Quotes About Lyrics

Frankly I don't listen to lyrics (a problem in that I apparently work in musical theatre) I just want a good tune that doesn't require the use of too much grey matter.

I think the music should definitely underscore the sentiment of the song, and it can work for or against it.

When I do a song, it is more or less for the radio because I've got to do it - that's what I have got to do to win - I always go home and write two street songs.

One of the lyrics from Bono that always sticks with me is 'Where the Streets Have No Name.' Just the name of the song, that sort of oneness, and there isn't any division in yourself, and your just at peace and fired up at the same time.

Sade's stuff is real deceptive. She's got stuff about prostitutes, poverty and people on the streets.

Mobb Deep is a street-rap group. We from off the streets.

I Am' is the album that displays a little growth. The record, to me, is bringing the streets back.

The types of songs I used to do, I used to sing a lot for the streets.

It took me a little while to get sorrow under the belt enough to understand country music's lyrics and strengths.

The great thing was that both K-Ci and JoJo told me to not make an R&B track that was reminiscent of radio hit records. 'Make a Gang Starr track and we'll write our lyrics to that,' they told me. They couldn't stress it enough.

The fact that rap has a strict meter and stays to a click means that you have to make your thoughts concise.

Hip-hop is still cool at a party. But to me, hip-hop has never been strictly a party; it is also there to elevate consciousness.

Songs I do have to strike an emotional chord the first time I sing them.

I sit down and draw from my lyric book. I sit down and start looking through it and see if there is anything that strikes me that I've written.

In hip-hop, I wasn't very focused on delivering a message. It was just a string of lines that didn't connect. What I wanted to do is write stories... and affect someone's emotions with that song. I think as a soul singer, I'm able to accomplish that.

The Gaslight Anthem is very streamlined. We don't usually use organs and strings and things like that.

We like to take pop songs that have really cool, complex melodies or lyrics and strip away all that fluff and electronic noise, and put them back as if they were written for a singer and a piano.

If you ever want to know why I'm not on a record label, look at 'The X Factor!' Honestly, of all the people that strive to break barriers in music and do good things and write great lyrics, not one of them would ever pass the first round on any of these competitions.

Hip hop scholarship must strive to reflect the form it interrogates, offering the same features as the best hip hop: seductive rhythms, throbbing beats, intelligent lyrics, soulful samples, and a sense of joy that is never exhausted in one sitting.

Take 'The Stroke,' for instance. Plenty of people saw sexual connotations in that song but to me it was about what goes on in the business world.

I do always the music before the lyrics. The story or an idea for the lyrics appears during the composing process normally, but some other times I already have a strong idea of the story I would like to sing before any music comes to my mind.

Some of our strongest critics, especially inside the church, said we had turned our backs on traditional gospel music and were just contemporary R&B artists exploiting Christian lyrics for the money. But that's not true.

When I come up with an idea about the way I feel, I can really state it strongly in a song.

They are very personal, emotional songs - people react to them very strongly.