Quotes About Songwriting

I'm far more interested in putting a little more meat into the lyrics than some people are.

To write a song is one thing, to get it to No.1 is another and to have a respected artist cover it is incredible. It's great to know my songs will be around for a long time.

I didn't want to play these people any more songs and have them say that they weren't good enough. So my response was to just not be able to write anymore. I know that's not the healthiest of responses.

If a song I'm lucky enough to be a part of comes on the radio, it's definitely really cool and exciting, but I can't focus on anything but the song. Same if one of my songs comes on in a restaurant. I can't just carry on a conversation.

The day I write a totally happy song... I'll retire.

I put all my big revelations into songs when I was in my 20s; as you get older, revelations are harder to come by.

It's hard to write a song about reality because reality doesn't rhyme.

You would find in a lot of Zep stuff that the riff was the juggernaut that careered through and I worked the lyrics around this.

I did 'We Can't Stop' for Rihanna, but it never worked. Every time I would play 'We Can't Stop' I was like 'this is the new 'Party in the U.S.A.'' I was like OK if I keep saying this is the new 'Party in the U.S.A.,' why don't I go to the girl who did 'Party in the U.S.A.?'

Every single time I perform 'River,' I just feel a huge rush of adrenaline and energy, and I remember writing it.

I hate nothing more than feeling rushed to write a song or feeling like I have to write a song.

I can't even begin to express the joy I get from writing songs, both on my own and with others, I hold it all sacred.

I've always written by myself. I've never been in a situation where the whole band sat in a room and wrote a song. I don't work that way.

It feels so satisfying to hear a song I wrote come out of the radio.

I've found it really hard to finish writing songs when you're writing on not just your schedule but somebody else's.

I didn't just sit down and write 'Summer In Kingston' from scratch; it came about from a bunch of songs I already had.

We would say, OK, the B section isn't good enough, let's rewrite that,' until we felt the song was great.

I always packed around this guitar my mother gave me before I left home, I would write songs and play them for my buddies at the rodeos and local bars we would frequent.

Sometimes I get a lyric, and the lyric, you know, comes off the page, and goes into my brain and comes out with a melody. Other times, I may create a melody first.

I continually blacken pages and scribble away, so I always have a number of songs that are half-finished.

I used to say it was painful to write lyrics about myself and looking inward.

The '90s weren't my finest years artistically. I wrote some good songs in there, but in terms of my vision of getting the paint on the canvas, that was not my best time. I didn't like the fact that I had fallen into mediocrity.

Too many rockers put on the leather pants and shirt first. But if you write good songs, the pants and shirt will follow.

I'll hear a beat and think, 'How can I make this a banger?' I'll write the lyrics on my phone or on a piece of paper, and either way, it's going to be a slapper.