Quotes About Music

Whenever I cook, I think of Spanish music, so I always have to listen to some sort of salsa. It gets your body going.

The blues is instilled in every musical cell that floats around your body.

I grew up doing sitcoms and theater and even playing with the Beach Boys, where you're programmed to perform, your body gets into a rhythm and you know it has to perform.

If you already have a piece of music ingrained in your body, why would you not play it?

Some actors are brilliant in David Mamet, but they would crash and burn in my plays and visa-versa. You either have my music in your body, or you don't.

A lot of my music that I like puts energy in your body or makes you want to dance or break something or just go mosh or jump around.

When I was dancing, whether it was the music or the story, the question was 'Why am I doing this piece, and why am I dancing?' It is exactly the same when you are acting. You have a very close relationship with your body movement. You have to find the physicality of your character.

Acceptance and assimilation, you know, breeds mediocrity and perhaps an even more sheep-like conformism in terms of what kind of music you're supposed to listen to if you're gay... What are you supposed to look like? What's your body supposed to look like?

When we're playing, when we're really, really going... you're just in the moment. You're not thinking about yesterday, tomorrow, or anything else. The brain gets out of the way. Your body just does what it knows how to do, and it's just... it's like a religion.

Ninety percent of touring is a logistical maneuver, moving your body and everyone else's from one city to the next. You're like a piece of gear. Then you jump out of the box, get onstage, and play. That sounds cynical, but it sucks to move around so much.

When I heard 'Rockabye,' I was just blown away. It had been a long time since I had heard a song that had a message like that in it - about being a single parent and caring for your child.

It was not a secret, then or now, that there is something vaguely un-American about forcing your child to be really good at classical music performance.

Our father bought us 'Hound Dog' by Elvis and 'Long Tall Sally' by Little Richard, so those were the first records we owned. I don't know what his inspiration was for doing that... They weren't the kind of records you usually bought as educational tools for your child.

I was this little kid writing songs. I look back at having that dream, and it's weird. Being able to do it and live out your dream on any scale is amazing. I don't take any of it for granted at all.

Arthur Russell is very important to me on many levels, and when I read Tim Lawrence's biography on him, 'Hold on to Your Dreams,' one of the things I took away was: first thought, best thought. I live by that when I make my own music.

Obviously, fans are the beginning and end for any artist. The minute your fans embrace you and accept you, you begin this ride of being in music and having a career doing something you love. You get to go be a kid and live out your dreams by performing music for fans who come out to your shows.

It's about important things such as having faith, pursuing your dreams and goals. My music is about drive.

Don't get me wrong: I love 'Moana!' But when it gets to the point where you find yourself singing Disney songs in your dreams, you have an issue.

Its hard to explain if youve never done it, but youve got five guys in the studio, and youve got high expectations. Youve got a log of money involved, and your life and your dreams and all of your desires fall to making this song sound great for three minutes.

Music, Rock and Roll music especially, is such a generational thing. Each generation must have their own music, I had my own in my generation, you have yours, everyone I know has their own generation.

I couldn't not play a Les Paul guitar. Les always used to point to my Strat and say, 'Why do you have that piece of crap around your neck?' I'd say, 'Yours are too heavy. I had to drill holes in it.'

I had a gig in Sweden. There were thousands of people there, and when I launched into 'I'm Yours,' they were all singing along. It was as if I was singing the Swedish national anthem. I was stunned.

I don't like rock. Honestly, I like to listen to it, but it's not for me. There's a lot of musical genres that I find interesting, but they don't suit me. It's one thing to listen to different genres, but to perform a genre that isn't yours is counterproductive.

I am not immune to the lure of a signed record, flier or set list. The fact that your music heroes potentially had, in their own hands, the record you now have in yours is kind of cool. When the musician has departed, it can give the thing a unique power.