Quotessence
Home / Topics / Songwriting Quotes

Songwriting Quotes

Browse 934 quotes about Songwriting.

Related topics

WritingSongThinkingIfsPeopleSongwritersWayKnowsTryingWantKindIdeasFeelsMusicWriting SongsDifferentSometimesFirstsNeedsI CanStoriesLittlesMeanGuitarSingingStuffHappensMelodyStillsTwoYearsAbleLinesMightProcessRecordsSaidLongPlayWorldWrittenDoneStyleWellsHeartShouldWantedArtistFeelingsHardImportantInspirationKidsMomentsSoundEndsMusic IsMusicianRealThreeArtEasyFeltPersonsTogetherCountryFormMovingReasonSingersVersesBitsCraftsMy OwnRocksCreativeGivingInterestingListeningMindSinger SongwritersBandChordsChorusDoeEnoughHas BeensLastsPopsRememberSimpleWould BeBelieveLooksMadeStructureTalentWholeAlbumsListenersmore

Songwriting Quotes

“I entered a songwriting competition, I didn't win, and one of the judges on the panel was an A&R man at a record label that had no other acts and I signed to them. We sent my demo out to five people and David Kahne got back to me that day, and said I think you're amazing I want to start with you tomorrow. He was like my Harvard reach school, I couldn't believe it. I was really excited. It was the first time anyone of any importance said I was good and I ran with that validation for a long time.”

PeopleThinkingMenWantFirstsBelieveLongSaidSchoolWinningRecordsFiveJudgingTomorrowLong TimeFirst TimeImportanceCompetitionExcitedLabelsRanSongwritingHarvardValidationRecord LabelsDemosYou Re Amazing
Author:Lana Del Rey
Create image

“I love when rappers have a off-beat, very abstract timing, and he certainly did.And any rapper who really approaches rapping with the art form of songwriting melodically - I know a bunch of rappers who actually go in before they write the lyrics and come up with the melody. And you can hear and feel that difference so much when that's the case.”

KnowsFeelsWritingArtFormDifferencesCasesApproachBeatsCome UpRapBunchAbstractMelodySongwritingRapperTiming
Author:Solange Knowles
Create image

“I feel happy about the songs I've written. I'm a great lover of the craft of songwriting, and I sure admire it in other people when I see it - past and present. I feel comfortable with what I have accomplished. I feel happy to be able to work in that environment, and that I have a lot of songs left to be written, somewhere.”

PeopleFeelsAblePastSongLeftEnvironmentWrittenLoversComfortableAdmireCraftsAccomplishedSongwritingGreat LovePast And PresentGreat Lovers
Author:John Fogerty
Create image

“One thing that I'm really interested in is the kind of esoteric detail that surrounds these great figures. And Wikipedia is full of that kind of stuff, whether it's true or untrue. It staggers me: why, in the short space assigned to a person or an event, that kind of random information is there. To be honest, that's wonderful fuel for songwriting.”

KindPersonsStuffSpaceWonderfulOne ThingHonestEventsFiguresInformationDetailsBeing HonestFuelSongwritingSurroundUntrueEsotericWikipedia
Author:Nick Cave
Create image

“[Non-performing songwriters] climb the mountain the first time, take their successes in stride, and when they tumble down the mountain, they just consider the tumble part of their profession and don't even waste time mourning their slump. They continue to write, make new connections, and move forward toward a new round of success.”

WritingFirstsMovingMountainWasteFirst TimeConnectionsRoundsProfessionMoving ForwardPerformingMourningClimbsSongwritingWasting TimeSongwritersStrideSlumps
Author:Michael Kosser
Create image

“Especially on Broadway, composers and lyricists fretted over their creations, obsessed over every rhyme, every critical chord or interval. The stakes were so high. On Broadway, people were watching and judging, especially newspaper critics who knew a thousand ways to slice and dice a songwriter for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of faithful readers. There was no anonymity for the Broadway songwriter. Even the best could find themselves stripped naked the morning after by the tastemakers and their readers.”

PeopleWayWritingMorningCreationJudgingReaderThousandCriticsEntertainmentCriticalNewspapersNakedFaithfulObsessedSongwritingStakesComposerSongwritersRhymeBroadwayChordsIntervalsAnonymityDiceMorning AfterLyricists
Author:Michael Kosser
Create image

“Songwriting is a craft. Writing good songs on a a consistent basis doesn not happen spontaneously. In fact, most of our best songwriters learned to write good songs by writing a lot of not so good ones. Education matters in songwriting, just as it matters for physicists, chemists, doctors, lawyers and MBAs. Education lays the foundataion on which to build experience.”

WritingMatterFactsHappensSongDoctorsBasesLaysLawyerCraftsConsistentSongwritingSongwritersPhysicistChemistMba
Author:Michael Kosser
Create image

“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
Create image

“That is what diminishes the artist and his song. The artist is now hermetically sealed. The publishing company got him his deal and they expect to profit from his songs. So what if he is a better singer than a songwriter; let's put him in a room with a real songwriter. Something great is bound to come...except very often nothing great comes out of such contrived match-ups. Nobody knows where a great song comes from, and that's why so many writers credit the Lord as a co-writer (though I notice they never offer Him half the writer's royalties) when they come up with a real gem.”

IfsKnowsWritingRealArtistSongRoomsDealsHalfCompanyLordOffersBoundsCome UpProfitCreditSingersWhat IfSongwritingPublishingSongwritersDiminishRoyaltyNobody KnowsGems
Author:Michael Kosser
Create image

“Wherever inspiration comes from, it's like I'll hear a melody and chords, almost a rough structure of the whole thing [song]. I'll just hear it and chase what's in my head. The rest comes from jamming with band, improvising, seeing what comes up as well. I'll come up with it off the top of my head, catch it, sing and hum, and if something is missing, just jam, and that's the [songwriting] process.”

IfsWellsWholeInspirationSongProcessSeeingMissingBandStructureCome UpRoughMelodySongwritingWriting ProcessChordsJamImprovising
Author:Chris Wyse
Create image

“I started just concentrating on songwriting when I was abut 20; I'd been in rock bands six or seven years, kinda got that out of my system, I said, "ok, you ain't gonna be a rock star, you don't look like a rock star, it probably ain't gonna happen. So what you should do is write songs and maybe other people will do your songs."”

PeopleShouldWritingYearsLooksSaidHappensSongStarsRocksBandSixSevenSongwritingSeven YearsRock StarConcentratingRock Bands
Author:Billy Joel
Create image