“To me, it's all about the song. Songs are what make me excited. You hear a great song and you want to record it or get a great idea and you want to write it.” WantWritingIdeasSongRecordsExcitedGreat Idea Author:Amy Grant
“I wrote 90 percent of the record in prison. A lot of people wonder, "How the hell did you do that?" I just pretty much played drums on my legs with my hands and while I did that, I would hum the guitar parts and sing the melodies of the songs.” PeopleHandsSongWonderHellRecordsPercentPrisonGuitarLegsMelody Author:Ronnie Radke
“I made songs really for myself - I didn't ever expect to put it out there and make this a record for mass consumption, this was really just a way for me to get out of my own situation and reclaim that part of myself - so when making the songs, I wanted a testament to what I'd gone through, I wanted a snapshot of those moments.” WayMadeMomentsWantedSongMy OwnSituationGoneRecordsMassConsumptionTestamentSnapshotsMass Consumption Author:Frank Iero
“The main things to rebel against - over-production, too much technology, overthinking. It's a spoiled mentality; everything is too easy. If you want to record a song, you can buy Pro Tools and record four hundred guitar tracks. That leads to overthinking, which kills any spontaneity and the humanity of the performance.” IfsWantSongHumanityEasyTechnologyRecordsToo MuchFourHundredToolsPerformancesGuitarTrackProductionsRebelMentalitySpontaneitySpoiledOverthinking Author:Jack White
“I always show love to the local record stores because they actually listen to me... They know the songs on my cds. They look like me, straight out the hood. They know whats hot and what is on they shelf.” KnowsLooksShowsSongRecordsHotStoresLocalsLike MeShelvesCdsHoodListen To MeRecord Stores Author:Webbie
“Someone curating songs for you through your computer or being able to hold 10,000 songs on your watch - that convenience is pretty incredible, but so is the emotional impact of holding a Beatles record in your hand and listening to Let It Be.” HandsAbleSongWatchesRecordsEmotionalListeningComputerImpactIncrediblesConvenience Author:Dave Grohl
“When you play the bars, you pay your dues. It does matter that you know those things [songs]. And the great thing for me, too, is that I draw on that stuff as influences. It's also stuff that you put in the tank that you pull from to make records.” KnowsDoeMatterPlaySongStuffPayRecordsInfluenceDrawsDuesBarsGreat ThingsTanks Author:Eric Church
“My father urged Alan [Lomax] not to repeat the mistakes of the European folklorists who, a century ago, had collected these peasant songs and then arranged them for part choir and accompanied them on piano, and then told the young people of their country, "Don't change a note, this is our sacred heritage." Father said, whether it's a fiddle tune or a gospel song, learn it right off the record from the people who grew up with it. Don't just learn it from a piece of paper.” PeopleSaidCountryYoungSongFatherMistakeRecordsPiecesCenturyGrewPaperGrew UpSacredNotesPianoRepeatsTunesHeritagePeasantsDon't ChangeChoirFiddleGospel Songs Author:Pete Seeger
“I learned by transcribing songs out of the Library of Congress collection in Washington where I was working. I got a job when I just turned twenty in 1939 and Alan [Lomax] needed some help. I listened to hundreds of records every week.” HelpingJobsSongRecordsWeekNeededTwentiesLibraryCongressCollectionsTranscribing Author:Pete Seeger
“My favorite records are by bands where the musicians are all playing like themselves, but those personalities connect in an exciting way and create music that is one cohesive unit. It's not catchy like a pop song, but it's a really cool song.” WaySongRecordsPersonalityBandMusicianExcitingMy FavoritePopsUnitsReally CoolPop SongCatchy Author:Dylan Baldi
“Singles are your safest songs on the records. Ones that piss fewer people off, that appeal more to the masses.” PeopleSongRecordsMassAppealsFewerSingles Author:Garth Brooks
“I have always been heavily involved in every album I have ever made. I'm very stubborn when it comes to recording and will only record songs I love, which is why it takes me a long time to make an album.” LongMadeSongRecordsInvolvedLong TimeAlbumsTake MeStubborn Author:Britney Spears
“I have to feel connected before I record and the song has to spark something inside me. Very few songs do that. I guess it's a good process because I love all of my music.” FeelsSongProcessRecordsConnectedSparks Author:Britney Spears
“Despite the fact that Starbucks has grown to be a large company. We've always played music in our stores and has always acted as an opportunity to create a mood in our stores. And customers started asking, "What song are you playing and can I buy that?" . And we said "No." And that was kind of the catalyst for beginning to look at music. We started out with our own compilations and after the success of that. We had the courage to say, "Let's produce our own record." and the first record was with Ray Charles before he unfortunately passed away.” FirstsLooksKindSaidFactsSongOpportunityCompanyRecordsProduceAskingCustomersStoresMoodDespiteRaysCatalystPassed AwayStarbucksCompilationLarge Companies Author:Howard Schultz
“If I hear a conversation and somebody says something intriguing, my first thought is, Is that a song? I write all year long, and at the end of the year I pull these forty or fifty things out and say which of these things do I want to record.” IfsWantWritingYearsFirstsLongEndsSongRecordsConversationFiftyFortyIntriguing Author:Toby Keith
“My little brother and I took piano lessons at a young age and played music together later on in life just to play around at home until we decided to make a record. Eventually we started having more and more songs.” LittlesPlayHomeAgeTogetherYoungSongRecordsBrotherLessonsDecidedPianoYoung AgeLittle BrotherPiano LessonMy Little Brother Author:Josephine de La Baume
“You know, your ears record. You might can sing a song once you hear it.” KnowsMightSongRecordsEars Author:Chuck Berry
“I don't know if I want to record together again. I go off and on it... In the old days, when we needed an album, Paul and I got together and produced enough songs for it. Nowadays, there's three of us writing prolifically and trying to fit it all into one album.” IfsKnowsWantWritingTryingEnoughTogetherSongThreeMusicRecordsNeededFitMusic IsAlbumsOld DaysTogether Again Author:John Lennon
“I have always considered myself a fast learner. I try to retain and absorb as much information and knowledge about the [music] business as I can. I don't want to just sit back and have other people do the hard work for me. I try to be involved in every process of my career as possible. I run my own social media, record, and try to vocal produce myself as much as possible, write my own songs, style myself, and learn the business side. If I didn't do acting or music, I was going to school for business. God has put me on this path and I can honestly say I wake up every day doing what I love.” PeopleIfsWantWritingTryingI CanHardRunningSchoolSongSocialProcessSidesMy OwnActingCareersPathRecordsMediaStyleInformationProduceHard WorkInvolvedWake UpSocial MediaHonestlyVocalMusic BusinessLearners Author:Asher Monroe
“I'll know when a song's really awesome, for sure, and I get super stoked and I'm so high when I'm hearing it back, but then you sit with the record forever. You're mixing it and you can really just over-think everything. I'll go back and forth all the time.” ThinkingKnowsSongForeverRecordsHearingBack And ForthMixingReally Awesome Author:Kurt Vile
“I tend to feel really protective of songs, and if they aren't sitting well in a record, I'll pull them tight to my chest until I feel it's a better time.” IfsFeelsWellsSongRecordsSittingChestsProtective Author:Brandi Carlile
“When I record, it feels like I'm in a bubble. There's nothing else in my head right then. It's just that song, and I'm trying to really sound like what the song is about.” FeelsTryingSongSoundRecordsBubbles Author:Agnetha Faltskog
“There are a lot of composers who were fantastic, but I challenge them to write a record that you could play five times a day for two months on the radio, songs that people will want to dance to on a Saturday night.” PeopleWantWritingTwoPlayNightSongChallengesRecordsFiveMonthsRadioFantasticComposerSaturdaySaturday NightTwo Months Author:Robert Wyatt
“A record is something that isn't real or true. It's like cinema. It's a construction of something hyper-real and surreal and unreal all at the same time. You make a space that doesn't really exist. One of the big joys of being in this line of work is building the recorded versions of the songs.” RealBigsJoySongLinesSpaceRecordsBuildingVersionsCinemaConstructionSurrealUnrealHyper Author:Will Oldham
“We've all got to earn a living. And writing songs is what I do. But when I've done a record, it's not that I think it's better or worse than anyone else's, but if I think that nobody else would have done it if I hadn't, well then that's ok.” IfsThinkingWritingWellsDoneSongRecordsWriting Songs Author:Robert Wyatt
“I never bothered about keeping track.Every now and then someone records one of my songs, and I get credit for it.” SongRecordsTrackCreditNow And ThenBothered Author:Mose Allison
“The Hank Williams Syndrome: Come to Nashville, write some good songs, cut some hit records, make money, take all the drugs you can and drink all you can, become a wild man and all of a sudden die.” MenWritingArtSongDiesRecordsCuttingDrinkDrugMaking MoneySyndromesNashvilleHank WilliamsWild Man Author:Waylon Jennings
“It's very hard to get good songs because a lot of writers record their own; they keep the best for themselves.” HardSongRecords Author:Olivia Newton-John
“Acting is a difficult profession, it really is. It's different than singing. With singing you may have one song and four people to record it - but they'll all do it differently and they'll all have that option. Whereas with actors there might be one part, and five hundred actors all want the same role - it's so much more competitive. It's an incredibly painful profession because you get so much rejection.” PeopleWantMayDifferentMightSongActorsDifficultActingRolesRecordsFiveFourSingingHundredPainfulProfessionRejection Author:Olivia Newton-John
“An album for me as a teenager in the '70s was a fully formed concept. It was a body of work from an artist I liked or trusted or who excited me. Maybe one of the songs is really poppy and you listen to it on the radio as a hit single and then more of the world is about to find out about this artist by buying the record.” WorldBodyArtistSongRecordsConceptsRadioAlbumsExcitedTeenagerBuyingTrustedPoppies Author:Christopher Bollen
“When I start writing songs, and they come easily, I'm always very suspicious. That usually means they're reminding me of something I've already done before. When the songs become unsettling, and I feel anxious about what I'm doing, that usually means it's going to be more interesting later on when we actually record the stuff.” FeelsWritingMeanDoneSongStuffInterestingRecordsAnxiousSuspiciousWriting SongsReminding Author:Nick Cave
“Too many times you come across lyrics that sound like you've heard them before or you can't really relate to them. And I think that I write songs that sound fresh and sensual in kind of a layered, lush way. But I also think that they are real, and that's why I wanted to call the record 'Inside Out.'” ThinkingWayWritingKindRealWantedSongSoundRecordsHeardLike YouSensualRelateLush Author:Emmy Rossum
“There are a few investment managers, of course, who are very good - though in the short run, it's difficult to determine whether a great record is due to luck or talent. Most advisors, however, are far better at generating high fees than they are at generating high returns. In truth, their core competence is salesmanship. Rather than listen to their siren songs, investors - large and small - should instead read Jack Bogle's The Little Book of Common Sense Investing.” ShouldLittlesBookRunningSongCoursesDifficultCommonRecordsTalentReturnLuckInvestmentInvestingVery GoodDetermineDuesCoreCommon SenseManagersInvestorsCompetenceFeesSirensAdvisorsSalesmanshipSiren Song Author:Warren Buffett
“Here's some free advice; like the folkies of yore, you need to be not just a writer of songs, you need to be a lover of songs, a listener of songs and a collector of songs. If you hear a song in a club that knocks you out or you hear an old recording of a great song you never knew existed, it does not diminish you to record it; it actually exalts you because you have brought a great song from obscurity to the ear of the public.” IfsNeedsWritingDoeSongRecordsAdviceLoversEarsClubsSongwritingListenersDiminishObscurityCollectorsFree Advice Author:Michael Kosser
“I'm selling my soul to Hollywood Records. I love you like a love song baby, a sinful, miracle, lyrical. He ate my soul. He's Lucifer. I'm torn I'm selling my soul to the rhythm because I'm become so possessed with the music he plays. I chose a path and I'm not looking back.” SoulPlaySongPathRecordsLove YouBabyHollywoodMiracleSellingRhythmMy SoulPossessedLooking BackTornLyricalLuciferLove You LikeI Love You Like Author:Selena Gomez
“The first song I sent over was Up All Night. People say that sounds like Angels on a Blink record. Well, no - that's just me!” PeopleFirstsWellsNightSongSoundRecordsAngelAll NightBlinkUp All Night Author:Tom DeLonge
“I really wanted to get that dynamic on the record onto people and let them know it wasn't just a simple strumming along the guitar type of thing without ramming it down their throats so I kind of went the opposite way and sang some of the songs more quietly which allowed for the louder parts to sound as though there were more. It was the only way singing those songs made sense to me.” PeopleKnowsWayKindMadeWantedSongSoundSimpleRecordsTypeSingingOppositesGuitarThroatStrumming Author:James Vincent McMorrow
“I never play all new stuff, because you got to "dance with the girl that brought you" what is that saying? You got to play the songs that got you there, so I love playing the songs from my very first record.” FirstsPlaySongGirlStuffRecordsNew Stuff Author:Mat Kearney
“The world has changed a lot since I started making records.I used to go into a studio and there were songs there, chosen for me to see if I liked them. I wasn't encouraged to write.” IfsWorldWritingUsedSongRecordsChangedStudiosChosen Author:Shelby Lynne
“I didn't make the same song twice, but I definitely made the sequel to it, because everyone would come up to me in the streets saying, "Yo Khaled, make another 'I'm So Hood.' We love that record so much.” MadeSongRecordsStreetsCome UpHoodSequels Author:DJ Khaled
“Being singer is different than being an actor, where you call up sources from your own experience that you can apply to whatever Shakespeare drama you're in. But an actor is pretending to be somebody, a singer isn't. And that's the difference. Singers today have to sing songs where there's very little emotion involved. That and the fact that they have to sing hit records from years gone by doesn't leave a lot of room for any kind of intelligent creativity.” YearsKindLittlesDifferentFactsTodaySongActorsDifferencesRoomsEmotionCreativityGoneRecordsSourceInvolvedDramaIntelligentSingersPretendingYears Gone By Author:Bob Dylan
“I could write all songs all day long about what I think about the music industry or music in general. Sometimes I gotta be like, "Let's write about something else." You don't want to say the same thing over and over again. In a lot of ways, I look at records as a year or two of my life encapsulated in songs. They're almost like journal entries.” ThinkingWayWantWritingYearsLooksLongTwoSometimesSongRecordsIndustryJournalMusic IndustryEntry Author:Laura Jane Grace
“I've always thought, it's the artist that write the songs and make the records. And it's our responsibility to set the tone for what's happening in the industry. And I take that seriously.” WritingArtistSongResponsibilityRecordsIndustryHappeningsTone Author:Eric Church
“You do try to write songs that you feel like people can relate to and you try to be as honest as you can so that people hear your records and they feel like, "Oh, my god. This is exactly how I feel. I went through this."” PeopleFeelsWritingTryingSongRecordsHonestRelate Author:Sevyn Streeter
“I've changed the way I look at things. When I put out a record or single I don't allow myself to set up expectations like, "This song must be a number one hit. Its got to sell X amount of records." I have fallen into that trap before.” WayLooksSongNumbersRecordsChangedAmountExpectationsSellsFallenTrapsI've Changed Author:Scott Weiland