would have signed me expecting to really mess around with whatever it is I do.

In the event of the band dissolving, any members could be kept to that contract with or without their consent under the same terms.

It touches on drug use. I got caught up in that for almost two years.

But I was also doing odd jobs around Portland, like spreading gravel and transplanting bamboo trees.

And I`m not trying to write heavy songs.

There are lots of things I like about playing in a band, the things I can`t do by myself you know.

I wondered if I would talk about drug use. But I guess, why hide it?

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.

I was coming off of a lot of psyche meds and other things.

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

I like home recordings and studio recordings just as much as each other - I don`t think one is better - but for this record I wanted to see what I could do in a real studio with real producers.

I didn`t have a hard time making it, I had a hard time letting it go.