AcousticByLines Quotes, Jokes, Stories

Quotes, Jokes, Stories

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Quotes about Writing / Songwriting / Creating - 2010

"When you play the right note and sing the right melody and the right lyric and the right time, it connects with people in a powerful way. It’s magical.” — Jonathan Tyler, quoted by Brian T. Atkinson in "On the Horizon: Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights," American Songwriter May / June 2010

"Songwriters that work in particular genres get strong in some areas and neglect others. It’s kind of funny how we tend to regard 'our' genre as being the one that is 'legitimate.' We tend to ignore or disrespect other genres. And yet there are no pure song genres in our culture. We are an eclectic culture. Our music is filled with cross-fertilization. Rock music, for example, bears hefty influences from jazz, country, gospel, pop, classical, you name it. Meanwhile, pop, rock, gospel, modern and contemporary classical, etc., all bear influences from music that came before, as well as music that came later." — Michael Kosser, "Street Smarts: Why Lyrics and Melody Matter, " American Songwriter May / June 2010

"In Nashville, there is a historic tendency to work the lyric to death while settling for music that works. In pop or rock, it can be the other way around." — Michael Kosser, "Street Smarts: Why Lyrics and Melody Matter, " American Songwriter May / June 2010

“I’ve always known that I was a gifted person. ... I’ve always felt like I would be punished, severely, if I didn’t continue to make use of that gift. It’s very important that you don’t let the muscle get flabby. It’s really hard, as an old human being, to press as much weight as you pressed when you were a kid.” — Merle Haggard, quoted by Peter Cooper in "Merle Haggard: As He Is," American Songwriter May / June 2010

"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, quoted by Peter Cooper in "Merle Haggard: As He Is," American Songwriter May / June 2010

“We need to have music that contributes to the well-being of the spirit. Music that cradles people’s lives and makes things a little easier. That’s what I try to do, and what I want to do. You don’t want to close the door on hope.” — Merle Haggard, quoted by Peter Cooper in "Merle Haggard: As He Is," American Songwriter May / June 2010

"...she knew the intensity of adolescence, and knew no cure for it except growing up. And then one has age and experience, and mourns the loss of intensity. Maybe it's why musicians and mathmaticians are said to peak young—poetry needs the fire of an unbounded universe." — Sara Paretsky, "Bleeding Kansas"

"When I write a song today, basically it goes on the stage tomorrow. That's the way it works. You cannont interrupt your consciousness; it all comes from the subconscious, it can happen anywhere. It could be in a telephone booth." — Richie Havens quoted by John Kruth in "Richie Havens' Mixed Bag: From the Basket Houses to Yasgur's Farm and 40 Years Hence," Sing Out! Autumn '09 / Winter '10

"All I know is when I start getting serious about songwriting... it's like a playground. All responsibilities slip away and you're with your essence. There can be delight there and self-discovery. You can dance there... I think of it as my serious playground." — Laura Nyro, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Laura Nyro: An Angel in the Dark," American Songwriter, March / April 2010

"I don’t know exactly where the ideas come from, but when I get into a songwriting mode and it’s coming along, it’s like you’re on the front end of a boat and you’re going through the water, and the breeze is blowing through your hair and the water’s smooth, and you’re going out to sea. I love that feeling.
"...I've sat in a chair for three hours and nothing happened, and then all of a sudden something starts happening." — Robert Earl Keen, quoted by Matt Fink in "Legends: Robert Earl Keen," American Songwrwiter, Jan / Feb 2010

"I think I have to work to write a happy song. I write them carefully; they’re simple and they’re about when it’s fun to walk down the street. You know? Because that’s the best thing about when you’re happy. It’s just one little thing that makes you happy, and you’re making friends. The kind of thing I can do is capture this moment." — Rickie Lee Jones, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: Rickie Lee Jones," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"I think the more the listener can contribute to the song, the better; the more they become part of the song, and they fill in the blanks. Rather than tell them everything, you save your details for things that exist. Like what color the ashtray is. How far away the doorway was. So when you’re talking about intangible things like emotions, the listener can fill in the blanks and you just draw the foundation." — John Prine, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: John Prine," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"It’s very elusive. You gotta learn patience. I know that I’m basically a very lazy person. As much as I enjoy writing, I would rather do anything in the world but sit down and write. But once I get into it, I’m into it. I mean, if you said, “Let’s go get a hot dog first,” I would always go for the hot dog. I know that about myself. So I have to balance out my patience waiting for the right thing to come along with my laziness, knowing I’m trying to avoid working.
" Some of the songs come so fully, it’s like they are pre-packaged. There have been a couple that came in the middle of the night. And I thought, jeez, I’ll never forget that. And went back to sleep, and it was gone. You’ll hear something years later that another songwriter that you respect writes, and you go, jeez, I think that was the remnants of that song that got sent to me." — John Prine, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: John Prine," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"I edit as I go. Especially when I go to commit it to paper. I prefer a typewriter even to a computer. I don’t like it. There’s no noise on the computer. I like a typewriter because I am such a slow typist. I edit as I am committing it to paper. I like to see the words before me and I go, “Yeah, that’s it.” They appear before me and they fit. I don’t usually take large parts out. If I get stuck early in a song, I take it as a sign that I might be writing the chorus and don’t know it. Sometimes,you gotta step back a little bit and take a look at what you’re doing." — John Prine, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: John Prine," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"I think you can refine what you do, and become more consistent. And you write better songs that have a better shape and a better feeling. You evolve into and out of things, and go through stages, but, ultimately, you do improve." — Richard Thompson, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: Richard Thompson," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"Every song really tells a story. Some are more fleshed out than others. Some are more linear than others. But most pop songs, apart from pretty basic dance music, is telling some kind of a story—usually a love story, sometimes a political story. In modern songwriting there is a lot of cinematic technique, where you jump into the middle of action. You might be writing in first person through the eyes of the protagonist. It’s a little cinematic scene, and you do hard cuts. And some more is left to the imagination. I do a lot of that in addition to the narrative songs, and I enjoy both. I’m surprised by how popular the ballads are, the story songs. So in a sense, I’m reacting to what the audience would like." — Richard Thompson, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: Richard Thompson," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"Well, you wouldn’t think that that would be a way that people still enjoy receiving a story. In the 16th century, before the gramophone and the cinema, the way people heard news was not from newspapers; it was from ballads. You’d hear about the local murder and it would be a ballad.
" Today, I’m surprised that people have the attention span to sit through a long song. I’m glad they do. I’m rewarded to know that this process, which goes back thousands of years, still works in the age of distractions and so many ways of mediating information." — Richard Thompson, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: Richard Thompson," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"I think it’s absolutely possible to write a song and go somewhere where no one’s been before, uncharted territory. In terms of content, I see limitations where there should be none. I know there are things I wouldn’t write about, but that shouldn’t be the case. You should be able to make a song out of anything, out of any situation." — Richard Thompson, quoted by Paul Zollo in "Legends: Richard Thompson," American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"Asked what these experiences taught them, both men said in unison, 'Nobody knows!'—meaning that nobody can predict what will become a hit, and they related the story of their friends Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen, who were told by the Paramount folks that 'That Old Black Magic' was too long and, therefore, worthless. 'It had a 64-bar melody,' [Jay] Livingston explained, whereas most tunes were usually half that length or less. 'But they were big enough to say, We’re gonna do it anyway.' [Ray] Evans, ever the wordsmith, summed it up: 'So never give up. Nobody knows.'” — Paul Zollo, American Icons: Livingston and Evans, American Songwriter, Jan / Feb 2010

"[Non-performing songwriters] climb the mountain the first time, take their successes in stride, and when they tumble down the mountain, they just consider the tumble part of their profession and don’t even waste time mourning their slump. They continue to write, make new connections, and move forward toward a new round of success." — Michael Kosser, "STREET SMARTS: Toughness Trumps Talent," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"The healing power of music is vast. Music therapy is in its infancy in Western psychology. If we knew more, we'd be able to do amazing things, and maybe even make permanent changes in the brain's mysterious workings. With a simple song and four chords, you might be able to do something useful, even life-changing. With all the songs you know, you might be a virtual, veritable medicine chest for the right person." — Gary Talley, "Guitar 101: Hear Those Jingle Bells?," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"Writin’ songs is like a mystery. The most difficult thing to do is have a good idea. If you have a decent idea, the songs are the easy part. Actually having something to say is the hard part. If you get an idea for a song, then it pulls you along. There are just some ideas that you get that are really hard to edit out; it’s hard to stop thinking about some bad ideas. So you just finish it and you end up putting it on a record." Lyle Lovett, quoted by Lynne Margolis in "Lyle Lovett: It Just Comes Natural," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"Beyond hoping that someone will like one of my songs, I don’t think about how a song will be received. I just hope that, when somebody hears one of my songs, they’ll want to hear it again. I don’t have an impact or an effect in mind. I really just try to write something that makes sense for me, that seems true. For me, songs are sort of sacred ground, because it’s a place where you can actually tell the truth. You don’t have to be diplomatic. I think the point of a song is to just say something that’s true, or that expresses an idea that reflects something that’s true, whether it’s a truth about human nature or about the way people bullshit one another. A song doesn’t have to be serious to be true… but to me, that’s what a song is. And if I can get that right for me, then it’s worth writing. …You’re asking people for their time and attention, and it’s a chance to tell somebody what you think, or to share a joke. I just always hope that whatever’s in the song is worth demanding somebody’s time [for]." Lyle Lovett, quoted by Lynne Margolis in "Lyle Lovett: It Just Comes Natural," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"You know, it's a pretty mysterious thing still, why you start the songs you start, and the specific flavor of them, the nature of them. I don't know about other writers, but, for me, it's still somewhat out of my control. It's not really a logical process." — Gillian Welch, quoted by Jewly Hight in Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings / Welcome to the Machine / Modern Sounds in Their Partnership," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"Hoagy Carmichael, who usually wrote his own words as well as music, had composed an extended melody that was beautiful, but which was a challenge for him to write words for. [Mitchell] Parish heard ['Stardust'] and was unimpressed. 'I didn’t like it,' he said with a sly smile. 'When I heard it, it was a swing tune, but I didn’t write it that way. It sounded just like another swing tune. It was nothing like the way it is now, which is sweet, mellow and romantic.' Victor Young did an orchestral arrangement of the song as a ballad, as opposed to a rhythmic swing melody, and Parish heard it then as if he’d heard it for the first time. 'It was altogether a different mood, a different feeling. Really beautiful. And it became what it became.'" — Paul Zollo, "American Icons: Mitchell Parish," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"Asked if he knew how important [Stardust] would be, [Mitchell Parish] said he did have a gut feeling that this was a momentous one. But had no idea it would become a standard. 'You don’t sit down and write a standard,' he explained. 'A standard evolves.'” — Paul Zollo, "American Icons: Mitchell Parish," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

"[Mitchell] Parish understood that a great lyric often emerged over time, and cannot be forced or contrived. 'If I had to labor over a lyric too long,' he said, 'if it became an arduous task where I sweated and toiled and struggled, I would drop it. And not because I shunned arduous work, but because I felt it wouldn’t be fair to the composer. The lyric would show its toil and sweat and that wouldn’t be good for the song. The sturm und drang would be evident.'” — Paul Zollo, "American Icons: Mitchell Parish," American Songwriter, Nov / Dec 2009

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