Song Quotes
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Some sounds are coming from the keyboard and they are very important in the writing process, but on the other hand, we have melody and we have the song before, so if the keyboard sound fits very well, it takes its artistic direction. We play the machines and the machines play us.
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A cabaret song has got to be written - for the middle voice, ideally - because you've got to hear the wit of the words. And a cabaret song gives the singer room to act, more even than an opera singer.
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When I create a song, I immediately think about what I'm going to wear when I perform that song. I think about the music video treatment and about how I'm going to look on stage when I perform the record. The connection is so obvious that it's a single package. An outfit, to me, is almost a tool to express the music.
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I can't even speak Hawaiian, but if you go there and listen to a Hawaiian song, you get captured because it's so beautiful, like the melody is just gorgeous and you know Bob Marley is on the radio every single day. It's very reggae-influenced down there. Basically, you haven't been to paradise if you haven't been to Hawaii.
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A timeless pop song is the hardest thing to do as a songwriter.
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Everyone at school knew I wanted to be a singer. I'd always be banging on the piano playing my new song. The teacher would gather us round, and the whole class would listen.
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It's interesting how songs can evolve. Sometimes I'll write a song that feels relevant in the moment, but four years later, I don't want to sing it anymore. Then something will happen in my life, and the song becomes relevant again.
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My biggest song in the world is 'Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You.' All over the world, it's number one on the whole planet.
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Writing songs is no different than explaining to somebody what you dreamed last night: No one ever gives you crap for what you dreamed last night. "I was laying in my bed, and all of a sudden a stallion jumped on my bed and the next thing I know I was in Mars but it looked like my kitchen"... That's kind of what I do with my songs, write them in a dream-like manner. It's up to people to swallow it however they want.
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The way to do it is to put as much life into the song as I can. You can either get it to breathe or you can't.
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From a very early age, I started to get really interested in how songs were put to tape. Not just listening to the songs, but the way the songs were recorded.
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Old school Janet Jackson is always good. I usually go old school, it's very rare that I pick a song from nowadays.
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When I'm writing a song for another artist, I purposefully make it not for me; otherwise, I get too attached.
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I'm really interested in starting to write my own songs. I never really did, but hopefully I will because I'm so interested in writing my own songs.
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I've had lots of friends who've gone through 'Battlefield' situations in their relationships, so when I was singing the song I put myself in their position and tried to imagine what they were going through. I got so, so into it and I think you can tell.
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Sometime I write a song off a central idea, instead of emotion.
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What I like about popular culture is its accessibility, and I've covered popular songs because they are amazing things.
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What excites me is the idea of doing a record that's pretty clean and focused on songs. I've rushed a lot with previous albums and there's not a rush now - it's not a race.
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If I write a sad song, at the end it's gotta be like, 'Dude, things are looking up!'
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The unpurged images of day recede; The Emperor's drunken soldiery are abed; Night resonance recedes, night-walkers' song After great cathedral gong.
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In my songs, the sex is all subliminal. It's subliminal, spiritual.
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When people are amped up, they listen to more upbeat, loud songs. A Frank Sinatra album sets a certain mood, just as a Clash record sets another.
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I'll try not to let a day go by without making a song. I don't think I've created a lot of music.
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....the songs are universal enough that in ten years time they should still hold up quite well.
