A Quote by Elliott Smith

I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel. — © Elliott Smith
I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.
I think that the song, the song "Stand By Me" is one of those songs that... and someone asked me, what was you thinking about or what was you feeling about? It's something that, songwriters just write songs. It's like an artist that paints. They paint what they feel. It's not, it's not about how many of these painting I'll sell it's just how they feel at the moment. And that's how I wrote "Stand By Me".
The deeper reality is that I’m not sure if what I do is real. I usually believe that I’m certain about how I feel, but that seems naive. How do we know how we feel?…There is almost certainly a constructed schism between (a) how I feel, and (b) how I think I feel. There’s probably a third level, too—how I want to think I feel.
I think 'Shade Room,' it's a different me. You know, I think it's more on the lyrical side, talking about my life and how I really feel. You know, all these things outside of football. And people really get to look at how I feel about things or how I look at certain things. It's not just a song, more so me just telling people how I feel.
I wouldn't be able to do the songs as long as I've been doing if I didn't feel the pulse of the world. But I can feel people and I know what they want. I feel like I know how they are, because I am the people. And I just have a gift.
The songs I write are about how I feel and the vibe I'm in. So whether I'm on a tour or at home it's like all about how you feel in the certain time you sit down.
I just like to explore honest thoughts or feelings. How I'm feeling at the time. I want to explore it and talk about it and have a conversation with the audience. I want to throw something out there, see how they feel about it, and tell them how I feel about it. I know that's really relaxed, but that's the most fun.
Some of the songs are inspired by personal things that have happened. Others have been inspired by other people's stories, you know, like someone that witnesses something and so I tell the story through my own eyes. And some songs are just about how I feel about the world and others about the places that we have travelled to.
The general public may not have an understanding about me and what I do, how I feel about my children, how I feel about my family, how protective I am over my family and children. They just see a big guy in a cage that fights, that knocks people out or this and that.
I listen to a lot of songs, and they aren't talking about anything. I don't connect with them. I'll listen to something like Musiq Soulchild's 'Just Friends,' and I'm like, 'Wow, I really feel what he's talking about.' That's how I want people to feel about my music.
I realized that I started writing songs to make people feel how I felt, rather than just making them feel something. That's not the way I should do things.
I don't really premeditate what I write my songs about; you know, they just kind of happen, and I can't start writing songs to please a certain group of people or propagate a certain message all the time. That's just not how my songwriting works - it just sort of comes out, and the songs are what they are.
If I were a writer and not a singer in 10 years, I don't know how I'd feel about writing really personal songs and getting someone else to sing them.
I sort of felt like being young was normally written about as being very fun and light-hearted. And I think that's true, but I don't feel like there's a lot of songs about how hard it is when you don't really know who you are or what you want, and you feel like you have to apologize for simply just existing.
It's the movies that have really been running things in America ever since they were invented. They show you what to do, how to do it, when to do it, how to feel about it, and how to look how you feel about it.
I am not an evangelist. I am not a preacher. I am a musician. That is what I know how to do. I know how to write songs. I know how to write things that relate to my heart. I feel that I talk about God in every song, in everything I do - all of it! I really do not know how to respond. I do not relate to that.
I've never written songs about relationships. I've written songs about how I feel. The songs are more about me, than another person. That's the way I like to look at it.
This site uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience. More info...
Got it!