“Being a rock musician is already like ego-tripping hardcore. You're self-consumed, and you're always thinking. It's really easy to say, "I'm going to write a song about this situation, and when I'm done, everyone will care." To everybody else, that's ego-tripping.” ThinkingWritingSelfDoneCareSongEasySituationRocksEgoMusicianConsumedRock MusicHardcoreAlways ThinkingTrippingRock Musicians Author:Ryan Adams
“For a while, I felt a little self-impelled to write Lou Reed Kind of songs. I should have understood that a Lou Reed song was anything I wanted to write about.” ShouldWritingKindLittlesSelfWantedSongFeltUnderstoodShould HaveReeds Author:Lou Reed
“The greatest love of all is happening to me.. So goes the popular song. It's a great song. It speaks to the heart, and deeply. It strikes powerfully to uplift the human spirit, at the quest for self-love and self-esteem, the pride in being alive that each of us is entitled to experience simply by being born a human being.” HumansHeartSelfSpiritSongSpeakBornHuman BeingsAliveSelf EsteemPrideSelf LoveHappeningsStrikesEsteemUpliftingQuestsEntitledHuman SpiritGreatest LovePopular Song Author:Robert J. White
“Every improv must be song specific. It has to grow organically out of the particular elements involved or it's just glib self-expression. I hate when I feel like I'm the lead guitarist in a rock band. We all gotta be going somewhere strong together, you know?” KnowsFeelsSelfTogetherHateSongStrongGrowsRocksParticularExpressionInvolvedBandElementsI HateSelf ExpressionGuitaristRock BandsStrong Together Author:David First
“Sketching is the breath of art: it is the most refreshing of all the more impulsive forms of creative self-expression and, as such, it should be as free, and happy, as a song in the bath.” ShouldArtSelfFormSongFreedomCreativeExpressionBreathsBathsSelf ExpressionRefreshingImpulsiveSketching Author:Mervyn Levy
“Have a go-to pump up song. Mine is Shakira's 'Waka Waka' from the 2010 World Cup (don't judge). Play it only when you're ready to turn into your most badass self.” WorldSelfPlaySongTurnsMinesReadyJudgingCupsBadassPumpsWorld CupMost Badass Author:Kathryn Minshew
“These are thy glorious works Parent of Good, Almighty, thine this universal Frame, Thus wondrous fair; thy self how wondrous then! Unspeakable, who sitst above these Heavens To us invisible or dimly seen In these thy lowest works, yet these declare Thy goodness beyond thought, and Power Divine: Speak ye who best can tell, ye Sons of light, Angels, for ye behold him, and with songs And choral symphonies, Day without Night, Circle his Throne rejoicing, ye in Heav'n, On Earth join all ye Creatures to extoll Him first, him last, him midst, and without end.” FirstsEndsSelfGodLightEarthLastsNightSongSpeakHeavenParentDivineSonCreaturesGoodnessAngelFairsUniversalCirclesInvisibleGloriousMidstRejoiceAlmightyThronesLowestSymphonyWondrousUnspeakable Author:John Milton
“Music exists when rhythmic, melodic or harmonic order is deliberately created, and consciously listened to, and it is only language-using, self-conscious creatures ... who are capable of organizing sounds in this way, either when uttering them or when perceiving them. We can hear music in the song of the nightingale, but it is music that no nightingale has heard.” WaySelfSongOrderLanguageSoundMusicHeardCreaturesCapableConsciousSelf ConsciousNightingales Book:Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation Source: Understanding Music: Philosophy and Interpretation
“If family and society tell you its unfeminine, not really womanly, to be aggressive, to speak up, to have strong opinions, to take up space, then women won't trust their own voice, because to be heard and to be influential, you've got to have a way to sing out with passion and love and self-trust - to sing out your song for everyone to hear.” IfsWaySelfSongPassionSpeakStrongWomenVoiceSpaceOpinionHeardAnd LoveAggressiveInfluentialSelf TrustLove And PassionWomanlyStrong Opinions Author:Elizabeth Lesser
“The potential beauty of human life is constantly made ugly by man's ever recurring song of retaliation. The oceans of history are made turbulent by the ever rising tides of revenge. Man has never risen above the injunction of the lex talionis: "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot." In spite of the fact that the law of revenge solves no social problems, men continue to follow its disastrous leading. History is cluttered with the wreckage of nations and individuals that pursued this self-defeating path.” MenHumansMadeSelfFactsProblemHandsEyeLawLife IsSongIndividualNationsSocialPathFeetOceanUglySolveRevengeTeethHuman LifeRisingSpiteTidesPursuedRisenRecurringSocial ProblemsRetaliationWreckage Author:Martin Luther King, Jr.
“I am truly amazed that after all this time, religious groups still need to attack entertainment and use these tragedies as a pitiful excuse for their own self-serving publicity. In response to their protests, I will provide a show where I balance my songs with a wholesome Bible reading. This way, fans will not only hear my so-called, violent point of view, but we can also examine the virtues of wonderful 'Christian' stories of disease, murder, adultery, suicide and child sacrifice. Now that seems like 'entertainment' to me.” WayNeedsChildrenStillsSelfStoriesUseShowsSeemsChristianSongReadingReligiousViewsVirtueWonderfulSacrificeGroupsAtheismFansBalanceDiseaseTragedyMurderSuicideResponseEntertainmentExcusePositive AtheismPoint Of ViewViolentProtestServingAmazedAdulteryPublicityPitifulSelf ServingBible Reading Author:Marilyn Manson
“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
“I think there's a weird self-affirmation thing that happens in popular music in general. It seems like every song I hear on the radio is like, "Listen to me roar!" or "This is my fight song!"” ThinkingSelfSeemsHappensSongFightingRadioAffirmationListen To MePopular MusicSelf Affirmation Author:Conor Oberst
“For some musicians it becomes self-reflexive to think, "I have to write some of my kind of songs now."” ThinkingWritingKindSelfSongMusician Author:Alan Licht
“My songs are self-explanatory... somebody pointed out to me that... my songs pretty much speak for themselves.” SelfSongSpeak Author:Christine McVie
“I was deluding myself that the song was almost not important, but I think the real thing that was happening was almost like self-hypnosis or mediation. The guitar lick was the transcendental key that unlocked my brain. It freed me. And then it all became easy. It's funny now, because I've had times when it wasn't easy.” ThinkingImportantRealSelfSongEasyBrainKeysHappeningsGuitarReal ThingsTranscendentalMediationHypnosis Author:John Fogerty
“Great people will always be mocked by those who feel smaller than them. However, a lion does not flinch at laughter coming from a hyena. A gorilla does not budge from a banana thrown at it by a monkey. A nightingale does not stop singing its beautiful song at the intrusion of an annoying woodpecker. Whenever you should question your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty.” PeopleFeelsShouldDoeSelfBeautifulRememberSongGrowthFlowerSingingLaughterSelf WorthThrownSurroundLionsAnnoyingDirtMonkeysMudGreat PeopleBananasPlungeIntrusionNightingalesLotusesGorillasHyenasLotus FlowerWoodpeckers Author:Suzy Kassem
“Its always important to fall back on your instincts and core beliefs and that was pretty hard for me to do but trusting in my self the way I trusted that if I were to sit at a piano for two hours and I was going learn something, that trust I'd put in myself really helped me get through it. For five to six months I just wrote songs and believed they would turn out to be things I could be proud of and be happy.” IfsWayTwoImportantSelfHardSongTurnsFallBeliefHoursFiveMonthsProudSixInstinctCorePianoTrustedBe ProudSix MonthsFall BackCore Beliefs Author:James Vincent McMorrow
“Whether it's a letter, song lyrics, part of a novel, or instructions on how to fix a kitchen sink, it's writing. You keep your craft honed, you acquire the discipline to finish things. You turn into a self-taskmaster.” WritingSelfSongTurnsNovelDisciplineLettersCraftsKitchenAcquireInstructionKitchen Sinks Author:Jimmy Buffett
“Domesticity is the enemy of art. I don't know if that's true. You can write good happy songs. So, I don't think it's necessarily happiness. But I think self-satisfaction is maybe the enemy. It's kind of better to think, "Tomorrow night I'm gonna sing it better." There is this forward effort. It feels to me right, it feels human.” IfsThinkingKnowsFeelsWritingHumansKindArtSelfNightSongEffortEnemyTomorrowSatisfactionTrue YouSelf-satisfactionDomesticity Author:Paul McCartney