Songwriting Quotes - Page 11

• If I knew where good songs came from, I'd go there more often.

  Guy Clark

  Song, Ifs

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• I respect country music because I feel like it's more about the talent and the songwriting and I put on a big show and we have a lot of stuff, but I feel confident in myself enough as an artist and a singer that I can have all of those fun toys and know that we don't need all the bells and whistles either.

  Carrie Underwood

  Country, Fun, Artist

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• Once I went into songwriting, I figured I had to - I couldn't be a hellfire rock 'n' roller. But I could write hellfire lyrics.

  Bob Dylan

  Writing, Rocks

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• I compare songwriting to childbirth. How many kids can you have before your uterus explodes?

  Billy Joel

  Kids, Uterus, Compare

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• Anything that happens after I write a song...that's fine with me. It's up to the listener to read into it what they need from it. And that's part of the reason I write like I do, so I can leave the holes in the right places so people can say, 'Yeah, that happened to me,' and they're able to have their own little fantasy about it.

  Guy Clark

  Song, Writing, People

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• Songwriting is like working on a jigsaw puzzle, and it doesn't make any sense until you find that last piece. It has to make sense or it doesn't work.

  Chrissie Hynde

  Writing, Jigsaw Puzzles, Pieces

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Paul Zollo

  Writing, Simple, Keys

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• The more I compose, the more I know that I don't know it all. I think it's a good way to start. If you think you know it all, the work becomes a repetition of what you've already done.

  A. R. Rahman

  Music, Thinking, Done

  38 Copy quote

• 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.

  Solange Knowles

  Art, Rap, Writing

  Source: www.npr.org

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• 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.

  Robbie Robertson

  Song, Writing, Names

  4 Copy quote

• Songwriting requires some sort of ceremony to even get the process started, and it can be somewhat arbitrary.

  Andrew Bird

  Arbitrary, Process, Ceremony

  Source: www.avclub.com

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• Anyone involved with songwriting will testify to the fact that each song, no matter how pure or from the heart, has its own story, its own peculiar way of getting written.

  C. Sigman

  Song, Writing, Heart

  5 Copy quote

• The trick to songwriting is writing in a poetic enough way that other people can identify with it.

  Lights

  Writing, People, Way

  Source: coogradio.com

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• The best songwriting comes from being as creative as you can and editing it down to the good bits, essentially.

  Alex Kapranos

  Editing, Creative, Bits

  "Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand". Interview with Andy Battaglia, www.avclub.com. February 14, 2007.

  44 Copy quote

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• I always try to write a song, I never just want to write a record. Originally I was not writing songs for myself. ....And I can say this, most of the people who have recorded my songs are songwriters themselves. ... Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential. When you write a song, a song has longevity. ... So I wanted to sing inspirational music, and that's exactly how I approached it-only the words have been changed to declare my relationship with God. Songwriting is my gift from God.

  Smokey Robinson

  Song, Writing, People

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• Songwriting is ... all about intuition - this thing pops into your head for a reason and it's up to you to follow it. It's like there's a spirit, or intuitive network, that comes through all of us, but most people don't take the time to think about it or remember it. These little things pop into our heads - it's just a process of intuition. The initial thought comes in a baby state, and you work on that some more.

  Jim James

  Baby, Writing, Thinking

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• If I'm writing... even a piece of a song... I write it down. If it still resonates six months down the line, a year, even five, those are the ones you put in your bag and you take to the studio. You come to realize, the ones that don't make it, they were only meant to live for that moment in your notebook or on the 4-track-and plenty of songs never get any farther than the 4-track.

  M. Ward

  Notebook, Song, Writing

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• Writing a song isn't that hard. Writing a good song is difficult. Let's face it, we're faced with taking a complex feeling or event, making words rhyme and saying exactly what we want them to say in a short amount of time. ...the primary reason for keeping it short and to the point is to be certain that you're not boring your audience.

  Ann Reed

  Song, Writing, Feelings

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• 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.

  Donald Fagen

  Writing, Simple, Giving

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• 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.

  Bette Midler

  Song, Beach, Love You

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• 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.

  Nate Ruess

  Song, Writing, Simple

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• 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.

  Tim McGraw

  Brother, Writing, Singers

  6 Copy quote

• 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.

  Eric Church

  Song, Real, Moving

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• 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.

  Dan Bern

  Song, Writing, Pulse

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• 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.

  Dan Bern

  Song, Writing, Luxury

  5 Copy quote