“I used to imagine that making it in music - really making it in music - is if you're an old man going by a schoolyard and you hear children singing your songs, playing jump-rope, or on the swings. That's the ultimate. You're in the culture.” IfsMenChildrenUsedSongCultureImagineMusic IsSingingUltimateOld ManSwingsImagine ThatRopeJump Rope Author:Tom Waits
“The fact that I'm shouting that I have Gangnam style makes people crack up. Imagine if Brad Pitt was singing the song - would it be funny? A twist is important when it comes to writing lyrics.” PeopleIfsWritingImportantFactsSongImagineStyleSingingCracksTwistsShoutingBradGangnam Style Author:PSY
“I try to imagine how we would live if we didn't know we were going to die. Would we live our lives differently? Less careful, maybe? Less scared? These are beautiful things to think about and build a song around.” IfsThinkingKnowsTryingBeautifulSongDiesOur LivesImagineScaredCarefulBeautiful Things Author:Beth Gibbons
“You can imagine several scenes from Star Wars? The way they looked? For me, that's how music is. Sometimes I'll be developing riffs for songs, just while I'm sitting around and not playing.” WayWarSometimesSongStarsImagineSceneMusic IsSittingDevelopingSitting Around Author:Ryan Adams
“As you can imagine, over the years I have been asked many times to discuss and explain my song "American Pie." I have never discussed the lyrics, but have admitted to the Holly reference in the opening stanzas. You will find many interpretations of my lyrics but none of them by me. You will find many “interpretations” of my lyrics but none of them by me. Isn’t this fun? Sorry to leave you all on your own like this but long ago I realized that songwriters should make their statements and move on, maintaining a dignified silence.” ShouldYearsLongHas BeensMovingSongSilenceImagineSorryI RealizedStatementsOpeningInterpretationLong AgoPieSongwritersMaintainingHolliesAmerican Pie Author:Don McLean
“One song isn't going to ever change things, but I suppose it's the accumulation of music generally [that is]. If you can imagine a world that has no music in it, it would be a very different world, so music does change the world by virtue of all the music in it. Cumulative music of every kind, from banging a drum to playing a flute or recording symphonies, or singing 'War, what is it good for?' All those things change the whole way we live.” IfsWorldWayKindDoeDifferentWarWholeWould BeSongVirtueImagineSingingChanging The WorldThings ChangeSymphonyAccumulationDifferent WorldsBangingFlutesCumulative Author:Mick Jagger
“If you're asking if I would be foolish enough, or insulting enough, to write about people in my life that I respect and sell it to the masses as a "break-up song," I can't imagine doing that to people I love.” PeopleIfsWritingI CanEnoughWould BeSongBreakImagineMassAskingSellsFoolishInsulting Author:Jack White
“If my songs are being listened to between any other songs, that is awesome, and I'm glad people are getting something out of them. We go to countries like Germany, where I can't imagine that all of my fans are engaging with the lyrics first and foremost. I think they're catching a vibe, a feeling. I consider myself a lyricist first and foremost, but if you get something else out of what I do, that's fine too. I'm not sitting back and telling people how they have to take my stuff. We just want to play music, and hope that people like it.” PeopleIfsThinkingWantFirstsI CanCountryPlayFeelingsSongStuffImagineFansFineSittingGladGermanyImagine ThatEngagingCatchingLyricists Author:John Darnielle
“I sing the best when I'm really in my voice. It's kind of like I'm meditating but I sort of imagine my voice as a physical thing. I see colours, I feel it moving out of me and I try to tap into images that I was tapping into when I was writing the song.” FeelsWritingTryingKindMovingSongVoiceImagineColourMeditatingTappingMoving OutPhysical Things Author:Brett Dennen
“In fact, many musicians are the happiest when the artist and audience re-interpret or re-imagine the content of the songs.” FactsArtistSongAudienceImagineMusician Author:John Dyer Baizley
“You know the John Lennon song 'Imagine'? 'Imagine no possessions, no religion'? That's what it was like in Cambodia. The only thing people had was a spoon, for eating the daily pourridge. And that pourridge was grossly insufficient for the work they were made to do in the fields.” PeopleKnowsMadeSongImagineFieldsEatingPossessionSpoonsInsufficientLennonCambodia Author:Sophal Ear
“I wouldn't even say "Imagine" is political. I think it's…more just sort of declaration of humanity. I don't find his political songs to be the ones that I go home and listen to. And I would say that of any artist. They're not the ones that interest…” ThinkingHomePoliticalArtistSongHumanityInterestImagineDeclaration Author:Sean Lennon
“I have not made many conscious efforts to "re-imagine" songs. I just let them happen the way they're going to happen.” WayMadeHappensSongEffortImagineConscious Author:Bob Weir
“I can imagine moving out to the seaside at some point. I like Brighton, my sister lives there. I'm a seaside boy and whenever I go there, I find myself writing songs about it.” WritingI CanMovingSongBoysImagineMy SisterWriting SongsMoving OutBrighton Author:Marc Almond
“I would imagine after the first recording session with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller and Atlantic Records I began to realize that this is going to be like this for the rest of my life and I knew that what, what they were doing was going to be successful because with each session that we would do, it would get better and better and better, the songs would become better, the, ah, the feeling of success was there and we were all in the middle of that as well.” FirstsWellsFeelingsSongRealizingSuccessfulRecordsImagineMiddleGet BetterBeing SuccessfulMikeSessionJerry Author:Ben E. King
“I just imagine that every song in and of itself is great, but when you add them all up, it's too much of me maybe.” SongToo MuchImagineAddImagine That Author:Stephen Malkmus
“I wrote my first song when I was nine, and it was called 'Notice Me'. My Mom still has the piece of paper around somewhere, but I can't even imagine how terrible it is.” FirstsStillsI CanSongPiecesImagineMomTerriblePaperMy MomNineNotice Me Author:Kacey Musgraves
“Maybe it's because I grew up during the MTV generation, but to me a perfect song is one I can imagine a music video to, a song that can take you into a dream.” I CanDreamSongPerfectImagineGenerationsGrewGrew UpVideoMtv Author:Dan Chaon
“I imagine that when I am creating a song or a project or an album or putting some clothing together or cooking a meal, whatever it is, I don't really have a recipe. The fun part is to throw that big piece of clay in the middle of the table as hard as I can, and whatever shape it takes, that's what shape it takes, and then I start to carve away.” I CanHardBigsTogetherSongFunPiecesImagineMiddleShapesProjectsCreatingTablesCookingAlbumsMealsClothingsImagine ThatRecipesClay Author:Erykah Badu
“A lot of people at my school could play the "Stairway to Heaven" guitar solo, but they couldn't play three chords of a Ramones song if their life depended on it because they didn't have the strength or ability to do it. But all I did was practice that, and the style that I eventually fell into is more focused than people would actually imagine.” PeopleIfsPlaySchoolSongThreeHeavenAbilityPracticeImagineStyleGuitarFocusedSoloChordsRamonesStairwaysGuitar SolosStairway To Heaven Author:Kevin Shields
“I'm actually embarrassed by the idea of writing songs about myself - I imagine someone hearing them and thinking This guy is a bit self-obsessed. I don't know if I really have a persona, in that respect. I want to just make the music and hide away.” IfsThinkingKnowsWantWritingIdeasSelfGuySongBitsImagineHearingObsessedEmbarrassedThis GuyPersonaWriting SongsSelf Obsessed Author:Max Tundra
“I picked songs that I've been singing my whole life that stuck with me. I tried to pick stuff that was a variety. And I think the same way I always imagine that people are going to play the record at their house and I imagine them doing stuff with music on, like the way I am.” PeopleThinkingWayPlayWholeSongHouseStuffRecordsImagineSingingPicksWhole LifeStuckVarietyImagine That Author:Chris Isaak