“I want a song that raises the hair on the back of my neck when I sing it live and I want to feel it every time.” WantFeelsSongHairRaisesNecks Author:Zach Condon
“It's funny because you do often read in recounts of very famous albums, people tend to focus on mistakes in really positive ways, and there's certain mistakes of my own that I always do find on every record that I needed to accept. I find it really interesting to talk about. I always write songs at the wrong tempos, and I have to learn to accept that a little bit.” PeopleWayWritingLittlesCertainSongBitsMy OwnInterestingMistakeAcceptingRecordsFocusNeededLittle BitAlbumsReally InterestingTempoVery FamousReally Positive Author:Zach Condon
“Lyrics are what I tend to tear hair out over and they're where I tend to feel weak musically, if I'm being very honest. It is not something I feel like I know anything about; I would not consider myself a writer. I just want to sing, I just want to sing a melody, I just want to feel a melody, and be part of the song, and everything else is not so important.” IfsKnowsWantFeelsImportantSongHonestTearsHairWeakMelody Author:Zach Condon
“If every element of the song doesn't come within the first hour of writing, then you're never going to get it - if that makes sense. It's kind of like you need to be in a mental state where everything is so reactionary that you don't double-think anything, and so if it's not immediate then it's probably not going to happen at all, and you should probably toss the song.” IfsThinkingNeedsShouldWritingFirstsKindStatesHappensSongHoursLike YouElementsMake SenseTossReactionaries Author:Zach Condon
“I'm writing songs about New York. A lot of them carry the names of neighborhoods in Long Island. Maspeth, Montauk. I'm getting into the idea of a F. Scott Fitzgerald-esque Long Island back when New York was...New York.” WritingLongIdeasSongNamesNew YorkIslandsNeighborhoodWriting SongsBack WhenLong IslandScott FitzgeraldMontauk Author:Zach Condon
“The way Jacques Brel writes a story, getting into the character, bringing out all his faults and qualities in the same song.... Not that I could ever write in such an epic way, but it really is a different way to go about writing lyrics...and I find that quite inspiring.” WayWritingDifferentCharacterStoriesSongQualityFaultsDifferent WaysSongwritingEpic Author:Zach Condon