Songwriting Quotes

Music is not my life. My life is music.

I enjoy poetry where I can talk as bizarre as I please, but theology or philosophy, I always respect the truth by taking it a step further.

I attended a post-college program in L.A. for Music Business and Production. Took several courses involving Music Production, Arrangement, and Songwriting.

I draw the line at letting people into my songwriting cave. To me, that's where the alchemy happens and where the mystery is.

Songwriting isn't always something that's directly proportionate to the experience.

I don't really know that there's any real rules for songwriting.

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

I am nervous that the craft of songwriting is taking a nose dive...And since I'm a songwriter and I connect with an interpretative, you know, interpretation of a song, I miss it. I just miss it.

The less I talk in bars, write emails, express myself in an emotionally lewd way outside of my songwriting, the more I have to do it through my music.

The songwriting of Hall & Oates is deceptively complex. There are a number of key changes that pass you by as you're listening to the song because they're so seamless and clever.

I think Americana music is music that is generally more singer/songwriter oriented. It has more to do with the songwriting. The music, it's more like stories set to music.

Songwriting and screenwriting aren't that different to me.

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

Finding great songs is the hard part of my gig - it's not as hard as songwriting, that's much more daunting - but I love playing other people's music.

What I strive to do with songwriting is be really honest, authentic and try to be open and share that with people. I choose that over trying to be clever, poetic, or lyrical.

Songwriting is like talking to yourself when there is no one to talk to.

I wanted to play rock and roll when I started playing. Nobody at that time ever thought about songwriting. You sang songs, that's all. You sang other people's songs. That's all there were.

With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

I respect country music because I feel like it's more about the talent and the songwriting.

It's unfashionable to admit, but playing music makes us happy and makes us smile.

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.

I like the songwriting. I don't ever listen and then go back and change stuff. For me when I wrote the song, it's always really fun and exciting.

Living in war, and being a wartime band, I don't think there's any way that can't somehow influence the songwriting.

People think of songwriting as a very personal thing: A guy gets up there with an acoustic guitar and he sings his heart out, bares his soul.

Personally, being somewhat envious of Richard's (Thompson) songwriting and guitar playing, it's somewhat satisfying he's not yet achieved household-name status. It serves him right for being so good.

For me, it's good to have those dissimilar modes of songwriting sit side-by-side on a record, because they yield such different results.

I don't write poetry for the page because my inclination in that area is satisfied by songwriting. "Ornamental Hermit" was a comparatively effortless song to write, which is rare for me.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn't get some of that stuff out.

This little four-string songwriting tool started changing the way I brought songs to the group.

Songwriting is my main thing. I know that I'll do that for the rest of my life.

Melody is the first thing that comes to me when I'm songwriting. I learned piano classically first, and then I went into soul, and so melody has always been the first. It's so important.

I'm the only girl songwriter that fights for a lot of things. I fight for songwriting fees, which record labels want you to shut up about.

I've done so much songwriting and I know how to do it.

Songwriting is a really fortunate skill to have to frame living and to find new ways to observe things you're going through.

I've been thinking about songwriting more in terms of playing it live, and how it will sound as a band.

You need to work at the craft of songwriting, but not only the craft. When I see people working both on themselves and the craft, and they combine those things...I just go, That's just fabulous.

Songwriting helps me sort out my personal problems. With acting, you're just a tool for someone's ideas.

I love the art form of songwriting. I get to carry a lot of vibes to a lot of people. My songs are all about the human condition, and people will be able to find themselves in my songs.

Songwriting is never one thing. I've spent as long as three months writing a song. Other times I've done it in twenty minutes.

I couldn't say there is a formula to songwriting. Each time is a unique experience.

I know texture is really important, but I think texture and stuff precedes songwriting a lot of the time these days.

I do look at songwriting as a lot of work. I don't overintellectualize music as a special medium that only some people deserve to do. I think it's something you do if you put the work in.

I always saw songwriting as the top of the heap. No matter what else you were going to do creatively-and there were a lot of choices-writing songs was king.

Those things interest me a lot in songwriting - the human nature of how people think, and the muck that we wind up in.

I always saw songwriting as the top of the heap. No matter what else you were going to do creatively... writing songs was king.

I've always gravitated towards songwriting that happens easily and spontaneously, because those have always been my best songs.

Everything in life influences my music. I've always used songwriting as a means to share what I think is profound.

I wanted to create a more spontaneous outlet for my songwriting to have alongside the more long-winded process of making an album. I wanted to have some fun.

Songwriting is a great release. It helps me work through things.

The songwriting was almost like something I did while I was waiting for my daughter to come back.