Added: 5 years ago
From: maybejustmaybe
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  • I don't think he knew how good he really was. Probably by far and away, one of the greatest songs ever written!!!

  • I didn't think much of Elliott Smith songs until I listened to this video, but feeling his passion he puts into the song made me understand. Now I listen to his music every day. Thank you for posting this video, I can't image life without experiencing Elliott's work.

  • For me, the thing that separates him is that he really was the anti-star. Some artists try to act anti-star as their shtick, but he truly was the opposite of the prototype rock star. He was shy, didn't really enjoy performing live, I don't think I've ever seen a single interview where he even remotely promoted himself or bragged himself up.

    To me, that makes him one of the most authentic music superstars I've ever seen. And I think that's why you see people being drawn to him more and more.

  • about his mom?

  • I REALLY LOVE HIS VOICE.

  • I love you buddy

  • i wish i could hug him

  • I'm crying, right now.

  • Get a fucking life of your own and stop trying to speak for him. He was one of the most talented musicians in the world.

  • only after you have lost everything, are you free to do anything

  • great cover of this from my son....channel name is primussux...lots of other great stuff too...covers and originals thanx:)

  • "Just" one man and his guitar, and yet it feels like the quietest explosion. I do think of Nick Drake when I listen to Elliott Smith, and so it seems fitting to think of the Blake poem that Drake borrowed an album title from, to describe the effect of this music - "To see a world in a grain of sand, And a heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour."

  • No offence to Elliot Smith because he was the most talented and intelligent singer to ever have lived, but I feel his songs were better recorded than they were live. His voice and guitar playing seem more calm and mellow in his recordings and when he plays live he seems a bit more tense and trying to catch people's attention. Hat's off to him all the same.

  • @qiminafix Elliott was very shy and can often be seen sweating and showing other signs off stress or anxiety when performing live. He just couldn't perform as well because of it. 

  • I bet if you played that hosts intro backwards he'd be speaking English.

  • hauntingly beautiful

  • "Im never gonna know you now but Im gonna love you anyhow". How I wish I had known about him before he had died. He haunts us all in his beautiful tragic music I think. It breaks my heart to hear him sing but i wouldn't stop listening for the world.

  • Watched this video more times than I can count, but it still gives me chills.

  • holy lord, this is fucking devastating

  • wonder how come they don't show the other person playing with him?

  • those who disliked deserve to die

  • I'm never gonna know you now, but I'm gonna love you anyhow. Love you and miss you, Elliott.

  • great cover: primussux (channel)

  • i cried

  • The bit he says in the beginning about presenting things truthfully as supposed to sentimental and idealized is really interesting and seems to be the heart of his writing. Everything in his songs has an element of presenting an image and then presenting again in a different light, within the same line. His lyrics are concrete enough to invoke real images but abstract enough to let you build them yourself...this is the mark of a real poet...one who happened to be a musical genius as well.

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  • lol hes talking shit

  • i love what he says at the begining

  • I don't people realise how intelligent Elliott's comments at the beginning are. I'm studying English, and his comments on authorship are as profound as some of the greats such as TS Eliot etc. Such an amazing guy; he like totally knew what was going on.

  • Absolutely stunning.

  • rest in peace man, "I'm never gonna know you now, but i'm gonna love you anyhow"

  • You were too good for this world.

  • First John Lennon, then Kurt Cobain and next Jeff Buckley and later Elliott Smith. Why do all the great musicians die young?!?!?

  • @rockonhard77 Exactly. = (

  • @rockonhard77 because there wives suck the life out of them...RIP guys

  • @rockonhard77

    Gram Parsons, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix.. and so many more.

    The tortured ones make the greatest music,, but this world can't hold them long.

  • @SunShawnSean

    "people say you need to suffer to play the blues - I just like the sound of it"

    Jimi Hendrix

    But yeah, you're right, it's really quite simple: the stronger the feeling, the better the music. But on the other hand, you don't need to be sad to write good music. Every one can do it... Jimi's songs weren't too sad, were they?

  • @rockonhard77 Jeff Magnum is still alive. Though NMH has disbanded...

  • "i'm never gonna know you know, but i'm gonna love you anyhow."

  • 0:25 Right when he says tag the name Elliott Smith pop up on his forehead sorta like a label tagging him.

  • @startoftext

    i lol'd

  • @startoftext it would had been even funnier if it said singer /songwriter below his name. lol

  • 13 people are not fans of music

  • I don't know if he committed suicide. But I'm sure he did, but whatever. He might not be here anymore but his music is and it's never leaving. Focus on that. We're never gonna know you now, Elliott, but we're gonna love you anyhow. XO

  • i love it how he moves his knee on a lot of his shows,cause he so into his music.

  • Elliott didn't commit suicide.

  • he always looks like he's about to cry. the fuck? lol

  • how beautiful

  • Watching him sing this broke my heart - he truly seemed on the verge of tears... Bless your Beautiful Heart, Elliot, and Thank You for sharing your Gift with us!

  • im never gonna know you now. but im gonna love you anyhow. sooo true

  • One of the important things about his music that he talked about is that it isn't writen to be sad like in his quote which goes somthing like, "I don't make my songs sad to be depressing I make them that way so the happyness stands out"

  • @ezz112358 For someone like him music is VERY VERY therapeutic, and his comes off as completely genuine. A lot of music does sound contrived...As if the artist is reaching in order to get their audience to feel a certain way. Mostly heard from older/aging established bands/artists. You can't fake REAL MUSIC...Raw, genuine self-expression. It is less and less common these days. This guy wrote and performed some truly beautiful songs, and the authenticity rings loud and clear in the music.

  • elliot alive!

  • Elliott Smith...

    He's just so great!

    his shyness, his amazing songwriting, i love every thing about him!

    Miss you more every song i listen!

  • Elliott Smith was a musical Genius, no doubt about it, but he also had a way with words. He's easily my favorite songwriter. I get blown away every time I listen to his music.

  • He stated the perfect description of what a song is... I listen to him with great appreciation and respect. He knew exactly what he was doing and was great at it. Godspeed, Elliott Smith.

  • Shit

  • luv da intro

  • Ive always been an album type of listener. My favorite bands make good records not just good songs. Thats what I love the most about elliott....he has a couple of songs I dont like but thats about it. I only wish he has put out a couple more records.....what a genius

  • i love him

  • R.I.P Elliott

  • i think all he is tryin to say......because he has said somethin similar to this before is that he doesnt want people to think his music is all this touchy feely accoustic chick rock

  • beautiful, thank you for posting this

  • His music always has something new to say every time you hear it. It wouldn't be that way if he had taken the normal singer -songwriter route.

    R.I.P. Elliott your music is still saying everything you wanted it to

  • It's hard to look at this and see him killing himself. He just seems like someone you wish you'd known and could've cheered up.

  • I couldn't agree more...

  • this is the most beautiful fucking thing ever. i cry when he talks about new york and he had the most beautiful perfectly white teeth ever :)

  • true what he says about songs being interpreted in different ways. this song is a crazy mix of happy and sad

  • the look on his face when he says

    "XO, mom,"

    is one of those pictures that's worth a thousand words

  • aren't all pictures supposedly worth a thousand words?

  • fucking beautiful

  • he looks so pained playing this.. that man was truly deeply troubled

  • "I'm so glad that my memory's remote, 'cause I'm doin' just fine hour to hour note to note..."

    How many times have you listened to Elliott and said, "I wish I wrote that!"

    Elliott was a virtuoso with total originality. I miss him every time I hear him. This is a great version of Waltz #2. Cool vid. Thanks for posting it.

  • @Meddle1969: Elliot was a virtuoso???? Are you kidding? It's one thing to think someone is talented but a virtuoso?? A virtuoso is someone with extreme technical skill. Art Tatum was a virtuoso. Elliot Smith made the simplest music possible. Nothing he did on guitar or piano was anywhere near approaching virtuoso level. My God, man.

  • @tomthefunky Well, have you ever seen him playing at his best? The effortless chord changes? He played every instrument on much of his work. He composed almost all of his work. He's a wonderfully original and touching vocalist.

    If his talents are so simple, then why are so many musicians into him? Virtuosity can relate to compositional contributions as well as performance.

    To me, if you consider the total scope of his talents, ES was a virtuoso. But hey, sorry if I offended Art Tatum.

  • @Meddle1969: I'm sorry, but I don't think you understand the true definition of the word. Mozart was a virtouso. George Gershwin was a virtuoso. Not because they "composed their own work" or they were "wonderfully original and touching" or "so many musicians are into him/them". They are virtuosos because of the gargantuan enormity of their musical skills. Virtuosos are the musical equivalent of an Albert Einstein. Elliot probably understood the Diatonic Major scale and that's as far as he got.

  • @tomthefunky: Can you quantify beauty? Did you ever hear Mozart? I doubt you're THAT old. A singer/songwriter cannot be a virtuoso? Methinks you have a far narrower definition/interpretation than I. Agree to disagree.

  • @Meddle1969: Yes, I do have a far narrower definition of the word. Virtousos are usualy people that understand music theory at levels equivalent to chess champions or mathmaticians. I'm a guitarist and I could learn the average Elliot Smith song in ten minutes. I'll bet I know more theory than he did and I'm certainly a better guitarist than him. But to call me a virtuoso would be ludicrus. Virtuosity describes freakishly exceptional technical skills and nothing more.

  • @tomthefunky: You ever write a decent song? I guess you could probably write some better than Between the Bars in "ten minutes" too, right? Enjoy.

  • @Meddle1969: You still don't get it. I'll give you another example of true virtuosity. John Coltrane did a song where he averaged a chord change every eighth of a second. That requires a skill and a mastery of his instrument very few humans can achieve.

    Don't be a wise-ass. My point was that nothing he ever wrote was so complex that I'm left in awe at his compositional prowess. If he was a virtuoso, it would take ages for me to learn even one of his songs.

  • @tomthefunky : YOU don't get it. I fully understand your narrow definition of the word I used. You choose to not accept my usage which is your want. I will use the word as I see fit. Get over yourself. For the 2ND TIME -- agree to disagree. And, calling me a wise ass in the face of your condescension is pretty funny. Let's go our own ways, chiefie. Peace.

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  • @tomthefunky get out of your head, you friggin commie. its fun out here. dude wants to say elliott smith's a virtuoso, let the dude say it. it just makes you look small that your life is lame enough to debate heatedly the definitions of classical jargon on youtube.

  • @TheTsnow: Commie? Why are you calling me a commie? You are obviously a putz. I love the people that decide what and what isn't proper conversation on youtube. Don't you realize how lame YOU are? We were having a debate on a topic that you don't like. You jump in to tell me you don't like it? How fucked up and pathetic is that? Mind your fucking business, dummy.

  • "i'm never gonna know you know, but i'm gonna love you anyhow"

  • he was his own true genius.

  • wat is this song actually called?????????????? ..its really good

  • Waltz #2 (XO)

  • even though hes gone, he left his songs.

    so his life was meaningful even if he didnt know it.

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  • he was a genious

  • A true individual.

  • i guess he didnt get what he wanted at all.

  • People, a little respect please. This isn't about you right now.

  • HAHAHA lamest call!

  • you're a cool dude

  • Pretty cool how you called his dad stupid, Makes you well nails! Before calling other people stupid learn to spell, or even easier for idiots like you... Use spell checker.

  • Why Did He Go  R.I.P

  • cuz hes dead

  • show some fucking respect

    PRICK

  • @swedenboy10 many people get more attention because they have passed on but really he deserves alot of credit (more than he received during his short life)

  • Elliott Smith is the best singer/songwriter ever. And with music only deteriorating nowadays it's nice to have Elliott to listen to... :)

  • I miss you... : (

  • wow, you really are intelligent.

  • does anybody know the name of song he plays at the start ?

  • He said "I'm here to day, expected to stay, on and on and on." But he didn't stay. That's really sad

  • waltz #2

  • DUH

  • haha, that made no sense at all. You are an idiot, completely deviod of all intellect making an argument without any merit. I can imagine you love jumping on youtube after a fun day of high school (or middle school...elementary?) and posting your little comments all night, listening to your generic, mediocre radio rock. How about next time, YOU think about why you write shit like that, oh and study extra hard in english class.

  • That was by far the most well constructed arguement ever....idiot.

  • what's the point of leaving comments like that?

  • I've seen you post these insulting comments on other Elliott Smith videos. Why do you keep doing this? What did Elliott Smith ever do to you that you would hate him so much? It seems like you are just some sort of insecure person that gets a kick out of degrading people that are better and more talented than you

  • I completely understand what he's talking about... i'm about to shed a tear

    we love you elliot <3

  • he's got some great philosophies about music. I love how he said he wasn't nervous playing at the oscars because people weren't there to listen to him and it was like playing on the moon.

  • such a peaceful man, he calms me down. so beautiful.

  • Who cares how he died. It's over and done with. Appreciate his music, no need for negativity.

  • I agree, He was a huge Beatles fan and you can defiantly hear the influence of the Beatles in some of his songs.

  • Eillot was a good songwriter, very Beatles and Nick Drake influenced

  • Elliott Smith never even listened to Nick Drake until he heard that people were assuming he was influenced by him. And then he listened to a couple songs but said he thought Drake's music was a lot "softer."

  • I can see why he would say nick drake is softer. Nicks got that melodic 70's instrumental sound to it and his voice matches well to it. I think elliotts work is alot darker, more chord progressions and changes, odd harmonizing melodies that actually work (unlike some of your stupid starving artist bnds) and a more cutting voice as apposed to nick drakes deep yet soothing sound. thumbs up on this comment xnothing. :)

  • Thanks, buddy :]

  • Not good, GREAT

  • E L L

     I O T

    T S M I T H

  • Perhaps, but does that really matter? Look at how talented he was, look at all the beautiful songs he gave us. He was a beautiful person inside, that's what counts. To be ugly internally is much worse than having a plain face

  • not just stabbed in the chest no...stabbed in the heart and then the knife was pulled out and i think he was even stabbed again after that. well, its NOT humanly possible to stab yourself in the heart and then pull out the knife, let alone do it again. you can try if you dont believe me.

  • His Girlfriend Killed him And It was proven...

  • im not so sure that he killed himself either, i dont think that was possible for how he died..

  • Not possible to stab yourself in the chest?>

  • Japanese samurai. Ritualistic disembowelment at the hands of oneself plus a master swordsman. Known as "seppuku".The traditional method for males was to stab a sword into their stomach and draw it from left to right. The swordsman assistant then beheads them from behind.They wouldn't so much perform it as they were about to die, but if they lost in battle and could not face the shame. Often the swordsman who beheaded them was an enemy who had captured them and offered them an honourable death.

  • it says that he commit suicide, how dare you

  • no it doesn't. the autopsy was inconclusive. it does not state either suicide nor homicide.

  • och. why are you such a douchebag.

  • Fuck I miss him so much :(

  • xo mum----it's ok----it's alright----nothings wrong!

    in australia we spell mom different.

    I love that line in the song tho

  • He was so kick ass.

  • He was so incredibly beautiful. I pray that he has finally found the peace he deserves.

  • so sad, so amazing.

    i hate that i discovered him so late, or well, early in my life but still too late. i allways get this feeling when i'm listening to his songs, regardless witch one. it feels like "that's what it's all about", sort of. such a liberating feeling. he will allways be my biggest idol, and i really belive that i will be sitting somewhere when i'm like 80 and sing along to his beautiful music.

  • so true! i was only in 3rd grade when he died and didn't discover his music until about last year. i of course didn't know him as a person but his music will always touch me just because its so frank. to have been at an elliott smith concert would have been amazing

  • yeah, i would give soo much to be able to see him just one time. just the atmosphere, it would change my life...

  • I know exactly what you mean.

  • How fucking brilliant is "I'm never going to know you now but I'm going love you anyhow." It's really sad because it relates to my life. :(

    There's not enough compliments to give such an amazing artist. We love you so much, a lot more than we can explain.

    RIP forever.

  • It's obvious he's distracted and unhappy...watch his eyes...

    Still the most fantastic troubadour ever!

  • yeah... it's probably uncomfortable to perform for a camera

  • This song makes me want to cry.

  • The one and only.

    The best there ever was and the best there ever will be.

    We will never forget you Elliott.

  • a musical legend on the same page as John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain etcetc.

    RIP

  • Bob Dylan isn't dead.

  • "tell mr.man with impossible plan, to just leave me alone."

    :-( this is such a sad song. i can feel the frustration and anger towards his step-dad.

    RIP, elliott.

  • does he tune two of the strings differently on this??? i think he might

  • No, he's just detuned it by a whole step.

  • so could you play it with a capo on the fourth fret then?

  • in theory yes. but you would need another 3 fingers on your left hand lol. its way easier to tune your guitar to DGCFAD(whole step down) playing the ordinary spider chords Am-C (with a G bass note)-F-C(with an E bass note) and so on.,

  • i love everything about this man

    everythingggg

  • RIP elliott

  • "In the place where i make no mistakes, in the place where i have what it takes"

  • holy shit i thought this might be a recording until he started singing.  this sounds better than 99% of "live" videos and he's just sitting on a damn sofa in front of a tv crew. i think this proves he was REAL.

  • your right it does sound good another one that sounds good is the 13 the one were his face is kind of red looking that is a good one

  • i love him..

  • he's so real .... so authentic, genuine, sensitive.... love elliot.

  • it's funny that he thought singer/songwriter had a connotation of manipulation to make the listener feel like the writer/performer.

    who doesn't hurt a little listening to Elliott's music?

    not that it was intentional or conscious on his part....

  • @dandelione - What he said is true, but the important thing is that he was pointing out that that is the way he sees the musician-audience dichotomy from his perspective. He was implying that it's not really the case that all musicians are basically manipulating the audience into giving the artist sympathy/acceptance with their songs. He was suggesting that it's not what he does with his songs. He wants the music to stand on its own, and he wants people to like/respect him for his music...