“I just don't like people coming up to me and saying something. It immediately makes you become insincere. There is no way you can react to it sincerely.” PeopleWaySincerelyInsincere Author:Tom Verlaine
“It's like first grade where you make all your mistakes and people see it and yet some people see that there's something there that's really valuable. That's the way it went for more than 2 years almost 3 years of playing.” PeopleWayYearsFirstsMistakeValuableGrades Author:Tom Verlaine
“The first time I met Patti Smith was in a laundromat. We knew some of the same people, including Richard Hell.” PeopleFirstsHellMetsFirst TimeIncludingLaundromats Author:Tom Verlaine
“People ask me this a lot, what a song's about.... I do think analyzing a song can be interesting, although it doesn't necessarily get to the point. It's a whole other side activity. I do like making a thing into pictures. If I get an abstract idea and all the words in it don't represent tangible things, I might try to take the idea and make it into a picture, create a little scene there, an image.” PeopleIfsThinkingTryingLittlesIdeasWholeMightSongAsksSidesInterestingSceneActivityAsk MeAbstractTangibleAnalyzing Author:Tom Verlaine
“Johnny Jewel is how people were maybe two hundred years ago. Back then, when people got up in the morning, they knew what they had to do to get through the day - there were 100% less decisions. Nowadays, we have to decide what we want to buy in grocery stores, what job to take, what work to do. But not Johnny. For him, it's all right there - it's a freer state, and that's what my music is looking for... ... To understand Johnny, you should think of William Blake. He was the same kinda guy.” PeopleThinkingWantShouldYearsTwoStatesJobsGuyDecisionMorningMusic IsHundredYears AgoStoresJewelsGroceriesGrocery StoresBlake Author:Tom Verlaine
“I don't want any production credit. I think producers are overrated. They're for people who, first of all, don't know anything about music or arranging and have no ear for their own doings. They can't tell a good solo from a bad solo, stuff like that.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWantFirstsStuffEarsProductionsCreditProducersSoloOverratedDoingsArranging Author:Tom Verlaine
“Yeah, I'd say there's probably about a couple of hundred people I admire - but that has nothing to do with what a person does themselves. That's why I never mention these things. You can read a detective novel you really like, but it had no bearing on what you do yourself, you just think, "God, how this guy wove this together!" Or you get into the energy of it. Or you see a poem which makes a great statement about sentiment, but it's not sentimental.” PeopleThinkingPersonsDoeTogetherGuyEnergyNovelCoupleHundredYeahStatementsAdmireSentimentsSentimentalThis GuyDetectives Author:Tom Verlaine
“I've seen a lot of people getting into Jazzmasters because of me, and, well, people don't know what they're in for. I mean if you're looking for endless sustain, you're going to have to get it out of your hands (laughs). Because a saxophonist gets it out of his breath. You've got to work for it on the guitar - it means you have to pull it out of yourself, otherwise, what are you doing? You end up playing a lot of noise or scale exercises.” PeopleIfsKnowsWellsMeanEndsHandsLaughingExerciseBreathsGuitarScalesEndlessNoiseDoing You Author:Tom Verlaine
“I recently realized that Television has influenced a lot of English bands. Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, Teardrop Explodes - it's obvious what they've listened to and what they're going for. When I was sixteen I listened to Yardbirds records and thought, "God, this is great." It's gratifying to think that people listened to Television albums and felt the same.” PeopleThinkingFeltRecordsTelevisionBandAlbumsObviousEchoesSixteenTeardrop Author:Tom Verlaine
“With my records, it's just a matter of trying to create something fresh for myself in a very finite context, which is the pop song. I don't know anything about the people who buy my records, and what, if anything, they get out of them.” PeopleIfsKnowsTryingMatterSongRecordsPopsWhat IfFinitePop Song Author:Tom Verlaine
“I always thought I was commercial. I always thought I was writing hit singles. These days, whatever's on the radio is considered commercial. People like what's on the radio, whatever it is.” PeopleWritingRadioThese DaysSingles Author:Tom Verlaine
“I told somebody in Europe I was 43. I never tell my true age. It's ridiculous that people ask. The press doesn't deserve anything but lies.” PeopleAgeLyingAsksDeserveEuropePressesRidiculous Author:Tom Verlaine
