Song Quotes
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You can hear songs that are technically great, songs that tick all the boxes. But for a song to be felt, you need something else.
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A lot of comedians do bits where they say, 'I was listening to this song, and this person said this, and you know how they say that?' And I thought it would work better if I actually had a DJ put that song lyric right there. It makes it more dynamic, and it's more energetic.
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If Mozart were around now he would write a killer rock song.
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To write a good song, an artist has to drawn from reality. There has to be some spark from realism that communicates a real feeling to someone else. You have to be real. Or you have to be a really good storyteller.
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I don't like to feel like I'm in a club when I'm in my car and I turn on the radio. Anything that ceases to be a song and just sounds like house music kind of stresses me out.
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As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I'd written? Yes. There's many of them!
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I think there'll always be a kid with a guitar with a song in his heart that's going to turn me on - that's as far as I can see. Whether lots of people agree with that, I'm not sure.
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Even if it was a difficult operation to copy a song, it only takes one person to do it. After that the spread of the song via the Internet or other means of propagation is only limited by the honesty of the users.
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Getting a great idea with song writing is a lot like love. You don't know why this one is different, but it is. You don't know why this one is better, but it is. It sticks in your head, and you can't stop thinking about it.
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Does it bother me that some people are burning their own System CDs and taking money out of my pocket? Not really. This has always been about putting the best possible version of the song in the fans hands. It was like selling an artist's painting before he had finished it.
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I think Katy B encapsulates young London in a way I never could. She reps London harder than anyone song-wise since Lily Allen.
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It feels like the more I'm out there in the public eye, the more criticism I get. You need to have confidence - that's what it takes to walk out there and sing a song in front of a huge group of people.
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'Jack & Diane' was originally about race. I was playing nightclubs, and I was seeing new American couples, mixed-race couples. I thought it was cool. The song was my effort to make a song about that, but of course the record-company guy didn't like it.
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I started writing my own songs from the time I was a little kid. I would write my own lyrics to other people's songs that I heard on the radio and take whatever song and make it about fairies and angels - whatever little girls sing about.
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If you can't play it on an acoustic guitar or a grand piano then it's not a song.
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There is a formula that allows you to write a decent song. But a song like 'You're All I Need to Get By,' it just writes itself.
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When I heard 'Rockabye,' I was just blown away. It had been a long time since I had heard a song that had a message like that in it - about being a single parent and caring for your child.
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I've always thought 'Southern Accents' would make an amazing country song. It's always spoken to me. I've always loved it. Every time I hear that song, it reminds me of my dad.
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A protest song is a song that's so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.
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I made a point when I made the Ugly Casanova record to not write a song and then say, 'This is a Modest Mouse song' or 'This is an Ugly Casanova song.' The people who were open to it not being a Modest Mouse record liked it.
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When I hear somebody like Hayes Carll write a song that's touching and poignant and sad and funny all at the same time, it motivates me to step my game up and try to figure out a way to get more different emotions into one line or one song.
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I've always found it pretty difficult to write a happy song.
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I've always loved the song 'It Might as Well Be Spring'.
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There's this song called 'Brad Chester,' which is like the depths of my family. It comes from a very personal place.
