Quotes About Songwriting

What rare days were those, When my chief duty was to write a song.

The songwriting community in Nashville really is all about your talent. It's not about your image, and you have to be humble. You have to be kind. You have to have zero ego when you walk into that writing room.

Actually, zero labels were jumping toward me, and I couldn't get to anybody. Nobody was paying any attention. And I was like, 'OK, I'm going to put my nose to the ground and really work on writing and creating some good songs that people could gravitate to.'

I guess I always need some kind of solitude to get to that place where I am open enough and have zero distractions to start on the initial ideas for songs.

The Zombies were really unique - they had elements of jazz and classical music in their songs and songwriting. They had a very, very different sound compared to a lot of their contemporaries at the time.

I'm mainly a dancer, but I've been offered to write songs on albums this year, and that's really cool. I never thought I'd get to do that. It's out of my comfort zone, but I loved having that input. It makes you feel more involved, when you have that creative control.

I'm not doing anything intentionally to stay in the public eye. I'm staying true to my art, like I always have. The press, for whatever reason, decided to zone in on what is very common banter for me. It got worked out through song - the same way I work everything out.

You know, being the artist and not knowing when you sometimes create a song, you don't think about whether it's gonna start controversy or whatever. Sometimes you just write and you're in the zone.

I try to imagine how we would live if we didn't know we were going to die. Would we live our lives differently? Less careful, maybe? Less scared? These are beautiful things to think about and build a song around.

I have never been in a serious relationship and never had a break-up, so I can't tug on my heartstrings that way. But whenever I experience a strong emotion in life, I definitely have to throw myself into my songwriting. It is very therapeutic.

I don't know any jazz stuff. I don't know how to jam in that way. So jamming, for me, is writing a tune.

When you tune your guitar in a different way, it lends itself to a new way of looking at your songwriting.

Right after something happens to me, the first thing I'll do is go write when those feelings are really, really fresh. I'll hum a tune into my phone sometimes.

Songs like the Buck Owens tune, for example, are very simple and straightforward, and recording it really gave me a chance to get into and get a sense of Buck's personality, a feel for that whole Bakersfield sound.

The first time I learned how to play, my guitar was out of tune. I didn't know it; I just started writing songs.

I think there are three kinds of songs; it's only my theory: psychological, emotional, and spiritual. When you write psychologically or intellectually, you have a tune in your mind, and you re-write it. It's an intellectual approach. The emotional is my favorite because it comes from my kishkas; it comes from my soul.

'Flying In A Blue Dream' was quite automatic. I was working on another song, and I took a break and picked up my acoustic guitar, tuned it strangely, and instantly wrote the tune. It's funny how you can struggle with one piece and write a better one in a minute. Usually, when things come easy, it means it's good.

When I write, it is always the melody that comes first, and it just happens to be the case that the most beautiful tunes are sad, and the lyrics follow the mood of the melody.

There's a few tunes of mine that don't have jokes, but most of them have a joke and they have a humorous point of view somewhere.

I've written some songs that are pretty scary, but 'Jessica,' 'Ramblin' Man,' and 'Blue Sky' are happy songs. That's the way I wrote them: have-fun tunes to make you feel good.

Sometimes songwriting can turn into a gossip column, and I try to avoid that as much as I can.

There are no rules when it comes to songwriting, so I'd turn Carter family songs from the 1930s into pop songs.

I got behind that pencil and nothing happened for many years, but since they put me in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, I've turned around. I took a good look at myself and said, I think it's time to get back at work.

I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could.