Jonathan Coulton Quotes

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

You should know how great things were before you. Even so, they're better still today. I can't think of who I was before you ruined everything in the nicest way.

I always feel uncomfortable at parties, and I'm often nervous when talking to strangers. I don't think this makes me feel special. Maybe everybody feels this way.

Make good stuff, then make it easy for people to buy it. There’s your anti-piracy plan.

One thing I've learned is that the audience not only wants to be talked to but they also like to talk back. Maybe that's not a universal thing but people at my shows always have something to say. I love it because it encourages the spirit of having a good time together and it takes the show to places that I wouldn't be able to take it without their participation. The show becomes something that we're all working on together. That sounds really cheesy but I mean it.

I'd always meant to become a musician. I'd just never gotten around to it. And my daughter being born, I was like, Okay, this is seriously the last chance. And also: Do you really want to be a dad who never did what he wanted to do? You've got to set an example now. You've got to do this.

I'm just a dude and I feel like being completely isolated would be kind of a drag. I really do get a lot of energy from feedback from fans. People create music videos and artwork for my music.

I very easily decide in certain situations that I'm an outsider. That's just my own craziness. I think that I have sympathy for those characters who are like that, but I love it when the humor comes from a character who is serious about his situation - only the way he's thinking about it is all wrong, or the ways he's solving his problems are never going to work.

There's something about comedy, funny things, that people want to pass them along. Serious things and personal things are much more privately enjoyed. That's why there are not a lot of sad viral videos.

There's a vast ecosystem for music outside of Myspace and Facebook and you need to make sure that your music is in as many hands as possible. I wanted people to share my music and tell friends about me, and if you want to rely on word of mouth, you have to make it easy for people. I got lucky because I had a few songs that hit big and got a lot of links on blog posts.

It's weird but it's amazing, and it's great to know people are thinking about you. It's a huge ego boost and anyone that says they don't love that is lying.

Maybe in the back of my mind I was kind of wishing that I would become a rock star, kind of wishing that I would reach enough people who would be willing to pay me for the music, that I would actually be able to live off of just writing the songs that I wanted to write. But I don't think I really admitted to myself that that was my goal.

I'm a professional Jonathan Coulton. It's partially ego, to be completely honest: It feels great to have people adoring you in that way.

For me, the live show is sort of the ultimate expression of this journey that I've been on.