Songwriting Quotes - Page 15

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.

John Fowles

Children, Real, Writing

John Fowles (1985). “A Maggot”, Jonathan Cape

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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

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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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The poems are part of my attempt to understand being in the world in an honest way.

Dan Beachy-Quick

Writing, World, Way

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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

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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.

Mose Allison

Song, Writing, Ideas

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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.

Mose Allison

Song, Writing, Thinking

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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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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.

Mose Allison

Song, Writing, Perfect

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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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[The publication of his first poem] was wonderful ... but it taught me early on that the only thing that really matters is writing the next poem. Publication is best seen as a happy accident.

Dan Beachy-Quick

Writing, Matter, Next

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I learned how music works dealing with Jermaine Dupri, and I learned how image works dealing with Puff Daddy. ... Singing is an acting role within itself...I've gone through a lot of trial and error to find what works and what doesn't. With that comes an understanding of how to offer the same opportunities to other artists. ... In my opinion the world is in need of real soul music. ... I'm a flamboyant type of guy, a cooler version of Liberace. ... I'm a younger Morgan Freeman. ... I've been working so hard, I'm about to have a Mariah Carey.

Usher

Real, Opportunity, Artist

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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.

Janet Evanovich

Real, Writing, Ideas

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I've always known that I was a gifted person. ... I've always felt like I would be punished, severely, if I didn't continue to make use of that gift. It's very important that you don't let the muscle get flabby. It's really hard, as an old human being, to press as much weight as you pressed when you were a kid.

Merle Haggard

Writing, Kids, Important

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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.

Sue Grafton

Girl, Writing, Creative Juices

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Now [Sue Grafton] loves writer's block, seeing it as a message from the psyche that the narrative is headed in the wrong direction.

Colleen O'Connor

Block, Writing, Narrative

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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.

Jack Kerouac

Writing, Dark, Simple

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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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Lonnie says it doesn't take long to write a song if you're stricken with a severe case of the Tennysons. He wasn't necessarily talking about a chart-climber.

Dan Jenkins

Song, Writing, Talking

Dan Jenkins (2010). “Baja Oklahoma”, p.26, Texas A&M University Press

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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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The world does not know it needs poems any longer, but we believe it does.

Bin Ramke

Believe, Writing, Doe

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Every time I finish a song... most of the time it's in my own head, like this sounds too much like a Townes Van Zandt song, or whoever. I realize there are so many melodies and chord progressions in pop and rock music that are so similar that you can kind of trace it back to other things. Most of the time it's just in your head.

Conor Oberst

Song, Writing, Rocks

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Songwriting can be cathartic, but then you just keep it private. If you're going to play out and have other people listen to you, then you need to make sure there's some point to what you're saying.

Patterson Hood

Writing, Play, People

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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.

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jobs, Writing, Creating

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