What has worked before is never as good as something that has never been tried before, even if it doesn't work.
Songwriting is Hell on Earth. If it isn't, then you're doing it wrong.
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.
Someone left the cake out in the rain
I believe strongly in inspiration, inspiration literally meaning full of the spirit. I do believe that it comes to you.
The people who are making money are the ones who are writing and singing their own songs.
We as songwriters are in the same position as a professional fisherman. Our fishing grounds are kind of fished out.
The creative processes are so mysterious.
You certainly don't hear any country music on pop radio today. But for a while you did, and it was a lovely thing to have all the different genres of music cohabitating the Top 40 - the folk sound, The Beatles, the British sound, the Motown sounds, that kind of light country - it was a welcome relief after a few hard rock records. Everyone was sharing the airwaves, and I think it was a beautiful time for American music.
I like words. I like the way they clash around together and bang up against each other, especially in songs.
In the end all that matters is climbing and pushing your personal limits. No matter the grade, if you climb something that was hard for you, then that's sick.
You reach a certain point in your life where they things you do and say do make a difference.
America's criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace.
I usually know what kind of song I'm after. I know what I'm trying to do when I start. I don't always get there. But I try to visualize what it's actually going to be.
As I've grown - dare I say it - older, I had hopes of indulging my dreams of being a sailor.
I'll find a place to rest my spirit if I can Perhaps I may become a highwayman again Or I may simply be a single drop of rain But I will remain And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again...
Particularly in my early days, I did very little rewriting.
We are really in a rut with the three-minute song. You know where it's going to go. If you're trying to get your message across sometimes it's wise to say, Why don't we stop here and have a moment of silence, then go in a completely different direction?
