“Like all mystics (and many novelists, not least the present one) he is baffled, a child, before the real now; far happier out of it, in a narrative past or a prophetic future, locked inside that weird tence grammar does not allow, the imaginary present.” WritingChildrenDoeRealPastNarrativeNovelistsSongwritingLockedImaginaryGrammarPropheticBaffled Book:A Maggot Source: A Maggot
“I take in a lot of stuff from real life, movies, television, news and it all gets mixed in my head and somehow turns into a story idea.” WritingIdeasRealStoriesTurnsStuffTelevisionNewsReal LifeSongwritingTelevision News Author:Janet Evanovich
“The Jungian therapist taught me the difference between the ego and the shadow. I realized I'd been so busy being a good girl that I'd completely detached from my shadow. It's something we all have, and it's where all the creative juices are.” WritingGirlDifferencesCreativeTaughtEgoShadowBusyI RealizedSongwritingJuiceTherapistsDetachedGood GirlCreative Juices Author:Sue Grafton
“Now [Sue Grafton] loves writer's block, seeing it as a message from the psyche that the narrative is headed in the wrong direction.” WritingSeeingMessagesBlockNarrativeSongwritingWriter's BlockWrong Direction Author:Colleen O'Connor
“I have the right ideas, but my words are too... complicated. I need to simplify them, so that people won't get lost in the dark when they see and hear them. I want them to shine like beacons of light in a world of overly complicated darkness. One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” PeopleWorldWantNeedsWritingIdeasLightLostDarkSimpleDarknessOne DayShiningComplicatedSongwritingSimplifyRight WordsBeaconsRight IdeasBeacons Of Light Author:Jack Kerouac
“As a songwriter, I try not to be sloppy; same with the music. You can be very lean, very efficient, so you're not wasting a lot of time getting' to the point. You're saying it with as pure a word or phrase as you can. That's the part that was craft. You refine and refine and refine. Maybe that's why the songs still hang on, because they're very pure. For one thing, they're very short. "Bad Moon Rising" is like 2 minutes and 12 seconds. I would try to do everything as quickly and with as little extra as possible. It was a challenge.” WritingTryingLittlesStillsSongChallengesOne ThingMinutesPureMoonCraftsPhrasesExtrasRisingSongwritingSecondsEfficientSongwritersSloppy Author:John Fogerty
“Melodies can be good depending on the context. You can have a simple melody, and if the harmony behind it is interesting, it can make a very simple melody really different. You can also have a complex melody. The more complex it is, the harder it is to sing, and then sometimes it can sound contrived. You could write a melody that would be fine on a saxophone but if you give it to a singer, it can sound raunchy.” IfsGivingWritingDifferentSometimesWould BeSoundSimpleInterestingBehindsFineHarderHarmonyComplexesBe GoodSingersMelodySongwritingSaxophone Author:Donald Fagen
“Characters last. Beautiful writing lasts. A compelling narrative lasts. Art survives long after ideas go extinct.” WritingLongArtIdeasCharacterLastsBeautifulNarrativeSongwritingCompellingBeautiful Writing Author:Joel Achenbach
“While I was there, I was just gathering images and names, and ideas and rhythms, and I was storing all of these things - which I didn't realize I was doing - but I was storing them all in an attic in my mind somewhere. And when it was time to sit down and write songs, when I reached into the attic to see what I was gonna write about, that's what was there.” WritingMindIdeasSongNamesRealizingDown AndRhythmSongwritingGatheringAttics Author:Robbie Robertson
“Twenty-seven people sang 'Wind Beneath My Wings' before I got around to it. A lot of people saw the movie that I sang it in, Beaches, and what they came away with was that song. They turned to their loved ones and said, 'You know, you are the wind beneath my wings!' The song expressed how they felt in a way a simple 'I love you' would not have.” PeopleKnowsWayWritingSaidSongFeltSimpleSawsLove YouWindTwentiesWingsSevenBeachSongwritingLoved Ones Author:Bette Midler
“Teasing out the way the world might look through another's eyes is what makes the creative process so fascinating and enjoyable.” WorldWayWritingLooksMightEyeProcessCreativeFascinatingSongwritingCreative ProcessEnjoyableTease Author:Stephen L. Carter
“I swear I have at least one good song idea a day. But if I don't get pen to paper in ten seconds, it's gone forever.” IfsWritingIdeasSongGoneForeverTenPaperPensSongwritingSecondsSwear Author:Cary Ann Hearst
“It's as simple as finding something on the street and then writing a jingle. If I'm driving and I have my turn signal on and it's rhythmic, maybe I just write a song to that.” IfsWritingSongTurnsSimpleStreetsFindingsDrivingSongwritingSignalsJingles Author:Nate Ruess
“There's a lot of really inspiring music coming around the bend - we tend to believe that to sound classic or timeless is to sound vintage or retro. It's a little bit dangerous, because you'll really miss a chance to make your mark as a generation.” WritingBelieveLittlesBitsSoundChanceGenerationsDangerousMissingLittle BitMarkClassicSongwritingTimelessVintageRetroAround The BendReally Inspiring Author:Brandi Carlile
“Even if you're an observer of a story that you yourself made up, you're still very much connected to it. You love it and feel it, no less than somebody's who's writing from their direct 'I' or 'me.' I'm just so much more interesting in stories than confessions.” IfsFeelsWritingMadeStillsStoriesInterestingDirectConnectedSongwritingConfessionObserversSelf Made Author:Regina Spektor
“I think Gram did his best work in co-writes. Sometimes when you're working with one other person, it's such a magical thing. You're editing each other and you're trying to create that one spark.” ThinkingWritingTryingPersonsSometimesSongwritingSparksEditingBest Work Author:Chris Hillman
“Like I say, I'm always writing and if something sticks, it sticks. I get to write with great songwriters in town. Lori McKenna is one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters who's ever walked the planet. I get to write with her. The Warren Brothers are friends of mine and I write with them all the time. Lance Miller is a great songwriter. Tom Douglas - you can't get any better than that. I write a lot of stuff but it's got to stick.” IfsWritingStuffMinesPlanetsBrotherTownsSticksSingersAll TimeSongwritingTomsSongwritersSinger SongwritersAll Time FavoriteFavorite Singer Author:Tim McGraw
“I'd trusted my fan base, I'd trusted the my gut, and I'd trusted the music. ...the real experts are out there in front of you every night. They're the ones buying the tickets and coming to the shows. They're the professionals in this business, and they're the only ones who can tell you which songs have the ability to move them.” WritingRealShowsMovingNightSongAbilityFansFrontsExpertsBuyingGutsSongwritingEvery NightTrustedTickets Author:Eric Church
“Every time I write a song, it's different. I'm all about the rhythm of the words and the melody. Musically, you gotta have a throbbing pulse going. But as far as what it's all about, there's a million ways to go. You have to invent a new code for every song. Then you have to break it. It's like Scrabble or a crossword puzzle on steriods. I could talk about the process for days. But it's never dull and there's no one way in.” WayWritingDifferentSongProcessBreakMillionsRhythmOne WayCodeDullMelodySongwritingPuzzlesPulseCrosswordsScrabble Author:Dan Bern
“Even when there's not a joke or a hook, the first line has to be good and snapem to attention. Songs ain't novels. You don't have 30 pages to slowly wrap somebody in. They're more like short stories or poems. If the first line hasn't grabbed them, you won't get to the second line. Once you've developed an audience, you may have some luxury and trust, so you don't have to knock 'em over the head with line one.” IfsWritingFirstsMayStoriesSongLinesAttentionNovelAudiencePagesJokesBe GoodLuxuryEmsSongwritingShort StoryHookWraps Author:Dan Bern
“I start out with words, with the idea, the line. Then after I get a line or two, I try to find what melodic line those lines would be suited to. As soon as I find the form I can finish the song in my head.” WritingTryingI CanTwoIdeasWould BeFormSongLinesSongwriting Author:Mose Allison
“If it's worth remembering, I'll remember it. If something keeps coming back, if I keep thinking of that phrase, if I see manifestations of it at different times and different places, then I feel it's worth making a song out of.” IfsThinkingFeelsWritingDifferentRememberSongManifestationPhrasesSongwritingComing BackDifferent PlaceDifferent Times Author:Mose Allison
“You always want to write the perfect song. But no one will ever write the perfect song, I guess. I would just like to write on that has all the elements of what I'm tring to do. And I'm working on it. I'm always working on it.” WantWritingSongPerfectElementsSongwritingAlways Working Author:Mose Allison
“You don't write a song to sit there on a page. You write it to sing it.” WritingSongPagesSongwriting Author:Bob Dylan
“I was writing "Diamonds and Rust' and it had nothing to do with what it turned out to be. I don't remember what it is, but I think I was writing a song. It was literally interrupted by a phone call, and it just took another curve and it came out to be what it was.” ThinkingWritingRememberSongPhonesSongwritingDiamondCurvesPhone CallsInterruptedRust Author:Joan Baez
“There's enough songs for people to listen to, if they want to listen to songs. For every man, woman and child on earth, they could be sent, probaby, each of them, a hundred records, and never be repeated. There's enough songs. Unless someone's gonna come along with a pure heart and has something to say. That's a different story.” PeopleIfsMenWantWritingHeartChildrenDifferentEnoughStoriesEarthSongRecordsPureHundredEvery ManSongwritingMen WomenPure Heart Author:Bob Dylan
“That's another way of writing a song, of course. Just talking to somebody that ain't there. That's the best way. That's the truest way. Then it just becomes a question of how heroic your speech is. To me, it's something to strive after.” WayWritingSongCoursesTalkingSpeechStriveBest WaySongwritingHeroicAnother WayTruest Author:Bob Dylan
“Miranda Lambert is actually mixing the singer-songwriter philosophy with the commercial country [mindset]. And I find it just inspiring. My hat's off completely, because she's pulling it off, and I couldn't figure out a way to do it.” WayWritingCountryPhilosophyFiguresMindsetSingersHatsSongwritingSongwritersPullingSinger SongwritersMixingMiranda Author:Allison Moorer
“I just feel like it's easier to co-write sometimes, especially if you have chemistry with somebody. It kind of takes all the pressure off of you. But, you know, I started writing songs by myself. I didn't really have a co-writer, besides my dad. When I see a record and it has a song on it that someone wrote [alone], I just really believe in them as a writer. I feel like it's a window into them, more than it is if you write a song with someone else.” IfsKnowsFeelsWritingBelieveKindSometimesSongRecordsDadEasierWindowPressureMy DadSongwritingChemistryWriting Songs Author:Miranda Lambert
“People just didn't write songs that were so directly emotional in those days. They still don't. Part of Hank's [Williams] thing was that he was opening up about relationships between men and women in ways that nobody else did, and I think that's something that made him stand out so much. His songs are just so straightforward about these really deep feelings that are universal, but they're so hard to write about without sounding sappy or over the top. You think of men in that era - they didn't express themselves that way.” PeopleThinkingMenWayWritingMadeStillsHardFeelingsSongEmotionalMen And WomenUniversalOpeningErasSongwritingStanding OutStraightforwardThink Of MeOpening UpOver The TopReally DeepDeep Feeling Author:Michael McCaul
“Songwriting is a really fortunate skill to have to frame living and to find new ways to observe things you're going through.” WayWritingSkillsFortunateSongwritingNew Ways Author:Feist
“Ideas are floating like fish. Desire for an idea is like a bait on a hook. If you desire an idea, it pulls and it makes a kind of a bait. Ideas will come swimming up. And you don't know them until they enter the conscious mind. And then bingo! There it is! You know it instantly. And then more come in. If you go fishing for ideas, a lot of ideas will just pop in. And one of them will make you fall in love.” IfsKnowsWritingMindKindIdeasDesireFallConsciousFalling In LoveFishesPopsFishingSongwritingSwimmingFloatingHookBaitConscious MindBingo Author:David Lynch
“Most of the really good songs are dead true. ... It had to have happened to have the song be there. Every time I've tried to make stuff up it just kind of falls flat. So the majority of my work is something that happened to me, I saw happen to someone else, or a friend of mine told me happened. There is a certain amount of theatrical and poetic license. People are supposed to like it, that's why you're doing it. It's supposed to be fun. It's not brain surgery, it's heart surgery. They're just songs.” PeopleWritingHeartKindHappensCertainSongFallFunStuffBrainSawsHappenedMinesAmountMajoritySupposed To BeFlatsPoeticSongwritingSurgeryLicenseTheatricalBrain SurgeryHeart SurgeryPoetic License Author:Guy Clark
“I've gone a year and not written a song just because I couldn't think of anything. But I always come back to it because there's always that little buzz you get when you do something well and sing it out loud to the public. And people clap and tell you how great you are.” PeopleThinkingWritingYearsWellsLittlesSongGoneWrittenLoudSongwritingBuzz Author:Guy Clark
“I don't really know why an idea comes to me. But all of a sudden, an idea comes and from experience I can intuit what something means when an interesting line pops up. Or I can intuit what an interesting choice might be. And I can try a couple of different choices, and see which one feels right, and then continue the song to see where it goes.” KnowsFeelsWritingTryingMeanI CanIdeasDifferentMightSongChoicesLinesInterestingCouplePopsSongwritingFeels RightDifferent Choices Author:Paul Simon
“Most of the time, the songs have jokes in them, little sarcastic things, or purposely kitsch or something. So that's going along with a story, like I do in life, just talking to myself and making fun of stuff and laughing at stuff that's serious. And sometimes it's a good idea to put the laughing into the songs. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's all right just to be serious. But most of the songs have some kind of joke in them.” WritingKindLittlesIdeasSometimesStoriesSongFunStuffTalkingLaughingSeriousJokesSarcasticSongwritingGood IdeasKitsch Author:Paul Simon
“I really don't know what exactly all the songs mean. Sometimes other people have meanings and when I hear them I think, 'That's really a better meaning than I thought, and perfectly valid, given the words that exist.' So part of what makes a song really good is that people take in different meanings, and they apply them, and they might be more powerful than the ones I'm thinking.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWritingMeanDifferentSometimesMightSongGivenPowerfulSongwritingDifferent Meanings Author:Paul Simon
“I don't really like to write at a desk. I like to write when driving in a car. ... Once you're working on it, you're working on it all the time, and sometimes stuff'll come in the middle of the night, in a dream or something. Your mind is working on it all the time.” WritingMindSometimesDreamNightStuffMiddleCarDrivingSongwritingDesksMiddle Of The Night Author:Paul Simon
“I sort of recognize it, as opposed to shaping it. Oh, that's a good idea, that's a good line. I wonder where I can use that. And when you get into a rhyme group like 'not,' you got a lot of rhymes, you got a lot of choices. The more you do it, the luckier you get.” WritingI CanIdeasUseChoicesLinesWonderGroupsSongwritingGood IdeasRhyme Author:Paul Simon
“I just said, you know, this is a great track but this lyric, I don't believe it. It sounds like I'm trying to say something, instead of it naturally coming out of me, like I was saying something that I already knew. Anyway, I can't remember what it was. And either I threw it all out or I threw 90 percent of it out, and kept a line or two. That's happened a couple of times to me. Not too often, but a couple of times. Very aggravating when it does happen.” KnowsWritingTryingBelieveDoeSaidI CanTwoHappensRememberSoundLinesHappenedCouplePercentDon't BelieveTrackSongwritingComing OutAggravating Author:Paul Simon
“The words come. Usually, it's a long time before they come. And then when they start to come, it doesn't take so long for it to be finished. It takes a long time to begin. And then it sort of gets finished.” WritingLongLong TimeFinishedSongwriting Author:Paul Simon
“Most of the time, when I had hits as a soloist - maybe not so much with Simon & Garfunkel - I was surprised they were hits. I didn't know what the hits were. I never thought that 'Loves Me Like A Rock' was going to be a hit, or 'Mother And Child Reunion,' or '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.' They didn't sound like what the hits sounded like at the time. Radio was more open to things that weren't exactly what every other hit was.” KnowsWayWritingChildrenMotherSoundRocksLoversRadioSongwritingReunionMother And Child Author:Paul Simon
“Even if chords are simple, they should rub. They should have dissonances in them. I've always used a lot of alternate bass lines, suspensions, widely spaced voicings. Dfferent textures to get very warm chords. Sometimes you're setting up strange chords by placing a chord in front of it that's going to set it off like a diamond in a gold band. It's not just finding interesting chords, it's how you sequence them, like stringing together pearls on a string. ... Interesting chords will compel interesting melodies. It's very hard to write a boring melody to an interesting chord sequence.” IfsShouldWritingSometimesHardTogetherUsedLinesSimpleInterestingFrontsStrangeBandFindingsGoldShould HaveBoringWarmSettingSettingsStringsMelodySongwritingDiamondPearlsSequenceChordsBassTextureSuspensionDissonance Author:Jimmy Webb
“Any quick analysis of a Beatles tune or a Cole Porter tune will reveal often simple but unexpected chords, chords that chromatically shift between keys, or between major and minor.” WritingSimpleKeysMajorsAnalysisUnexpectedTunesSongwritingMinorsChords Author:Paul Zollo
“I could send myself right back to the day that I wrote "Angel Of The Morning," how it felt. I had a buzz through me that morning that was so powerful. I knew I had done something that meant something, because of that feeling. It wasn't a question of whether other people liked it ... I loved it. To me, it had to be one of the most important love stories of all time.” PeopleWritingImportantDoneStoriesFeelingsFeltPowerfulMorningAngelLove StoryAll TimeSongwritingBuzz Author:Chip Taylor
“Our goal is to write memorable songs. We're not there yet, but we're getting closer. Each time we sit down to write, we have hopes of coming up with something that will be remembered forever. That's our dream.” WritingDreamSongGoalForeverRememberedMemorableSongwritingOur DreamsHaving Hope Author:Joel Madden
“When you write a song it's sometimes in a desperate moment whn you can't really articulate it. What I love about lyrics is what T.S. Eliot said: 'Good poetry is felt before it is heard.' I'm a believer in that. It's those moments when you sit yourself down, and talk to yourself in the mirror.” WritingSaidSometimesMomentsSongFeltHeardMirrorsDown AndBelieverDesperatePoetry IsSongwritingEliotGood Poetry Author:Marcus Mumford
“If you try to create a type, you may end with nothing. If you do a good job of creating an individual, you may succeed at creating a type.” IfsWritingTryingMayEndsJobsIndividualTypeSucceedCreatingSongwritingGood Job Author:F. Scott Fitzgerald