“Usually [the lyrics] go from one word to the next word - there's no finish line. The music was that way, too.” Quote by Stephen Malkmus
“I don't really know where the songs are coming from often. Many of the best things I made up were just off the top of my head.” KnowsMadeSongBest Things Author:Stephen Malkmus
“The best I do, if I'm just playing around and riffing in a fantasy world, and then I'll write something down. Hopefully I write it down.” IfsWorldWritingFantasyHopefullyFantasy WorldsPlaying Around Author:Stephen Malkmus
“I feel the most natural thing is for music to come that way because it's sort of like poetry. Though I do think with poets that I like, like Charles Olson or Ezra Pound, they were rewriting constantly, until the poem becomes a diamond.But with music I don't really feel that way.” ThinkingWayFeelsNaturalPoetPoundsDiamondRewritingNatural Things Author:Stephen Malkmus
“I'm better when I'm an autodidact and things just come. Or you're just blessed. I'm not bragging or anything, it just comes to you.” BlessedBragging Author:Stephen Malkmus
“It's normally in the morning, just playing around. And I'm not saying everything I make is great, but that's what I do. I can't even remember how I wrote stuff.” I CanRememberStuffMorningPlaying Around Author:Stephen Malkmus
“With some songs, I have written narratives or I've tried to carry it through, but generally the things that were more genius, as far as I was concerned, were not that.” SongWrittenGeniusConcernedNarrative Author:Stephen Malkmus
“The narrative songs were well-written, like an article in The New Yorker. They're nice and pat. They're more like I'm just showing I can do that when I write a song like that. It's not my true calling.” WritingWellsI CanSongCan DoNiceWrittenCallingNarrativeArticlesNew YorkersWell Written Author:Stephen Malkmus
“What's invaluable about actually going to the places you want to write about are the random accidental things that happen. Random, accidental detail is the best way to make a setting convincing. You can of course invent your own random details, and sometimes I will also mash up real incidents.” WayWantWritingRealSometimesHappensCoursesDetailsSettingBest WaySettingsConvincingIncidentsInvaluableMash Up Author:Zachary Lazar
“I try to do as little as possible without looking like an idiot. Research is fun and easy. Writing is hard. So I try not to let the research become an excuse to not do the writing part.” WritingTryingLittlesHardFunEasyResearchExcuseIdiot Author:Zachary Lazar
“The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our teacher. That's why, in prayer, we can ask the Lord to open up Scripture and make it come alive to us, to open our understanding. He left his Spirit with us until we join him in Heaven.” SpiritAsksLeftHeavenUnderstandingPrayerLordTeacherAliveHolyScriptureHoly SpiritComforter Author:Michele Bachmann