Quotes About Songwriting

When I wrote 'Paradise,' it was going to be an interlude - like a segue from the song before. Then I just added more to it because everyone loved it.

There are a lot of songs that would ostensibly be a good candidate for parody, yet I can't think of a clever enough idea.

I don't think I would participate in 'Eurovision,' but I would love to write a song for it. But it would have to be for Norway, obviously. Do it for my country.

I'll write lines or words in a notepad. You work on little things and little parts; sometimes they turn into bigger songs.

It's not like I'm writing full songs or full parts and setting it aside for Slash because, generally, I like him to make the first move and hear where he's coming from and what his concepts are, and then I build from there.

I won't get into it any more than to say that there are parts of me in all the songs that I write.

On No Doubt's second visit to Paisley Park, sometime around 1999, we were working on a song with Prince called Waiting Room,' which would later be released on our Rock Steady album.

It's really hard for me to finish a song unless I have a strong visual in my head while I'm writing it.

I write when I have to; I write when the song is done and I deal with the idea and I just go with it and I'll become what that song is all about until I have finished it. And when you do that, it makes the song more visual, it makes it more personal.

When I first start writing a song, I usually write the title first, then the song, and I'll sing the song in my head and think of a visual of the song. If I can't think of a visual behind the song, I'll throw the song away.

Usually, I think of the song, and then the video plays out in my head as I'm writing the song. I started rapping to become a comedian, so I'm certainly thinking about the visual component of things beyond just the music most of the time.

Well, I have to have some type of visual in my head to finish a song. I can't finish a song if I can't see anything.

I had no idea I was gonna be a songwriter, because I was too young to know my own evolution. I started playing the violin as a way to express myself because I didn't have a lot of vocabulary when I was 14.

It's always a pleasure when you can compose guitar parts from a strong vocal and not just put the melody on top of guitar riffs.

But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story.

My vocal ability is very limited, but I'm fortunate in that I can write the songs around my vocal limitations.

I record stuff all the time, like little vocal things. I write random things down... Sometimes I just get things stuck in my head and I record them, and that actually becomes a song quite a lot of the time.

When I write a song and come up with an arrangement and a vocal part, it's always a challenge trying to find a singer who can interpret it sort of the way that I hear it, and it's a very difficult thing to do. I mean, singing is like playing an instrument - everybody does it a little bit different - singing maybe even more so.

For me, songwriting starts with a melody. When a musician plays a chord progression, either the words and vocal melody come to me, or they don't. That's how I determine who to write with. It works, or it doesn't.

On 'Utopia,' I mix sick beats with ethereal elements while trying to keep the focus very much on the songwriting. If you strip any of these songs down to just the vocal and a piano, there's a real song in there.

I always start with writing vocal melodies before writing lyrics.

Making vocal hooks is my favorite thing to do. That's what I love about songwriting - making catchy stuff.

Sometimes, to be honest with you, our lyrics were written a day before the vocal had to be done.

I do loads of pitch writing as well, where you write a pop song and then pitch it to DJs who can then work with the song, and sometimes they keep your vocal on it. It's just good to be involved in different things.