Elliott Smith is still dead and "Needle In The Hay" is still great

My favorite all time musician.

Funny enough, Cobain is my second favorite.

I loved them both WAY before either committed suicide (or were murdered). So after Elliott, I quit having favorite musicians as it became clear I was the kiss of death.

Of all the songs of his I love (basically every one), this is the one I love the most today:

Are you suggesting he was murdered, OP? Is there evidence or anything shady about the reporting? Why do you think it was covered up?

R2. Elliott is one of the best singer songwriters of all time. Think Paul Simon meets Nick Drake. He's known for intricate guitar work, a haunting voice, ethereal melodies and fantastic lyrics.

He was a late 90s staple in the indie music scene. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his song Miss Misery from Good Will Hunting. He committed suicide in 2003 by stabbing himself in the chest.

R3: “While Smith's death was reported as a suicide, the official autopsy report released in December 2003 left open the question of homicide.”

It continues to baffle me that fellow fans could listen to his music, know his personal history (including his history of self-harm and suicide attempts), and question whether it was suicide. The lack of hesitation wounds means a lot less for someone like Smith than it would for most people.

Let’s see: he was fighting with his girlfriend, he had two stab wounds to the chest, and her fingerprints were on the knife because she pulled it out.

Oscar Pistorius went to jail on similar - though not the same - facts.

Yes, ES was suicidal. But there are other factors.

R7, he previously stabbed himself in the chest, among other incidents of abusing himself and trying to end his own life. That was prior to his relationship with Chiba.

My only question about his death is whether he did it because he was genuinely ready to die or if it was a BPD stunt gone awry. The circumstances point to latter, which makes me particularly sad for his partner.

FBI profilers say that serial killers who use knives as their weapon of choice use them as a substitute for a penis—that it's an inherently sexual act. I wonder what that says about someone who commits suicide by stabbing themselves.

The other interesting thing about his death is that was sober.

I remember when he died, I assumed he'd gotten high (after being sober for a while) and offed himself in frustration because, once again, he couldn't stay clean. (Or something to that effect.)

But no. He died sober.

I can’t recall ever hearing of ANYONE else stabbing themselves to death. It’s a hell of a story.

He had a thing for really dramatic ways of killing himself.

Once he was going to throw himself off a cliff, but he couldn't bring himself to do it at the last second.

I saw him perform live twice around the turn of the millennium--once in Portland, once in Knoxville.

Both times I was taken back by how incredibly little presence and charisma he showed on stage until the moment he began to actually sing.

Darnay Hoffman ended his life in the same way.

R13 totally. I saw him at The Echo in December 2002. I was in college and we found out he was doing a secret show. My best friend and I waited all day.

He walked by us at one point and he was so small and nondescript. Cut to him on the stage and he was just mesmerizing once he started. With nothing more than himself and a guitar and that damn voice.