Lyle Lovett Quotes
-
Songwriters aren't always performers, and even performing songwriters aren't always the kind of show-biz performers you think they'd be.
-
When I first was trying to play the clubs around Houston to start playing my own songs, songwriters like Eric Taylor and Vince Bell and Townes Van Zandt and Don Sanders were just really encouraging to me and would let me sit in with them during their sets and introduce me to the person that owned and booked the club.
-
Wear what you want to wear. Do what you want to do. Be who you are. Pick out your own clothes. Be a man. And if that's too much to ask, as it almost always is for me, think of someone you consider to be a man and pretend to be like him. I pretend to be like my dad.
-
The idea that we humans are good-natured, politically correct, nonjudgmental beings is pure fantasy. We are, at the very least, judgmental.
-
I am limited by what I can think of to do-my choices are not so great.
-
You're saying something with your appearance whether you mean to or not, so you may as well mean to.
-
I've always thought that writing isn't really that hard. It's having a good idea that's hard.
-
I played guitar when I was young and never really considered it as a way to make a living.
-
I'm really in no danger of being perceived as a famous movie actor!
-
I've been lucky to be able to make the records I've wanted to make. The record company has never pressured me to cut certain songs.
-
The first time I toured with the 'Large Band' in 1988, I got so tired. If I just stood still anywhere, I could go to sleep. I was that tired. But I had to perform. And I did, and after that tour, I was much less fretful about going out onstage.
-
You can't second-guess your audience. You can only do what you think is right. If you do that, your audience will appreciate you.
-
I enjoyed hearing people do their own songs. I became attracted to singer-songwriters. I became interested in them as people; was curious about what they wanted to say.
-
I've just always written songs in a style that appeal to me personally.
-
If you forget the words to your own song, you can always claim artistic license. Forget the words to the national anthem, and you're screwed.
-
Dad often told me, 'My job is to help my boss do his job and make him look good.' That was my dad's objective. Everything about the way he conducted himself was to communicate support for his superiors and respect for his coworkers. The way he dressed was his starting point in that communication.
-
The most important thing you can do as a performer is to be yourself, or be an onstage version of yourself. If you're not being true to yourself, and somebody likes that other version of you, you're kind of stuck.
-
My music has always been sort of in between categories. Sometimes record stores - back when there were record stores - they'd put my records in the country music section, but other record stores would put my records in the pop or even the rock section. As long as it's in the store somewhere, I'm OK with it.
-
It's really a lot easier to write about things that are problematic. Who wants to hear how happy you are?
-
Horses teach you patience and how to do things the right way so you can get the right result.