Songwriting Quotes

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 don't enjoy songwriting.

Songwriting's a weird game.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Songwriting is something I really need to work on. I don't have very many songs but I really love it. I would love to be a great song writer some day.

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.

Songwriting is the most terrifying thing to me, because you are really laying your heart out there.

I knew that collaborating on songwriting would be difficult for a lot of people, because I was known very much, for my independence and the fact that I wrote these quirky songs that were not typical structure, not typical sound - you know, really original stuff.