Song Quotes
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I only worked with people that I musically identify with. I typically chose songs they played for me, but in some instances I told some of the producers how a certain song should sound. Some songs were co-written by applying lyrics I had prepared over top of one of their old instrumentals or simply through improvisation. I wrote all the lyrics and was there during every production process, checking out every sound. However, most of the music was composed by the artists themselves. Most were usually very surprised at how their songs sounded with vocals! C.H.I.F.F.R.E. did the main production very well and we both wanted to try and achieve a roots-y electronic music sound, a little raw and noisy, but not too digital. I wanted a warm sound that left space for intimacy.
Hanin Elias
Atari Teenage Rio
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'Boneless,' even though we were thinking about servicing it to radio, it made more sense putting a vocal on there. This was actually the first time that I really looked at doing a song for radio and kind of let go of some control and listened to a lot of different radio pluggers and had Ultra come in and help out with ideas.
Steve Aoki
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As a musician and a guitar player, I can noodle as well as anybody. But from my background as a session musician, I always try to play what is called for by the lyric and listening to the song. As a writer, that's what I do, too.
Richie Sambora
Bon Jovi
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If Jennifer Lopez could write songs like Fiona Apple's, she wouldn't have to spend so many hours at the gym.
Shirley Ann Manson
Angelfish
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A lot of philosophy is bull***t, but a lot of it is what we write songs about too. And it's organizing your thoughts, organizing your intellect.
Gregory Walter Graffin
Bad Religion
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Triumphant hours are the Lark's
Dafydd ap Gwilym
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By the time I got to record my first album, I was 26, I didn't need pen or paper - my memory had been trained just to listen to a song, think of the words, and lay them to tape.
Jay-Z
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People are consuming more than ever, but I think they want a bit of honesty and depth. Adele, Gotye, Janelle Monae - they're giving you a catchy song, but it's also a challenging song at the same time.
Kimbra Lee Johnson
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Every riff had to be perfect and heavy, collectively what we wanted it to be. If there was one person in the room who went, 'Heh, I don't think it is there yet, guys,' we'd scrap the whole song. I think that took a little bit of songwriting maturity for us.
Johnny Christ
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I thought it would be interesting to write a song about a lonely person who is scared to see the truth that is right in from of him. I thought it would be interesting if you could watch yourself from a distance.
Matthew Shultz
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A lot of my songs, they're like puzzle pieces, and there's just one way to put them together. You could, if you needed to, get the scissors out and cut up things to make them work. But I don't want to do that.
Ryan Adams
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My mum's an opera singer: I grew up watching her get swept up in music and transform herself into characters. She taught me that music is a lifelong journey, and that with every day and every song and every gig you learn something new.
Katie Noonan
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I was in orchestra in high school, but I really started when a friend of mine who's a drummer showed me some things. I was always just really fascinated with drums, it was the instrument I was always drawn towards. My ear sort of went to rhythmic aspects of music and songs.
Carla Azar
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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.
Jenny Lewis
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My dad took me for an audition once, to show me, 'OK, you want to be a child actor, this is what it's like.' I sang a folk song about donkeys on this West End stage with this big director, and there was a queue of 200 girls all singing 'Memory.' I was terrible. Terrible.
Emilia Clarke
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When it comes time to where the new album gets closer, I start singing the song a cappella; I'll preview it on my Snapchat and get creative with it - just kind of bringing everybody into more than just listening to the record on album.
Brett Eldredge
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On 'Metallica,' I recorded six or seven different guitar solos for almost every song, took the best aspects of each solo, mapped out a master solo and made a composite. Then I learned how to play the composite solo, tightened it up and replayed it for the final version.
Kirk Hammett
Metallica
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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.
Bruno Mars
