“I grew up around music. My father was a professional musician. We used to have a trailer house that we travelled in. I've always loved music. Started out loving to sing to the standards and songs of the early 50s, then that interest shifted to rock and roll, Motown, folk.” UsedSongFatherHouseInterestRocksGrewGrew UpMusicianStandardsFolksRock And RollTrailersMotown Author:Timothy B. Schmit
“A good song and good musicians can really move mountains.” MovingSongMountainMusicianMove Mountains Author:Joey Tempest
“I write each song individually and each one calls for individual musicians, You sit around and wonder who can we get to play a Neil Young solo, and then you realize there`s a good chance you can get Neil himself.” WritingPlayYoungSongIndividualRealizingChanceWonderMusicianSoloGood Chance Author:Warren Zevon
“I'm a keen musician. Me and my mates have a great times jamming and recording stuff. We have a great band behind us and have turned my nursery-rhyme songs into quite credible pieces of music.” SongStuffBehindsPiecesBandMusicianMatesRhymeGreat TimesNurseryCredibleNursery Rhymes Author:Tom Felton
“And there are certain songs that are really timepieces and shouldn't be touched. But some of them are a celebration of good humour and sensibility and I think that's okay. I don't care about the past, I'm a musician with ambition.” ThinkingCarePastCertainSongHumourAmbitionMusicianOkayDon't CareI Don't CareTouchedCelebrationSensibilityGood HumourTimepieces Author:Robert Plant
“I am first, and foremost, an actor. That's what I am. To me, a song is a mini-drama. My musical ability informs the actor as well because it gives me a sense of timing that non-musicians don't have. So, one hand washes the other.” GivingFirstsWellsHandsSongActorsAbilityDramaMusicianGive MeMusicalTimingMusical Ability Author:Theodore Bikel
“He [Benny Carter] is all that every jazz musician the world over wants to be. He's performed 20,000 nights. How many shoes have been shined? How much mascara put on? Rouge? How many of those impossible bowties have been tied? How many love songs have been sung? How many dances have been danced? How many have passed to the sound of his music? It's been said that a man should not be forced to live up to his art. Benny Carter is one of the rare instances when we wonder whether the great art that a man has created can live up to him.” MenWorldWantShouldHas BeensArtSaidNightSongSoundWonderImpossibleMusicianArt IsJazzShoesInstanceTiedGreat ArtJazz MusicCarterJazz MusicianMascaraRouge Author:Wynton Marsalis
“You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.” NeedsMightSongBehindsMusicianMusicalSingersFakeGreat Musician Author:Etta James
“Paul McCartney is a genius ... Paul married Rock & Roll to beauty, and forever raised the bar for composers, musicians, and fans ... an incredible solo performer ... the creator of our favorite songs.” SongForeverFansRocksGeniusMarriedMusicianRaisedIncrediblesCreatorBarsPerformersComposerSoloFavorite Song Author:Alec Baldwin
“I think playing night after night is when you get a lot better as a musician because you need to add different levels of intensity and experiment a little bit with the existing songs just to keep everything interesting.” ThinkingNeedsLittlesDifferentNightSongBitsInterestingLevelsLittle BitMusicianAddExperimentsIntensityDifferent Levels Author:James Walsh
“That was an idea of the record company, and also that was my first album after MCA and we wanted to come back with a strong album that would be noticed. If we put the vocals by very talented people and very meaningful songs, then the vocals would be a platform so that I could be noticed again. All of the MCA albums were just loaded with problems -- you know, the right musicians, the engineers. The record company would say 'You have to make music for black radio, you can't do what you have been doing with The Crusaders.' Everybody was telling me that was over, finished, done.” PeopleIfsKnowsFirstsHas BeensIdeasDoneProblemWould BeWantedSongStrongBlackCompanyRecordsMusicianRadioAlbumsFinishedMeaningfulPlatformsEngineersVocalLoadedRecord CompaniesVery MeanVery MeaningfulMeaningful Song Author:Joe Sample
“Well I'm not a storyteller, as far as telling stories which relate to experiences in my own life. That's not what I do. I write songs which have a narrative and attempt to make sense and tell a story - sure! But whenever I hear the word "storyteller" I think of a children's musician.” ThinkingWritingWellsChildrenStoriesSongMy OwnMusicianRelateNarrativeMake SenseStorytellerMy Own LifeTelling Stories Author:Freedy Johnston
“It's was all the internet. I started writing songs in high school, right about the time of the onset of Napster. I went to college in Dallas, and when I'd get back from class I'd have fans emailing me from different areas of the country asking when the album was going to be out and when I was going on tour. It was crazy, because I didn't even consider myself a professional musician.” WritingDifferentCountrySchoolSongCrazyCollegeInternetMusicianHigh School Author:Graham Colton
“The music as a whole is selfish, but the musicians aren't," "The song may go on forever but it's not about competition within the band; it's about playing as a band.” MayWholeSongForeverGoes OnBandMusicianCompetitionSelfish Author:Joshua Homme
“I am not an evangelist. I am not a preacher. I am a musician. That is what I know how to do. I know how to write songs. I know how to write things that relate to my heart. I feel that I talk about God in every song, in everything I do - all of it! I really do not know how to respond. I do not relate to that.” KnowsFeelsWritingHeartSongKnow HowMy HeartMusicianRelatePreacherEvangelists Author:Mat Kearney
“When I hire musicians, I look for that first: every time they sit down do they go for it, you know? And do they try to learn the music and try to get inside the song whatever the tune is? Whether it's my originals or someone else's, it's just whether or not they're gonna play their hearts out, first and foremost.” KnowsTryingFirstsLooksHeartPlaySongMusicianOriginalsTunes Author:Mike Stern
“I've been collaborating with Ira Schickman on some songs, and there will be many other, great musicians involved.” SongInvolvedMusicianGreat MusicCollaboratingIraGreat Musician Author:Chaka Khan
“As a filmmaker‚ like any artist‚ when something affects me emotionally I think about it in those terms. It's my way of dealing with my thoughts‚ my fears and my hardships. I think the same can be said with any artist. For a musician‚ you're going to write a song about something that affects you emotionally.” ThinkingWayWritingSaidArtistSongTermMusicianMy WayFilmmakerHardshipMy Thoughts Author:Ryan Coogler
“We have to focus on his early work, and just one or two of his movies, and elements of his TV shows, to keep his memory pure. People now know that Elvis could play a mean rhythm guitar himself, and needed no other musicians to perform a great song. But Elvis was not just a rock star, he was an all-round entertainer.” PeopleKnowsMeanTwoPlayShowsSongStarsMemoriesFocusRocksTvsNeededPureElementsMusicianGuitarRoundsRhythmJust OneTv ShowsRock StarEntertainersEarly Work Author:Pete Townshend
“I mean, roots musicians - we can get old, you know? We can get up there and wear overalls and deliver the songs, we don't have to look any certain way.” KnowsWayLooksMeanCertainSongMusicianRootsGet UpOld YouOveralls Author:Valerie June
“Usually, I think it's best to play the song for them once and have them mix it up on the spot, because when the logical mind gets too involved, I think it kills a lot of magic. I just think the subconscious mind is so much smarter, and unfortunately, people do not trust their subconscious. A lot of people just don't access to all of that, the secret genius that's inside of them. And it's so much easier to get it out of a musician if you don't give them a chance to overthink.” PeopleIfsThinkingGivingMindPlaySongChanceSecretMagicGeniusInvolvedEasierMusicianAccessSpotsLogicalSmarterSubconsciousSubconscious Mind Author:Larkin Grimm
“I just know of so many musicians who burn out because they go on tour and they have to play their one-hit song over and over and over and over again. And they are not moved by their own song. And then when you go and see them perform there's something off.” KnowsPlaySongGoes OnMusicianMovedBurn Out Author:Larkin Grimm
“Most of the musicians that I'm playing with now have jazz backgrounds, so they're comfortable with improvisation. And they all know to make eye contact with me, and I'll give them some kind of sign when I think that the song's ending. Or maybe I don't even have to, because they all sort of feel it at the same time.” ThinkingKnowsGivingFeelsKindEyeSongComfortableMusicianJazzBackgroundsContactImprovisationEye Contact Author:Larkin Grimm
“Like the ability of all the musicians to end the song at the right time. Or when it's time for a chord change, but nobody knows what the chord should be, and you all, you know, it all just changes, magically, at the same time. It's when you pick up your phone to call someone and that person is calling you.” KnowsShouldPersonsEndsSongAbilityCallingMusicianPicksPhonesRight TimeChordsNobody KnowsKnow It All Author:Larkin Grimm
“So Nemerov showed us this picture, which is of Apollo flaying Marcius. You don't think of Apollo as being the sort of person who would skin someone alive. But the story behind it was that there was this guy who was a really great musician, and all the women loved him, and people started saying he was the best musician in the world, so Apollo got jealous and he challenged this guy to a musical dual. They would each play a song and the muses would judge who was the better musician.” PeopleThinkingWorldPersonsPlayStoriesGuySongBehindsAliveJudgingMusicianSkinsMusicalJealousMuseReally GreatThis GuyApolloGreat MusicGreat Musician Author:Larkin Grimm
“Any musician with a slight level of self-awareness can be taught to write a 'good' song. A great song is completely original. It feels as if the performer is the only person who could bring it to life.” IfsFeelsWritingPersonsSelfSongLevelsAwarenessTaughtMusicianOriginalsSelf AwarenessPerformers Author:Greta Salpeter
“I don't like to criticize music and I had a really hard time picking out the song I hate for this because I end up seeing and working with musicians all the time.” EndsHardHateSongSeeingMusicianI HateHard TimesCriticize Author:Margaret Cho
“I know some people really try to avoid music when they're writing and recording, but I am very inspired by so many different musicians, and I need to learn. I sit around and try to play along to certain songs that I really love. It helps you explore new territory. I don't think I listen to enough.” PeopleThinkingKnowsNeedsWritingTryingDifferentEnoughPlayHelpingCertainSongMusicianInspiredTerritoryNew TerritoryVery Inspired Author:Devendra Banhart
“It was more about getting together with other musicians and playing live. I needed to suss out a full set [for the Last Summer tour], and I didn't want to play Fiery Furnaces material. So half of our set was new songs that we ended up recording for this album. And that made such a huge difference - going into the studio after playing a song for two years, knowing it inside-out and having sung it millions of times, and then recording it is a totally satisfying experience. You're suddenly in this controlled environment and you can make it sound exactly as you've been imagining it.” WantYearsMadeTwoPlayTogetherLastsSongSoundDifferencesHalfMillionsKnowingEnvironmentMaterialsHugeNeededSummerMusicianAlbumsStudiosTwo YearsControlledSatisfyingFieryFurnacesNew SongsLast Summer Author:Eleanor Friedberger
“I'm such a copycat."I want to try and do this like the Donovan song 'Changes'," or "I want to do this bit from Van Morrison." I don't know how else to illustrate something, because I'm not a super-great musician. In that way, I'm more like the producer.” KnowsWayWantTryingSongBitsKnow HowMusicianProducersVansGreat MusicianCopycats Author:Eleanor Friedberger
“Musicians always want to sacrifice our creativity to get involved in environmental issues or political activism of some sort - to reduce it to something more populist in terms of sing-alongs or guitar songs with a message.” WantPoliticalSongTermCreativityIssuesSacrificeInvolvedMessagesMusicianEnvironmentalGuitarActivismGet InvolvedPopulistEnvironmental IssuesPolitical Activism Author:Eyvind Kang
“I don't really have any "must work withs," but I would never refuse if a celebrity or fellow musician came along who is willing to write or sing or play on a Lita song.” IfsWritingPlaySongWillingMusicianFellowsRefuse Author:Lita Ford
“I am lucky to have the greatest band and when you add a symphony orchestra to the mix it brings all of my songs to a whole new level. I wouldn't say I really change what I do but, having those talented musicians behind me, along with my band, really makes the songs so much bigger and more fun to sing.” WholeSongFunLevelsBehindsLuckyBandMusicianBiggerAddOrchestraSymphonySymphony OrchestrasTalented Musicians Author:Olivia Newton-John
“When you write a song you're more or less saying, "This is everyone. I think this is everyone." It doesn't necessarily have to be this thing where I go out and I'm like candy-striping, or becoming a therapist or something. I think that maybe, maybe I'm supposed to [be a musician], because of that fact.” ThinkingWritingFactsSongBecomingMusicianSupposed To BeCandyTherapists Author:Anthony Green
“I often call Daptone the Motown and Stax of today. But in some ways it's different. At Motown, a lot of the musicians didn't get recognized, music got stolen, and people didn't get paid. Or the label would just throw them a pinch of money for their songs. That is one thing we're not doing. Anything anyone writes here, we get a percentage.” PeopleWayWritingDifferentTodaySongOne ThingMusicianPaidLabelsStolenPercentagesMotown Author:Sharon Jones
“Initially, when I was first starting as a musician, I was a very nationalistic figure and I used to believe in doing a lot of national songs. I would always have a national song in the albums I did.” FirstsBelieveUsedSongFiguresMusicianStartingAlbumsNationalistic Author:Junaid Jamshed
“A good song is a good song, and good musicians can play all different styles.” DifferentPlaySongStyleMusicianDifferent Styles Author:John Doe
“I really wanted a guitar. As A little boy I used to tell people I was going to be a musician. They would humor me, and I'd make up thirty minute songs and drive them nuts.” PeopleLittlesWantedUsedSongBoysMinutesMusicianGuitarThirtyNutsLittle Boys Author:Steve Young
“Listening closely to songs these days, there's a lot of lazy songwriting where people get away with it. I don't want to be too critical about it. But I also feel like I wanted to say something a bit different from just being a musician and singing about yourself. Ultimately, that's not really interesting to me. Even when I was a kid, I was interested in observing people and maybe making my own stories. That kind of reflects in my music.” PeopleKindDifferentKidsSongInterestingListeningMusicianSingingLazyGet AwaySongwritingAbout YourselfObservingReally Interesting Author:Steve Gunn
“If a song is cooking in the studio, that's great, but if I can imagine doing it on stage, that's the next level to me. ... Some people love paintings, and some people love poetry, and of course I love all of that, but when a musician is so in control of her instrument, I'm in awe. That's when I start to kind of evaporate into the universe.” PeopleKindSongUniverseImaginePaintingMusicianCookingAweLove Poetry Author:Chrysta Bell
“People always say that music is a universal language. It was very, very true. We could show up anywhere with any people speaking different languages and we could just be like, "You want to play that song? Yeah, okay." We would usually want to play Latin American songs, and they would usually want to play Santana or Jimi Hendrix and stuff like that. So we would trade off. So yeah, we were able to make a lot of friends that way and meet a lot of local musicians. It was a great experience.” PeopleDifferentSongLanguageLike YouMusicianMusic IsOkayTradeLatinLatin AmericaHendrixVery True Author:Jherek Bischoff
“I think that female musicians are constantly fighting an uphill battle in general. Even when I'm not writing heartbreak songs... the fact that songwriting is so difficult and music criticism has become so content driven means that sometimes critics can go for the easy descriptors rather than an in-depth analysis.” ThinkingWritingMeanSometimesSongFightingEasyDifficultBattleMusicianFemaleCriticismCriticsDrivenSongwriting Author:Marissa Nadler
“A lot of people are really quick to say, "That song sounds like this." Or you - "He's tryin' to sound like this." And I'm always like, "You're damn right I am. That's how - that's why we're all here." You know, we all grew up idolizing another musician. That's how this works. That's how music is created.” PeopleSongLike YouMusicianMusic Is Author:Bruno Mars
“I think a lot of electronic musicians are drawn to starting with texture because the whole reason we're working with electronics is to try to create new sounds or sounds that cannot be created acoustically. When you're doing that, it's nice to be able to just create a different palette for every single song. I feel like a lot of electronic music sounds like...Each album sounds like a compilation more than it does a band.” ThinkingTryingDifferentReasonSongNiceMusicianElectronic Music Author:Dan Deacon
“I don't consider myself very principled. As a travelling musician, you have to adapt and adjust to different contexts every day. It is always difficult to connect preach and practice. For instance, I fly more in a year than I had hoped to do in my whole life. I eat what people serve me, not what I think is right. I tried writing songs that were principled, but always ended up contradicting myself when trying to convert the principles into practice. In fact, these days I try not to be too principled, but rather be pragmatic.” PeopleThinkingWritingTryingDifferentSongDifficultMusicianWhole LifePragmaticContradicting Author:Moddi
“The exciting part about sitting down and writing songs, playing shows, or being a musician in general is that you never know where those songs and that music is going to take you. There's such a cool feeling about that the phone could ring tomorrow and someone could say "he guess what? your song..." That really is cool.” WritingFeelingsSongTomorrowMusicianMusic IsExcitingRings Author:Graham Colton
“I would be happy if I could meet some musicians interested in different acoustics and traditional music. Maybe I will find some Native American or Latin tunes. Anything. Even maybe a great heavy metal guitar player or drummer, and we can do something wild together. My next step is making more music without formats or borders. Not just simple songs or doing covers, but music with more ideas. I think it will again be a synthesis with something else.” ThinkingDifferentTogetherSongSimplePlayerMusicianNativeLatinMetalsNative AmericanDrummerGuitar PlayerHeavy Metal Author:Albert Kuvezin
“All music now, I think, is fair game for jazz musicians to interpret, and they have been. I would consider those songs standards now. "Norwegian Wood" is a standard; "Call Me" is a standard.” ThinkingSongMusicianJazzCall MeJazz MusicNorwegian WoodJazz MusicianFair Game Author:Patricia Barber
“I want to be just a musician and songwriter, and hopefully known as a very good one. I love a lot of music that's considered folk music, but I also love a lot of music that's considered punk or considered rap. I don't mind being called a folk singer. But it seems a bit limiting. I want to be able to write whatever kind of song I want.” WritingMindKindSongMusicianVery GoodRapHopefullyPunkFolk Music Author:Langhorne Slim