Black Francis Quotes

I drive a lot. Just for pleasure. Sometimes I'll get in the Cadillac and drive around the city or the country, kind of trying to get lost basically. Y'know, just see where roads lead.

You should never rely on interviews with musicians as being factual. Most of them are mangled and even have made up stuff in them, that is to say, made up stuff by the writer or editor.

Wise is the tongue, wet of perfect thought.

The first thing that inspires any song is a chord progression. When I have one I really like, I get into the lyrics even more.

I have two step-kids and one of my own on the way. That's three college funds.

If you're a good band then the filter of the band is pretty strong.

I listen to Neil Young and jazz and classical stations and, if my girlfriend's driving, it tends to be Hall & Oates.

As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn't have a day job.

I think everybody has a painter inside of them somewhere.

I'm not saying that people have to listen to rock music. It's a great, cool thing and it can really be liberating for a lot of people but, hey, so can Charles Dickens so I'm not going to judge.

If I have more creativity that I want to get out of me, I try to find other ways than pursuing solo records so much.

I've got a small, loyal audience, which is great. And I appreciate that. They're there for me every time.

I can remember back as far as age 8, performing with the Boston Folk Song Society. It was a Woody Guthrie song.

This is a particular thing, you know, catholic stories of martyrs who had their head removed and then continued to be miraculous in the last moments of their life.

My most cryptic, strange songs might be my most personal, but that isn't how people are going to receive them, because they don't know the code.

It's obvious you shouldn't steal, kill or be cruel.

As I paint, I realise, while it's something I do very much by myself, it's very solitary, the creative process feels similar to making music to me now, at least as far as my brain is concerned.

But the truth is that critics are by definition critical. That's their job.

They're pretty good actually, Hall & Oates. I gotta give them credit. They got a lot of toe-tappers.

I think that painting is a very ancient form of expression.

I initially felt shy about doing painting because I wasn't a professional painter. I almost felt like I didn't deserve to paint. But I have gradually adopted a different kind of attitude about this.

I don't like to have everything all worked out in my head because there's always a chance of it coming out different than you think it should anyway.

Everyone thinks I'm a wimp and even my own band hates me. Oh, well. I guess I'll just flip 'em the bird!