Pavement Quotes
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Almost every band has somebody who's the main songwriter and who has a vision, a very clear idea of how a song should be.
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I'm better when I'm an autodidact and things just come. Or you're just blessed. I'm not bragging or anything, it just comes to you.
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Every song has a different genesis, or feeling. Usually the lyrics, I don't really know what it's all about, I just kinda do it. I mean, there's a combination of, like you're saying, that kind of lyrics about commitment or vaguely relationship lyrics mixed with jokey 90s Beck-style non-sequiturs and stuff.
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It's easy to be negatively funny about personalities in the media. It's just kind of a cheap laugh.
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It's sort of irritating now - people always ask me, "You're a dad, and how's fatherhood?" If Bob Dylan or Neil Young had a kid, it didn't seem like it made them a different person. It didn't make you old right away.
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I've lost my writing skills since college. I couldn't write a book. It would take a long time.
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That's why you go to a nice studio. You can get a magic take. You don't really have to do anything to it.
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Usually the lyrics go from one word to the next word - there's no finish line. The music was that way, too.
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Berlin is just an affordable European city that's supposed to be cool. There's nothing too deep about it.
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It's hard to think back. I didn't even know I was going to do it, make actual records. But I was always making up songs, once I figured out that you could do it. I think it's pretty much the same, but there's less urge to get it moving out there. There was a time when it seemed like it was really super important to the audience and now it's just medium-important for people to like us. But that's okay.
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You can change the world, but if no one's listening, it doesn't matter.
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I'm just kind of a hippie. Age is not that relevant to the music.
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I hated it so much as a child. I just didn't like it when punk bands went metal, it really bothered me. It was happening left and right in the 1980s. It started I think with D.C. bands - G.I., Soul Side, they went metal. Right at that time, R.E.M. was coming out, these more kinda feminine bands, and I was more drawn to that than to go metal. And you remember MTV, with the bad metal. But even Metallica, it just wasn't my direction.
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I do play soccer, but it's exhausting in a way.
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I did some writing. I was just taking the kids to school. I did a couple things and we did some tours. It was a lot of downtime.
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I think it's just entertainment for people that are interested in the form. To sing along to and be psyched by.
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Obviously songs and musicians mean a lot to people.
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If you'd rather learn how to ride a horse or something, I would say do that. That'll keep you out of trouble. You would think a band would get you in trouble, but I think it's the opposite.
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I'm not a go-to-the-gym type guy. I've tried before. And I'm not a jogger.
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The word "down," is very musical. It just always comes.
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I don't even think my voice is really good.
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The earlier stuff is more like "this is happening to me," but now there are more songs that are accusatory or something, or more declaratory. I don't know where that voice comes from, like, "I've been down the road, we've been there and done that." That's sort of like a tougher style, or a less vulnerable style.
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George Oppen wasn't a larger than life personality, but I'm not either. And he lived a long time, so he was happy. Going down in flames is fine, too.
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I guess the majority of people who want to ban certain musicians are the ones who are so proud of everything America stands for.