Songwriting Quotes

There's a lot of personal stuff that can go into songwriting but there's also a lot of dramatization and fictionalization. You have to do that to make a good song.

Songwriting is an art unto itself, not to be confused with performing.

Songwriting is my gift from God.

Where I've arrived now is the product of mixing the very straight with the very exploratory; there's a fine line between the two, although it tends to be getting straighter and straighter because my songwriting is getting better.

I consider music to be storytelling, melody and rhythm. A lot of hip-hop has broken music down. There are no instruments and no songwriting. So you're left with just storytelling and rhythm. And the storytelling can be so braggadocious, you're just left with rhythm.

My songwriting is like extending a hand to the listener.

Songwriting's a weird game.

I mean Gorilla was really our first sort of goes at songwriting.

I don't enjoy songwriting.

With acting I am being led by the script, other actors, the director, etc. But with songwriting I feel it is much more self reliant and allows me to be in the creative experience without being as dependent on others.

It's not that I have resisted songwriting, it's just not something I felt I have had to do. I've just not woken up and thought, I must do this. But I have often heard music that I have instantly felt 'I have to sing that song'.

Each song has its own secret that's different from another song, and each has its own life. Sometimes it has to be teased out, whereas other times it might come fast. There are no laws about songwriting or producing. It depends on what you're doing, not just who you're doing.

For me, songwriting is something I have to do ritually. I don't just wait for inspiration; I try to write a little bit every day.

The guitar influence that affected my songwriting came from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

I think my songwriting might be a little more on the darker side maybe.

My songs are basically my diaries. Some of my best songwriting has come out of time when I've been going through a personal nightmare.

We influence singing but never really songwriting.

Great classic music that I've been turned on to has not only inspired and influenced me, but it has had an effect on my songwriting.

I felt I never needed to fight for a more prominent songwriting and increased vocal role with the Cars.

The best songwriting comes from being as creative as you can and editing it down to the good bits, essentially.

The key to songwriting is just to be able to observe, and put yourself in situations to be around people, and let those ideas come to you.

But there's a thin line between songwriting and arranging.

It wasn't so much that I had to leave to make it in the music business as I was curious to be out on my own and sort of explore. I never felt that where I was ever influenced my songwriting.

But my strength was in singing and songwriting, which was a new discovery for me when I was 18. And I decided if I pursued songwriting, which is what was closest to my heart, then there would be no competition. I would just live my life being myself and living my dream.

With songwriting I spend a lot of time living life, accruing all these experiences, journaling, and then by the time I get to the studio I'm teeming with the drive to write.

I think MTV put a huge dent in the songwriting craft.

With Sleater-Kinney, we did a lot of improvisation in our live shows, and even our process of songwriting involved bringing in disparate parts and putting them together to form something cohesive.

I have always written poetry but I have never applied it to songwriting.

First thing, I throw on some jeans, a T-shirt and my Keds sneakers and make coffee. That is actually my favorite time of day. That is when I do my songwriting, when I am in writing mode.

When you have kids, you see life through different eyes. You feel love more deeply and are maybe a little more compassionate. It's inevitable that that would make its way into your songwriting.