“My favorite period is when we lived in the land of the three-minute song. The Motown thing - I thought they were genius in knowing that's as much as a listener can take.” SongThreeKnowingLandMinutesGeniusPeriodsMy FavoriteListenersMotown Author:Meshell Ndegeocello
“Melody is the single most important thing to any song, period. I don't care what anybody says, it trumps everything. Not because that's my opinion but because I think it's actually indisputable fact. The human brain retains melody easier than it retains words. It's that simple.” ThinkingHumansImportantFactsCareSongSimpleBrainOpinionTrumpPeriodsEasierImportant ThingsDon't CareI Don't CareMelodyHuman Brain Author:Ryan Tedder
“Music, as many people have said, is the universal language. Of course points are made which make you think about things, but ultimately it makes you feel. And that's why people remember more songs that have meant something during their life than films. They start to define periods in your life, and that's kind of the beauty of it.” PeopleThinkingFeelsKindMadeSaidRememberFilmSongCoursesLanguagePeriodsUniversalMake You ThinkUniversal Language Author:Scott Weiland
“My band is the best band in the world, period. So, I insist on every song being better than it is on the record. So by the end of the tour, we have to be playing the song better than how it's recorded.” WorldEndsSongRecordsPeriodsBand Author:Ben Harper
“Since the songs were written over a five-year period, I think these are little snapshots. Some people call it political or topical, but I think each song is self-contained. I think it fits together as a picture of the last half-decade of time.” PeopleThinkingYearsLittlesSelfTogetherLastsPoliticalSongHalfFiveWrittenPeriodsFitDecadesFive YearsSnapshotsSelf Contained Author:Conor Oberst
“Each album comes from definitely a different period in the evolution of each of us individually as creators and the role that we take in life. The external stimuli changed... so the songs are full of lots of different meanings.” DifferentSongRolesChangedEvolutionPeriodsAlbumsCreatorStimulusDifferent Meanings Author:Robert Plant
“Songs need to have the ability to change and to grow for sure. They take on lives of their own. Some songs just don't have that capacity. They're locked within a period of time. And as soon as you take them out of that period of time, they die very quickly.” NeedsSongDiesGrowsAbilityPeriodsCapacityLockedAbility To Change Author:Nick Cave
“I was off the scene for a while during the ska period and when I returned and joined the Treasure Isle studio, I came there with a different mood. The musicians picked up on that and we kept on going in that direction. The music became slower, which gave the bass player the time to play more notes. In 1965 I named it rocksteady. The first rocksteady song was 'Girl I've Got A Date'. That one was still a bit up-tempo, leaning towards ska. It turned the tide and made Treasure Isle the number one studio.” FirstsMadeStillsDifferentPlaySongGirlBitsNumbersPlayerPeriodsSceneMusicianMusic IsNotesStudiosMoodTreasureTidesBassTempoIsleBass PlayersDifferent Moods Author:Alton Ellis
“As much as I love performing, nothing juices me up creatively like being in my own studio for an extended period. Songs, ideas, even paintings are pouring out of me. My inspiration and usual subject matter: life.” IdeasMatterInspirationSongMy OwnSubjectsPaintingPeriodsStudiosPerformingUsualJuiceSubject MatterPouring Author:Adrian Belew
“I know my priorities... I love music and I will continue to make songs, I know it's not just a period in my life. But I am focused on my studies.” KnowsSongStudyPeriodsFocusedPrioritiesMusic LoveI Love Music Author:Marilou
“Certain songs have a life, and certain songs don't. A song is like a saddle: you ride it for a while, and if it's the right kind of song you can sing it for the rest of your life. And then other songs are only really important for certain periods of your life, and you move on from them and find yourself not necessarily needing to sing them anymore.” IfsKindImportantMovingCertainSongPeriodsFinding YourselfRest Of Your LifeSaddles Author:Glen Hansard
“I think the zenith of popular songwriting to the United States of America was that period that started in the '20s and went into the '50s. It was the period of the great American standard song.” ThinkingStatesAmericaSongUnitedUnited StatesPeriodsStandardsSongwritingUnited States Of AmericaGreat AmericanZenith Author:Linda Ronstadt
“It was an honor to work with Samantha Morton on this Casablanca-esque, silent-film-esque, Americana photobooth Woolworth's hay day period piece of surrealism/ realism/ story time tell-tale-ism, black and white 35 mm film, washed in strange light, over this love hate tune, heartbreak song, life-goes-on lullaby, The Last Goodbye. It's a doorway into the future of the fatal past-tense. Get it?” StoriesLightLastsPastFilmHateSongBlackWhitePiecesStrangeGoes OnHonorPeriodsSilentTalesGoodbyeTunesBlack And WhiteRealismTenseDoorwaysLove HateSurrealismIsmsLife Goes OnHayLullabyAmericanaSilent FilmsSamanthaLast Goodbye Author:Alison Mosshart
“There have been periods in my life where I have experienced depression. It has been through some of my darkest moments that I have written some of my best songs. For me, singing and writing is very therapeutic. It's much more effective than taking Prozac!” WritingHas BeensMomentsSongWrittenPeriodsSingingTherapeuticProzac Author:Gerry Rafferty
“Songs give you incredible opportunity to convey a tremendous amount in a relatively short period of time. The first thing that John Powell, our composer, says is, "Is the song engaging you to tap your toe?" If you're not tapping your toe, it doesn't matter what you're doing in the song, it's not going to work. But, if you can get the audience to be engaged by the song, then it gives you the opportunity to accomplish so much, in a very concise way.” IfsWayGivingFirstsMatterSongOpportunityAudienceAmountPeriodsIncrediblesAccomplishEngagedComposerToesEngagingGoing To WorkTappingConcise Author:Christopher Meledandri
“I give myself time with a guitar and PA to let my subconscious do its thing. This happens repeatedly over a period of time, and slowly, a set of songs emerge that make some sort of sense to me as a body of work that turns into an album.” GivingBodyHappensSongTurnsPeriodsGuitarAlbumsSubconscious Author:Scout Niblett
“I love the lower ranges of my new voice. I really enjoy that. It's a challenge, and I accept the challenge. I sort of enjoy it now to reach notes that maybe four years ago I couldn't reach. I don't mean to grumble about it. I'm past that critical period and have gone on to a whole new field. And we go everywhere. We travel around the world, and I learn songs from every place we go, and it's a joyful process.” WorldYearsMeanWholePastSongProcessEnjoyVoiceChallengesAcceptingGoneFourFieldsPeriodsYears AgoNotesCriticalAround The WorldRangeFour YearsJoyful Author:Joan Baez
“I was going through a period where I was just trying not to write songs and was thinking maybe I wouldn't play in a band and make records anymore.” ThinkingWritingTryingPlaySongRecordsPeriodsBand Author:Tim Rutili
“I wrote a couple of songs that had gypsy references in them. The only reason it happened was because that's what was coming through and I liked the idea at that period of time. But that doesn't mean that it's a myth or that I'm a gypsy. It's gotten totally out of context.” MeanIdeasReasonSongHappenedCouplePeriodsMythGypsyOf Context Author:Van Morrison
“Along with some of the worst music of Bob Dylan's career ("Self-Portrait," 1970), this period produced some gems - including many songs recorded with The Band in '67 but not released until years later.” YearsSelfSongCareersWorstPeriodsBandIncludingBobPortraitsDylanGemsSelf Portrait Author:Bob Dylan
“There has been a ton of excellent music in this period (along with a few misses), evoking scenes like a bar-room brawl at a border-town dive, a washed-up singer in a smoky lounge, and the scenes of violence in Bob Dylan latter-day music videos.I think the ethos of this period is best summed up in the 2001 song "Summer Days".” ThinkingHas BeensSongRoomsViolenceMissingPeriodsSceneSummerTownsSingersBarsVideoExcellentBordersLatterBobDylanEthosLatter DaysSummer Days Author:Jay Michaelson
“The best songs of this [modern] period - the apocalyptic "High Water," for example - return [Bob] Dylan to where he was in his first phase, updating and transforming American traditional music.” FirstsSongWaterModernExampleReturnPeriodsTraditionalBobPhasesDylanTransformingApocalypticTraditional Music Author:Jay Michaelson
“Basically I see that song as a bunch of images which I threw together to represent the fact that I was seeing one girl and then I started seeing another, and it was just the guilt in between those two periods. The ballads I've written since have been about things that really hurt me.” Has BeensTwoFactsTogetherSongGirlHurtWrittenSeeingPeriodsGuiltBunchHurt MeBallads Author:George Michael
“You can revisit - the wonderful thing about my job is you can revisit your 22-year-old self or your 24-year-old self any particular night you want. The songs pick up some extra resonance, I hope, but they're still - they're there, and I can revisit that period of my life when I choose. So it's quite a nice experience.” WantYearsStillsI CanSelfJobsNightSongNiceWonderfulParticularPeriodsPicksExtrasWonderful ThingsResonanceOld Self Author:Bruce Springsteen