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Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith performing in New York City in January 2003.
Background information
Birth name	Steven Paul Smith
Born	August 6, 1969(1969-08-06) Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.
Origin	Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died	October 21, 2003 (aged 34) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genre(s)	Indie rock Acoustic rock Indie folk
Instrument(s)	Guitar Vocals Piano Clarinet Bass Harmonica Drums
Years active	1993–2003
Label(s)	Virgin Cavity Search Kill Rock Stars Suicide Squeeze DreamWorks ANTI- Epitaph Domino
Associated acts	Heatmiser Quasi Mary Lou Lord Pete Krebs No. 2
Website	Official website

Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. His primary instrument was the guitar, but he was also proficient at piano, clarinet, bass, harmonica and drums.^[1] Smith had a distinctive vocal style characterized by his "whispery, spiderweb-thin delivery" and use of multi-tracking to create vocal harmonies.^[2] Although Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and died in Los Angeles, California, he resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity.

After playing in the rock band Heatmiser for several years, Smith began his solo career in 1994 with releases on the independent record labels Cavity Search and Kill Rock Stars. He eventually signed a contract with the far bigger label, DreamWorks Records in 1997, for which he recorded two albums. Smith rose to mainstream prominence when his song "Miss Misery", included in the soundtrack for the film Good Will Hunting, was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Original Song category in 1997.

Smith battled with depression, alcoholism and drug addiction for years, and these topics often appeared in his lyrics. At age 34, he died from two stab wounds to the chest.^[3] The autopsy evidence was inconclusive as to whether the wounds were self-inflicted.^[4]

Steven Paul Smith was born on August 6, 1969 at Clarkson Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. His mother, Bunny Welch (née Bunny Kay Berryman), was a music teacher at an elementary school, and his father, Gary Smith, was a University of Nebraska medical student at the time. His parents divorced about a year later, and Smith moved with his mother to live in Duncanville, Texas. Much later in his life, Smith got a tattoo of a map of Texas on his upper arm and said "I didn't get it because I like Texas, kinda the opposite. But I won't forget about it although I'm tempted to 'cause I don't like it there."^[5]

Smith endured a difficult childhood^[6] and a troubled relationship with his stepfather Charlie.^[7] Smith reflected the impact of this part of his life in the lyrics of "Some Song": "Charlie beat you up week after week, and when you grow up you're going to be a freak."^[7] The name "Charlie" also appeared in the lyrics for "Flowers for Charlie" and "No Confidence Man". The family was a part of the Community of Christ through much of Smith's childhood, but eventually began attending services at a local Methodist Church. Smith felt that going to church did little for him, except make him "really scared of hell".^[8]

Smith began learning guitar around the age of 10 on a small acoustic bought for him by his father.^[9] At this age he also composed an original piano piece, "Fantasy," which won him a prize at an arts festival.^[10] Many of the people on his mother's side of the family were non-professional musicians; his grandfather was a Dixieland drummer and his grandmother sang in a glee club.^[10]

At 14, Smith moved from Texas to Portland, Oregon, to live with his father, who was then working as a psychiatrist. It was around this time that Smith first began trying drugs and alcohol with friends as well as experimenting with recording for the first time, borrowing a friend of a friend's four-track recorder.^[10] During high school, Smith (billed as either Steven Smith or Johnny Panic) played guitar, piano and sang in the bands Stranger Than Fiction^[7], A Murder of Crows^[11] and The Greenhouse^[12].

Smith graduated from Lincoln High School on June 3, 1987 as a National Merit Scholarship finalist.^[13] After graduating from high school, Steven Smith began calling himself "Elliott", claiming he thought "Steve" sounded too much like a "jock" name.^[14] S. R. Shutt's biography of Smith speculates that it was either inspired by the name of a street that Smith had lived on in Portland, Elliott Avenue, or that it was suggested by his then-girlfriend. A junior-high acquaintance of Smith speculates that it was so as not to be confused with Steve Smith, the drummer of Journey.^[15]

Smith graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1991 with a degree in philosophy and political science. "Went straight through in four years," he explained to Under the Radar in 2003. "I guess it proved to myself that I could do something I really didn't want to for four years. Except I did like what I was studying. At the time it seemed like, 'This is your one and only chance to go to college and you had just better do it because some day you might wish that you did.' Plus, the whole reason I applied in the first place was because of my girlfriend, and I had gotten accepted already even though we had broken up before the first day." After he graduated he "worked in a bakery back in Portland with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and legal theory."^[9]

Smith (second from left) played guitar and provided vocals in Heatmiser.

While at Hampshire, Smith formed the band Heatmiser with Neil Gust (a classmate at Hampshire) and Jason Hornick (who attended college nearby and had played in Stranger Than Fiction with Smith). After graduating from Hampshire, the band reconfigured (now Smith, Gust, Tony Lash, and Brandt Peterson (replaced after recording Mic City Sons in August of 1994 by Sam Coomes, later of Quasi) to pursue music professionally in Portland. Their sound has been compared to Fugazi and other punk and grunge rock bands. The group recorded one album and an EP for Lisa Fancher's Frontier Records, and were then signed by Andy Factor to Virgin Records to release what became their final album, Mic City Sons.

Smith and manager J.J. Gonson convinced Virgin, who legally owned the first three solo works, to license them to Cavity Search and then to Kill Rock Stars to allow an organic development of his burgeoning but delicate solo career. The resulting attention to Smith's solo work created tension with his band, who were still recording their debut major label release. BMG Publishing had discovered and signed Smith's solo work further separating him from the group. Heatmiser disbanded prior to Mic City Sons' release, prompting Virgin to put the album out inauspiciously through its independent arm, Caroline Records.

Fresh interest in Smith's seemingly independent solo career brought the ears of DreamWork's Lenny Waronker and prompted a plan to get out of the Virgin contract rather than be beholden by the 'leaving man' clause in Heatmiser's contract. The richer deal at Dreamworks was orchestrated as Virgin replaced heads of the company with new British managing directors who were unaware of Smith.

Music sample:

"Condor Ave"

Sample of Elliott Smith's "Condor Ave" from Roman Candle (1994), reported to have been written when he was around 17 years old,^[7] showing Smith's early song-writing style and lo-fi sound.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Shortly before the dissolution of Heatmiser, Smith began recording solo, mostly acoustic albums on borrowed four-track cassette machines. His solo material was more sparse and moody than his previous band, with lyrics that referenced chemical dependency, depression, and betrayal.

His first release, Roman Candle (1994), came about when Smith's girlfriend at the time convinced him to send a tape of the songs to Cavity Search Records. Owner Christopher Cooper immediately requested to release the entire album of songs, which surprised Smith, as he was only expecting a deal for a seven-inch record.^[16] The instrumentation of the recordings was primarily acoustic guitar, occasionally accompanied by brief electric guitar riffs or a small drum set played with brushes. Only the final track, an instrumental titled "Kiwi Maddog 20/20" (a reference to the bum wine MD 20/20), had full band instrumentation.

Smith's debut solo performance was at the now-defunct Umbra Penumbra on September 17, 1994. Only three songs from Roman Candle were performed, with the majority of the ten-song set comprised of B-sides, Heatmiser tunes, and unreleased tracks.^[17] Soon after this performance, he was asked to open for Mary Lou Lord on a week-long U.S. tour. Several more short tours followed, and Smith helped her record one of his songs "I Figured You Out", which he once called "a stupid pop song [written] in about a minute" that he discarded for "[sounding] like the fucking Eagles."^[18]

Music sample:

"Pictures of Me"

Sample of Elliott Smith's "Pictures of Me" from Either/Or (1997) showing his style of vocal harmony through multi-tracking. The track also showcases the album's expanded instrumentation, with all instruments being played by Smith.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

In 1995, the self-titled album Elliott Smith was released on Kill Rock Stars; the record featured a similar style of recording to Roman Candle, but not without hints of growth and experimentation. Though the majority of the album was recorded by Smith alone, friend and Spinanes vocalist Rebecca Gates sang harmony vocals on "St. Ides Heaven", and Heatmiser guitarist Neil Gust played guitar on "Single File". Although songs like "Needle in the Hay" implied that Smith was beginning to have drug troubles, he would maintain that he was clean of hard drugs throughout the 1990s.

In 1996, filmmaker Jem Cohen recorded Smith playing acoustic songs for the short film Lucky Three: an Elliott Smith Portrait. Two of these songs would appear on his next album, Either/Or, another Kill Rock Stars release that came out in 1997 to favorable reviews. The album found Smith venturing further into full instrumentation, with several songs containing bass, drums, keyboards and electric guitars, all played by Smith. The album title was derived from the two-volume book of the same name by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, which deals with such themes as existential despair, dread, death and God.

In 1996, Smith was tapped by director and fellow Portland resident Gus Van Sant to be a part of the soundtrack to his film, Good Will Hunting. Smith recorded an orchestral version of "Between the Bars" with acclaimed composer Danny Elfman for the movie. Smith also contributed a new song, "Miss Misery," and three other previously released tracks from Roman Candle ("No Name #3") and Either/Or ("Angeles" and "Say Yes"). The film was a commercial and critical success, and Smith was nominated for an Academy Award for "Miss Misery". Not eager to step into the limelight, he only agreed to perform the song at the ceremony after the producers informed him that his song would be played live that night—either by him or another musician of their choosing.^[19]

Elliott Smith performing "Miss Misery" at the 1998 Academy Awards.

On March 5, 1998, Smith made his network television debut on Late Night With Conan O'Brien performing "Miss Misery" solo on acoustic guitar.^[20] A few days later, wearing a white suit, he played an abridged version of the song at the Oscars, accompanied by the house orchestra. James Horner and Will Jennings won the award that night for best song with "My Heart Will Go On" (sung by Celine Dion) from the film Titanic. Smith did not voice disappointment about not winning the award.^[21]

Smith commented on the surrealism of the Oscars experience: "That's exactly what it was, surreal... I enjoy performing almost as much as I enjoy making up songs in the first place. But the Oscars was a very strange show, where the set was only one song cut down to less than two minutes, and the audience was a lot of people who didn't come to hear me play. I wouldn't want to live in that world, but it was fun to walk around on the moon for a day."^[22]

Smith in a press photo circa 2000.

In 1998, after the success of Either/Or and "Miss Misery", Smith signed to a bigger independent record label, DreamWorks Records. Around the same time, Smith fell into depression. While in North Carolina, he became severely intoxicated and ran off a cliff. He landed on a tree, which despite badly impaling him, broke his fall.^[6]

Smith's first release for DreamWorks was later that year. Titled XO, it was produced by the team of Rob Schnapf and Tom Rothrock. XO also contained some instrumentation from well-known Los Angeles musicians Joey Waronker and Jon Brion. It contained a more full-sounding, baroque pop sound than any of his previous efforts, with songs featuring a horn section, Chamberlins and elaborate string arrangements and even a drum loop on the song "Independence Day". His familiar double-tracked vocal and acoustic guitar style was still apparent. The album went on to peak at number 104 on the Billboard 200^[23] and sold 400,000 copies^[24] (more than double that of each of his two Kill Rock Stars releases), becoming the best-selling release of his career.^[25] Smith's backing band during most of this period was the Portland-based group Quasi, consisting of former bandmate Sam Coomes on bass guitar and Coomes's ex-wife Janet Weiss on drums. Quasi also performed as the opening act at many shows on the tour, with Smith sometimes contributing bass, guitar or backing vocals.

On October 17, 1998, Smith appeared on Saturday Night Live. He sported a worn T-shirt featuring an image of Steve Martin, an apparent nod to the comedian/musician who had hosted SNL frequently, and performed "Waltz #2." His backing band for this appearance was John Moen, Jon Brion, Rob Schnapf and Sam Coomes.

In response to whether the change to a bigger record label would influence his creative control, Smith said: "...sometimes people look at major labels as simply money-making machines, they're actually composed of individuals who are real people, and there's a part of them that needs to feel that part of their job is to put out good music."^[26] Smith also claimed in another interview that he never read his reviews for fear that they would interfere with his songwriting.^[27]

Music sample:

"Son of Sam"

Sample of Elliott Smith's "Son of Sam", the first single from Figure 8 (2000) showing Smith's continuing development of a "more sonically detailed"^[28] and lush sound.

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

Figure 8 came in 2000, featuring the return of Rothrock, Schnapf, Brion and Waronker, and was partially recorded at Abbey Road Studios in England. The album garnered generally positive reviews^[29] and peaked at number 99 on the Billboard 200.^[30] The album garnered praise for its power pop style and complex arrangements, described as creating a "sweeping kaleidoscope of layered instruments and sonic textures."^[28] However, some reviewers felt that Smith's trademark dark and melancholy songwriting had lost some of its sublety, with one reviewer likening some of the songs to "the self-pitying complaints of an adolescent venting in his diary."^[31]

Album art and promotional pictures showed Smith looking cleaned-up and well-put-together. An extensive tour in promotion of the record ensued, including television appearances on Late Night With Conan O'Brien and The Late Show With David Letterman. However, Smith's condition began to deteriorate as he had become addicted to heroin either towards the end of or just after the Figure 8 tour.^[6]

A follow-up to Smith's 2000 album was originally planned to happen with Rob Schnapf, but their sessions were abandoned. Smith also began distancing himself from manager Margaret Mittleman, who had handled him since the Roman Candle days.^[6] He finally began recording a new album with only himself and Jon Brion as producers sometime during 2001. The pair had recorded a substantial amount of music for the album, when Brion confronted Smith about his drug and alcohol abuse.^[32] Their friendship promptly ended, and Smith scrapped all of their work up until that point. He later said: "There was even a little more than half of a record done before this new one that I just scrapped because of a blown friendship with someone that made me so depressed I didn't want to hear any of those songs. He was just helping me record the songs and stuff, and then the friendship kind of fell apart all of a sudden one day. It just made it kind of awkward being alone in the car listening to the songs."^[19]

When Brion sent a bill for the abandoned sessions to DreamWorks, executives Lenny Waronker and Luke Wood scheduled a meeting with Smith to determine what went wrong with the sessions. The singer voiced what he believed to be intrusion upon his personal life from the label, as well as poor promotion for the Figure 8 album. The talks proved to be fruitless, and soon after, Smith sent a message to the executives, stating that if they did not release him from his contract, he would take his own life.^[6] In May 2001, Smith set out to re-record the album, mostly on his own, but with some help from David McConnell, a member of the band Goldenboy. McConnell told SPIN that, during this time, Smith would smoke over $1500 worth of heroin and crack per day, would often talk about suicide, and on numerous occasions tried to give himself an overdose. Steven Drozd (of The Flaming Lips) and Scott McPherson played a few drum tracks, Sam Coomes contributed some bass and backing vocals, but almost every other instrument was recorded by Smith.

Smith's live performances during 2001 and 2002 were infrequent, typically in the Pacific Northwest or Los Angeles. A review of his December 20, 2001 show at Portland's Crystal Ballroom stated concern over his appearance and performance: his hair was uncharacteristically greasy and long; his face was bearded and gaunt; and during his songs he exhibited alarming signs of "memory-loss and butterfingers".^[33] The crowd would often have to shout out the lyrics (and in some cases, guitar chords) when Smith could not think of them.^[34]

In the first of only three concerts performed in 2002, Smith co-headlined Northwestern University's "A&O Ball" with Wilco on May 2 in Chicago.^[35] Smith's performance was described as "undoubtedly one of the worst performances ever by a musician"^[36] and an "excruciating...nightmare".^[37] A reporter for the online magazine Glorious Noise made the statement "...it would not surprise me at all if Elliott Smith ends up dead within a year."^[38]

On November 25, 2002, Smith was involved in a brawl with the Los Angeles Police Department at a Flaming Lips/Beck concert.^[39] Smith later said he was defending a man he thought the police were harassing. Assuming he was homeless, the officers supposedly beat and arrested him and his girlfriend, Jennifer Chiba. The two spent the night in jail. Smith's hand and back were injured in the incident, causing him to cancel a number of shows.^[19] Wayne Coyne, lead singer of The Flaming Lips and a friend of Smith's, stated concern over Smith's appearance and actions, saying that he "saw a guy who had lost control of himself. He was needy, he was grumpy, he was everything you wouldn't want in a person. It's not like when you think of Keith Richards being pleasantly blissed out in the corner."^[40]

Smith had attempted to go to rehab several times, but said he "couldn't honestly do the first step... I couldn't say what you were supposed to say and mean it."^[19] In fall of 2002, Smith went to the Neurotransmitter Restoration Center in Beverly Hills to start a course of treatment for his drug addiction. In one of his final interviews, he spoke about the center: "What they do is an IV treatment where they put a needle in your arm, and you're on a drip bag, but the only thing that's in the drip bag is amino acids and saline solution. I was coming off of a lot of psych meds and other things. I was even on an antipsychotic, although I'm not psychotic."^[19] After his 34th birthday on August 6, 2003, he gave up alcohol, caffeine, red meat, refined sugar and his longtime (sometimes abused) regimen of psychological medication.^[6] Director Mike Mills had been working with Smith during his final years and described Smith's troubles and apparent recovery: "I gave the script to him, then he dropped off the face of the earth… He went through his whole crazy time, but by the time I was done with the film, he was making From a Basement on a Hill and I was shocked that he was actually making music."^[41]

With things improving for Smith after several troubled years, he began experimenting with noise music and worked on his girlfriend Jennifer Chiba's iMac with the intent of learning how to record with computers, noting that it was the only method with which he was still unfamiliar.^[19] Smith jokingly labeled his experimental way of recording "The California Frown" (a play on the Beach Boys' "California Sound").^[42] He said of the songs: "They're kind of more noisy with the pitch all distorted. Some are more acoustic, but there aren't too many like that. Lately I've just been making up a lot of noise."^[19]

He was also in the process of recording songs for the Thumbsucker soundtrack,^[43] including Big Star's "Thirteen", and Cat Stevens' "Trouble".^[41] In August 2003, Suicide Squeeze Records put out a limited-edition vinyl single for "Pretty (Ugly Before)", a song that Smith had been playing since the Figure 8 tour. Steve Hanft described Smith's last six months of life as being "like the light at the end of the tunnel" and was convinced that Smith was clean and recovered.^[44]

Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003, at age 34 from two stab wounds to the chest.^[45] According to girlfriend Jennifer Chiba, with whom he was living at the time, the two were arguing, and she locked herself in the bathroom.^[46] Chiba heard him scream, and upon opening the door, saw Smith standing with a steak knife in his chest. She pulled the knife out, after which he collapsed and she called 911. Smith died in hospital with the time of death listed as 1:36 p.m. While Smith's death was originally reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in late December 2003 left open the question of possible homicide.^[45] A possible suicide note, written on a Post-it, read, I'm so sorry—love, Elliot. God forgive me. The misspelling of "Elliott" was later acknowledged as a mistake on the part of the coroner.^[45]

According to Pitchfork, producer Larry Crane reported on his Tape Op message board that he had planned to help Smith mix his album in mid-November. Crane wrote: "I hadn't talked to Elliott in over a year. His girlfriend, Jennifer, called me [last week] and asked if I'd like to come to L.A. and help mix and finish [Smith's album]. I said yes, of course, and chatted with Elliott for the first time in ages. It seems surreal that he would call me to finish an album and then a week later kill himself. I talked to Jennifer this morning, who was obviously shattered and in tears, and she said, 'I don't understand, he was so healthy.'"^[47] The coroner's report revealed that no traces of illegal substances or alcohol were found in his system at the time of his death. The coroner did find anti-depressant and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medications in his system, but at prescribed levels.^[48] With his death not being officially declared a suicide, a journalist noted that some have suspected foul play, but also that the authorities do not seem to be investigating the case further.^[49]

The memorial outside Solutions Audio in Los Angeles, California in August 2006.

Soon after his death, a fan memorial was initiated outside of Solutions Audio (4334 Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California), the site where the cover of the Figure 8 album was shot. Farewell messages to Smith were written on the wall, flowers were brought and photos, candles and empty bottles of alcohol mentioned in Smith's songs were left.^[50] The owner of Solutions has, for the time being, allowed the memorial to stand. Memorial concerts were held in several cities in America and England.^[42] A petition was soon put forth with intent to make part of the Silver Lake area a memorial park in Smith's honor. It received over 10,000 signatures, but no plans to go forth with the park have been announced.^[42] Another memorial is located inside Smith's former high school, Lincoln High, and was erected in July 2006.^[51]

Since Smith's death many musical acts have paid him tribute. Songs in tribute to, or about Smith have been released by Rilo Kiley ("Ripchord" and "It Just Is" on More Adventurous^[52]), Sparta ("Bombs and Us"^[42]), Third Eye Blind ("Elliott Smith" on Symphony of Decay), Mary Lorson ("Lonely Boy" on Realistic^[53]), Ben Folds ("Late" on Songs for Silverman^[54]) and Rhett Miller ("The Believer" on The Believer^[55]). Several tribute albums have been released since his death: To: Elliott From: Portland, Home to Oblivion: Elliott Smith Tribute (piano) and A Tribute to Elliott Smith.

Cover of the posthumously released From a Basement on the Hill.

From a Basement on the Hill, with almost four years in production, was finally released October 19, 2004 by ANTI- Records (a part of Epitaph Records). With Smith's family in control of his estate, they chose to bring in Rob Schnapf and Smith's ex-girlfriend Joanna Bolme to sort through and mix the album. Although predicted by Smith to be a double album (or a regular album with a "bonus disc"), it was released as a 15-track single album. Many of the darkest songs from the sessions (later leaked onto the internet) were not included, such as "True Love" (which deals graphically with addiction and then rehab), "Abused", "Stickman" and "Suicide Machine" (a reworking of the Figure 8 era unreleased instrumental, "Tiny Time Machine").^[32] It is rumored that it was the family's wishes not to have these songs on the record, as they had the final say in what should and should not be released.^[32] Reviews of the album were mostly very positive.^[56] Despite this, there was some criticism of the album, for example, The Onion's A.V. Club wrote that "the album he left behind turns out to be messy, complicated, and unquestionably not his defining work...the album still earns its place—not at the top, and unfortunately as a bookend—in a jarringly important body of work."^[57]

Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing, a biography by Benjamin Nugent, was rushed to publication and hit stores shortly after From a Basement on the Hill, barely beyond the first anniversary of the musician's death. It contained in-depth interviews with Rob Schnapf, David McConnell, and Pete Krebs. Smith's family, Joanna Bolme, Jennifer Chiba, Neil Gust, Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss all declined to be interviewed.

On May 8, 2007, a posthumous two-disc compilation album named New Moon was released by Kill Rock Stars. The album contained 24 songs recorded by Smith between 1994 and 1997 during his tenure with the label. The songs consisted of demos, early versions, previously released b-sides and some unfinished tracks. In the U.S., the album debuted at number 24 on the Billboard 200, selling about 24,000 copies in its first week.^[58] The record was given mainly favorable reviews, and maintains a rating of 85 out of 100 at MetaCritic.^[59] A significant portion of the proceeds from album sales are to go to Outside In, a social service agency for low-income adults and homeless youth in Portland, Oregon.^[60]

On October 25, 2007 a book called Elliott Smith was released by Autumn DeWilde, which consists of photographs, handwritten lyrics and "revealing talks with Smith's inner circle, many speaking here for the first time."^[61][62] A five song CD featuring previously unreleased live recordings of Smith performing acoustically at Club Largo in Los Angeles was included in the release.

Regarding his songwriting, Smith said:^[63]

Smith said that transitions were his favourite part of songs and that he preferred to write broader, more impressionistic music closer to pop rather than folk music.^[10] Smith compared his songs to stories or dreams, not purely confessional pieces that people could relate to.^[22] When asked about the dark nature of his songwriting and the cult following he was gaining, Smith said he felt it was merely a product of him writing songs that were strongly meaningful to him rather than anything contrived.^[22] British singer-songwriter James Blunt has cited Smith as an influence saying "I heard [his] album Either/Or and immediately loved the honesty. It was his lack of ego that really drew me to him."^[64]

Smith was inspired by and respected many artists and styles including Smokey Robinson, Hank Williams, Kiss, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Led Zeppelin, Bauhaus,^[10] The Saints^[65], Television, Belle & Sebastian, Quasi, Radiohead, John Doe, Stevie Wonder, Sam Coomes, Nico, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Motown and flamenco records, AC/DC,^[66] Scorpions^[67], Modest Mouse^[68] and The Beatles. Smith claimed to listen to select albums for months, such as The Marble Index by Nico.^[66] Sean Croghan (a former roommate of Smith's and member of bands Jr. High and Crackerbash) said that Smith "listened almost exclusively to slow jams" in his senior year at college.^[67] Smith was also known to gain inspiration from novels, religion and philosophy. He liked classic literature, especially Samuel Beckett, T. S. Eliot, and Fyodor Dostoevsky (and other Russian novelists).^[66]

Smith was a dedicated fan of The Beatles (as well as their solo projects) and once noted that he had been listening to them frequently since he was about "four years old"^[69] and that hearing The White Album was his original inspiration to become a musician.^[66] In 1998, Smith recorded and contributed a cover of the Beatles song "Because" to the American Beauty soundtrack, which can be heard during the closing credits of the film. Although this was the only Beatles song that Smith ever officially released, he is known to have recorded at least one other ("Revolution", during the sessions for XO), and played many songs by both the band and the members' solo projects at live concerts.^[70] Smith was also rumored to have recorded a version of "Hey Jude" for the 2001 Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums to be played during the opening scenes, but the song never materialized. In a December 2004 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Anderson said that although Smith was lined up to record the song, he "was in a bad state and just wasn't able to."^[71] However, The Royal Tenenbaums did ultimately include Smith's song "Needle in the Hay", played during the suicide attempt of one of the film's principal characters.

• Nugent, Benjamin (2004). Elliott Smith and the Big Nothing. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-81393-9. 
• Shutt, S. R. (2002). The Time It Took a Cigarette to Burn. Scenes from the Life and Art of Elliott Smith. Retrieved on 2007-02-01.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Elliott Smith

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Elliott Smith

• SweetAdeline.net - Official Elliott Smith website
• SweetAddy.com - Official discussion forums
• Cavity Search Records
• Kill Rock Stars

• Elliott Smith at the All Music Guide
• Elliott Smith discography at MusicBrainz
• Elliott Smith at the Internet Movie Database
• BrainyQuote - Elliott Smith quotes
• BBC obituary

• ElliottSmithBsides.com - Unreleased demos
• Archive.org - Extensive collection of full-length live recordings on the Internet Archive
• Trash Treasury - Download hub for live recordings and discussion forum
• BlamoNet - Image gallery