Quotes About Songwriting

In order to actually have a touchscreen in front of me and somehow still be connected to nature, I needed to be able to incorporate natural elements into the song structures. Because that's always been my song-writing accompaniment: nature.

It is setting goals and trying to be a business person, but at the same time not losing sight of who you are writing songs for and what your goals are as a songwriter. So believe me, if you think I've got it down I don't it is a constant struggle.

I struggled with a lot of doubts around my songwriting and around what I was and what my purpose and mission were.

When we first started playing in the early days, none of us really had any idea about writing our own songs yet. We were struggling how to learn our instruments and play songs to be able to perform for people.

A lot of these songs just came from day-to-day experiences. And it was a very natural, kind of organic process.

Originally I was not writing songs for myself.

A song like 'Loyal To Me,' for example, I originally wrote that for a girl band in mind, that's why it has so many harmonies and it's got that sort of '90s/R&B feel to it.

There was a chance for me to write one song for the section where Elvis sat in his black leather outfit and sang the old hits. At eight oclock the next morning I had written Memories.

When I wrote those first songs for the Truckers, songs like 'Outfit' and 'Decoration Day,' those were strong songs, very strong songs. But had I been in the position of writing an entire album at that point in time, I don't think the whole album would have been of that kind of quality.

Well, I'd had the Fat Mattress earlier as a writing outlet for songs and that.

Whenever I write songs, it's my outlet for a certain feeling. I just don't as often feel compelled to write when I'm not really sad about something, or wanting to sort through something dark.

When you write a lot of songs, sometimes you don't have a place for them, and you need an outlet for them.

If there's a criticism of 'Cassadaga' that I agreed with, it's that we left things in the oven too long, that songs were overstuffed, with too many ideas competing for space.

Writing has never been an intentional endeavor to me. I know a lot of people have experiences and then sit down and try to sort them out through song, but whenever I sit down to write, it comes out hackneyed or overly saccharine.

I had to learn a new way of playing. I had to practice a lot, and just find ways around the limitations. So it was a bad idea to break my hand. You said you were doing a lot of cocaine. Did that affect your songwriting? No. I think it affected my breaking my hand.

Most songs have meager beginnings. You wake up in the morning, you throw on your suspenders, and you subvocalize and just think. They seem to form like calcium. I can't think of a story right off the bat that was that interesting. I write things on the back of my hand, usually, and sing into a tape recorder.

For a songwriter, you don't really go to songwriting school; you learn by listening to tunes. And you try to understand them and take them apart and see what they're made of, and wonder if you can make one, too.

Children make up the best songs, anyway. Better than grown-ups. Kids are always working on songs and throwing them away, like little origami things or paper airplanes. They don't care if they lose it; they'll just make another one.

Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.

Everything starts and ends with the song, and working with writers and really learning their process and craft was an invaluable experience.

All of a sudden there's a song - there in your hotel room playing your guitar - and you write it, and two or three years later it will come true. It keeps you on your toes.

Songwriting is a very frustrating art form. You have to get on tape exactly what's playing inside your head

Songwriting's never been a natural art for me; it's always been a bit of a struggle.

I don't consider myself a songwriter, I've tried, I've written a few with friends but that's an art form I'm gonna leave to guys like Jimmy Ritchey and Kevin Fowler.