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The music business is the most childish business in the world. Nobody knows what they're selling or why, but they sell it if it works.
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I don't choose the songs; the songs choose me.
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Critics... They're like traffic cops. They say what they have to say, then leave, and another guy moves in ,and he has his say - and it's often just the opposite. The result is either critical acclaim or critical murder, and neither has any bearing on my music or direction.
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All music industry places are the same, really. They have the same dynamics and the same concerns and the same needs.
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Interviewer: 'So Jeff, what are your main musical influences?' Jeff (after a long pause): 'Love, anger, depression, joy and dreams. ...And Zeppelin. Totally.'
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The most audacious thing I could possibly state in this day and age is that life is worth living. It's worth being bashed against. It's worth getting scarred by. It's worth pouring yourself over every one of its coals.
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I don't really go on what people say so much; I go on their voice. I go on their energy at the time. I go on how close their arms are folded into their chest.
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I figured if I played in the no-man's land of intimacy, I would learn to be a performer.
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Maybe someday, I'll just make, like, a complete on-demand record that everybody wants to hear. But that would be impossible and, also, I just changed my mind. I don't think I'll ever do that.
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I don't know any artists that are really emotionally well adjusted. In fact, I think we're all pretty much insane.
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I don't really need to be remembered. I hope the music's remembered.
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I want to be ripped apart by music. I want it to be something that feeds and replenishes, or that totally sucks the life out of you. I want to be dashed against the rocks.
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Maybe I'm not a good enough artist that people just think of me. Maybe in the future, I'll bloom into something that will just make people look at me for what I am.
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There are times when what you do will be mysterious to everyone... times when you have to change directions before people are ready. Just because someone does something that critics don't like or understand doesn't mean you're failing as a musician. It probably means you're growing.
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A tune has to resonate with whatever is happening around it.
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I just want to be a guy with a guitar.
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The Smiths hasn't been equaled. That goes for the composition of the songs, the lyrics, and the performance.
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Critics try to pin so many different inaccuracies on me and my music; they look at the complicated things and try to simplify them. They think they can nail your whole life down just by knowing the bare bones of your history in partaking in 10 minutes of conversation.
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Certain emotions just take you to the notes - being furious, heroic, sad, erotic, when rain comes.
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All flowers in time bend towards the sun, I know you say there's no one for you, But here is one.
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A song just doesn't have verse-chorus-verse. It could just be one line. There are Chinese love songs that you have to learn one melody for a three-minute thing, and nothing ever repeats. I like that.
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The words come from here. From memories, from dreams, from people I've known. I'm always writing and reflecting on life. I want to suck it all in.
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I do like structure, and I'd love to be better at it.
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I'm convinced I got signed because of who I am. And it makes me sad.