Songwriting Quotes

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.

Performing is the easiest part of what I do, and songwriting is the hardest.

Songwriting's a weird game.

When you tune your guitar in a different way, it lends itself to a new way of looking at your songwriting.

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

All is fair in love and songwriting.

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.

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.

We influence singing but never really songwriting.

I respect country music because I feel like it's more about the talent and the songwriting and I put on a big show and we have a lot of stuff, but I feel confident in myself enough as an artist and a singer that I can have all of those fun toys and know that we don't need all the bells and whistles either.

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.

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

Songwriting is too mysterious and uncontrolled a process for me to direct it towards any one thing.

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.

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.

That is what intrigues me; songwriting and song structure and expression.

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

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.

Everything in life influences my music. I've always used songwriting as a means to share what I think is profound.

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.

Traditional songwriting, to us, is where the experimental nature comes in. We're all involved with so much outside activity with really hardcore, experimental music-making.

The joy of songwriting only gets messed up if you are trying to follow up a big success, or you are trying to create a hit single, or if you have conscious thoughts of a particular outcome for the music.