“I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Dan's passing. He was a dear friend for many years. Dan & his music will live on in the great songs he shared with us all. My sincere condolences go out to Catherine and the entire Peek family. May he rest in peace.” YearsMaySongNewsDearPassingPassingsSincereDear FriendCondolencesRest In PeaceSaddened Author:Gerry Beckley
“I write all my own songs and they are just simple melodies with a lot of lyrics. They usually have to do with current events and what is going on in the news. You can call them topical songs, songs about the news, and then developing into more philosophical songs later.” WritingSongMy OwnSimpleEventsNewsPhilosophicalCurrentsDevelopingMelodyCurrent Events Author:Phil Ochs
“I don't sit down to write a song; they just come to me from something that somebody says, or something in the news. The punchline comes to me, and I go over it in my head and get the song form. I hadn't been doing that a lot.” WritingFormSongNewsOver ItPunchlines Author:Mose Allison
“I can never tell what's going to end up being on an album until it's all finished. I'm reading the news everyday, and sometimes I just have to be away from it. And that ends up writing the songs for me a little bit.” WritingLittlesI CanEndsSometimesSongReadingBitsLittle BitNewsEverydayAlbumsFinished Author:Jack Johnson
“Within a few years a simple and inexpensive device, readily carried about, will enable one to receive on land or sea the principal news, to hear a speech, a lecture, a song or play of a musical instrument, conveyed from any other region of the globe.” YearsPlaySongSimpleSeaLandSpeechNewsInstrumentsMusicalRegionsDevicesPrincipalGlobesLecturesMusical InstrumentsInexpensive Book:The Wireless Tesla Source: The Wireless Tesla
“Music, for centuries and centuries, was used to teach everything. It was used to teach language, mathematics, history. The news was music. Everything traveled by song. It was used to teach ethics. It was used to create conscience, probably more than anything.” UsedSongLanguageTeachCenturyNewsEthicsConscienceMathematicsTraveled Author:T Bone Burnett
“I could've written songs about, for example, the Paris attacks as they happened and have the song out the day after, but doing this project and following the news made me realize how much I miss deeper nuances in the news reporting. There's already so many quick opinions and angles being thrown in your face, so I avoided writing about things like that and tried focusing on the smaller, more seemingly insignificant things. The things you would find in the back of the newspaper or the back of your mind.” WritingMindMadeFacesSongRealizingOpinionWrittenHappenedMissingExampleProjectsNewsFollowingDeeperNewspapersParisThrownYour FaceAngleInsignificantAvoidedNuanceInsignificant ThingsNews Reporting Author:Jens Lekman
“You have to be a really talented writer if you're trying to encapsulate a news story with a song and have it live after the event. I don't have the focus to do that, really.” IfsTryingStoriesSongFocusEventsNewsNews Stories Author:Babatunde Adebimpe
“There is a real hunger for spiritual things in today's culture; people are seeking something spiritual, something beyond themselves. That's the good news. The bad news is people are not getting it at church because the church is singing songs, preaching messages, doing programs, and taking offerings for itself.” PeopleRealTodaySpiritualSongCultureChurchMessagesNewsSingingProgramHungerSeekingOfferingPreachingGood NewsBad NewsSinging Songs Author:John C. Maxwell
“I asked her, "Are you an optimist or a pessimist?" She looked at her watch and said, "I'm optimistic." "Then I have some bad news for you, because humans are going to destroy each others as soon as it becomes easy enough to, which will be very soon." "Why do beautiful songs make you sad?" "Because they aren't true." "Never?" "Nothing is beautiful and true." She smiled, but in a way that wasn't just happy, and said, "You sound just like Dad.” WayHumansSaidEnoughBeautifulSongEasySoundWatchesDadNewsOptimisticOptimistPessimistBad News Book:Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Novel