Quotes from Lucinda Williams

We just did a few takes of a song and just picked the best one. It was real organic and genuine.

I have a folder of scraps and pieces of paper with stuff, ideas for songs from the last 25 years; just little things, maybe early songs that I finished, but didn't think they were good enough.

I grew up in a very literate, very independent household where people spoke their ideas and were very supportive of helping each other find their own way.

I didn't grow up in a mom-and-pop, Ozzie and Harriet type of environment, but who did.

I am trying to get right with God. I'm sort of making a statement about the excessiveness.

I started writing songs, I guess, when I was about 13 or 14, but I didn't know if they were good enough yet or anything.

I have had to come to terms with wearing glasses.

I feel a lot more comfortable being me these days. I'm constantly told that my work is good. A lot of fans and a lot of other artists say my songs and albums mean a lot to them. Isn't that what's important?

I'm dealing with things as they come along, and I'm talking about it.

I'm trying to learn how to tap into the power of my own being. I know it sounds corny.

I write the songs, go in and record them, then I listen to everything and decide how it all fits together.

I guess you could write a good song if your heart hadn't been broken, but I don't know of anyone whose heart hasn't been broken.

I mean, whose songs don't focus on tragedy and loss?

I'm not just a doormat. I'm not just being stepped on all over the place. If you look at the bulk of my material, it's about trying to find some strength through that.

I don't mean to complain. I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

What I do as a songwriter is a constant force in my life, that I'm grateful to have.

I have such a great band. We had played all this material on the road. I just wanted to let it fly.

If you come into success too soon, you'll burn out and be finished before you know it. If you let the maturation process happen naturally, you'll be happier with yourself in the end.

I'm an artist first and foremost. So things are gonna go up and down and sideways and whichever way all through life.

The man I lived with is a Christian, so I would talk to him about it. What would this person do in the Bible? What's the story around this person? Generally, when people talk about characters in the Bible, there's one thing they're known for, like Job.

I write first for myself as a therapeutic process, to get stuff out and to deal with it.

Of course, Im older now. Im in a different place in my life than when I wrote the songs for Car Wheels or Essence or whatever. Different things were going on.

I usually don't write about my life right when it happens. I process it, and I store it away. Then, when I get in the mood I pull the stuff back out.

Sometimes I might borrow something from a song I started a long time ago and see if I can grab something.