Songwriting Quotes
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Songwriting is such a sensitive energy. It's just a vibration of frequencies.
Victoria Monet
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I think just letting go is a really good thing to do in many areas of your life, songwriting included.
Ingrid Michaelson
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Much of songwriting is simply a mystery.
Paul Simon
Simon & Garfunkel
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What happens is, especially when I was writing for my band, Creedence, and it's the way I write now, I go into "guitar lick" mode. When I do, it sort of leads into a real song. I'd say to myself, your songwriting is coming up with a guitar lick, and the rest is easy!
John Fogerty
Creedence Clearwater Revival
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I've been thinking about songwriting more in terms of playing it live, and how it will sound as a band.
Florence Welch
Florence and the Machine
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Every time I write a song, it's different. I'm all about the rhythm of the words and the melody. Musically, you gotta have a throbbing pulse going. But as far as what it's all about, there's a million ways to go. You have to invent a new code for every song. Then you have to break it. It's like Scrabble or a crossword puzzle on steriods. I could talk about the process for days. But it's never dull and there's no one way in.
Dan Bern
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I get some flak for and some resistance from colleagues for because I'm interested in storytelling. I mean what I like about songwriting is songs used to tell a story.
Stephen Sondheim
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Living in war, and being a wartime band, I don't think there's any way that can't somehow influence the songwriting.
Colin Meloy
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In songwriting a term that we use a lot is, ‘Does this sing well?’ So for me, my job as a curator and composer was to come in and be like, ‘Ok, this sings fine, this sits well on the ear, but it could sing better if we make a few changes.'
Leland
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Songwriting is the cheapest psychiatrist I know.
Billy Joe Shaver
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I can't write from the subconscious actually, because a lot of the time when I co-write with other people, I'm writing for them as opposed to for myself. When it comes to lyrics, I tend to want to give them their voice, since it's most likely going to be on their record, or somebody else's record. And I find for more commerial-style music, people want simplicity, less vagueness, and less space to fill between the lines, so to speak. So I can't be quite as ethereal and mystical.
Gary Louris
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Songwriting never gets old. There's always stuff to write about.
Tori Kelly
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All the characters on the album are inside me, though none are me. They are sides of me or who I was.
David Berman
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Songwriting ability is a gift. After a while, you come to realize, "I've really been blessed. I can write these things and it makes me happy, and it makes millions of people happy." It's an obligation, it's bigger than you. It's the only true magic I know. It's not pulling a rabbit out of a hat; it's real. It's your soul floating out to theirs.
Tom Petty
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
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I think it was Tommy who told me, 'When your song is called 'XYZ' or whatever, every line has got to make sense against your title.' He showed me little methods of proving to yourself whether the line belongs, and ways of finding out whether you were able to get more out of a line if you tried.
Merle Haggard
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Songwriting has always been a means to an end for me. That end being a tool to try to understand myself in the world and, through observation, make sense of the world.
Ruston Kelly
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My songwriting is the sum of my life experience so, yes, it’s had an impact for sure.
Matthew Vasquez
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You can't manufacture inspiration, so a lot of it is still a waiting game for me. There's still a lot of mystery to songwriting. I don't have a method that I can go back to - they either come or they don't.
Conor Oberst
Bright Eyes