Songwriting Quotes · Page 13

I think that songwriting changed when groups started spending more time in the studio.

— Ray Davies

I think MTV put a huge dent in the songwriting craft.

— Christopher Cross

To have John Mellencamp compliment my songwriting? That was unreal.

— Darius Rucker

That's the fun of songwriting. You can make it whatever you want.

— Laufey

If you don't want anyone to know anything about you, don't write anything.

— Pete Townshend

I knew I could make money from songwriting, so how much and when was not really the question.

— Ryan Tedder

I try and treat songwriting as something that I have to practise every day.

— Mark Lanegan

I could never teach a class on songwriting. I'd tell them to goof off and find a good hideout.

— John Prine

I've always held the song in high regard because songs have got me through so many sinks of dishes and so many…

— Leonard Cohen

Those are the magical songwriting moments, when you have a partner that clicks like that. That's a dream come true, man.

— Sammy Hagar

YOU CAN'T TELL UNLESS YOU SHOW FIRST. ... Showing makes the telling more powerful because your senses and your mind are both engaged.

— Pat Pattison

My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.

— Boz Scaggs

I like the songwriting. I don't ever listen and then go back and change stuff. For me when I wrote the song,…

— Christopher Owens

I've never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I've only thought about it as a way to help me get through love…

— Taylor Swift

Try to begin things you feel you can do. To begin is enough-there is a boldness in beginning. And in boldness lies…

— Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet

Writing is a way of living other lives. It is a way of expanding your life. It's not actually living a different…

— Etgar Keret

I love songs, and I love songwriting, and there's a standard of songwriting within Chicago blues in particular. I don't like the…

— Sinead O'Connor

You can be born into a musical family and have an ear for music but being technically gifted, be it playing an…

— Barry Zito

What songwriting does better than almost anything is empathy - it's incredibly empathetic. The reason people sat around in bars when they…

— Steve Earle

When you write a song it's sometimes in a desperate moment whn you can't really articulate it. What I love about lyrics…

— Marcus Mumford

I really like and singing, and songwriting and producing. It depends on the song and the mood and who I'm working with,…

— Lalah Hathaway

People think I live here on Nantucket and just gaze at the ocean, getting my inspiration. Not so. I work in my…

— Nathaniel Philbrick

Martin, Dave, and I get together and rough out a few songs and put them on cassettes for some reference...With the actual…

— Ian Anderson

I had this talent for these stupid little teenage songs. I just couldn't get anyone to sing my songs, so I had…

— Paul Anka

People just didn't write songs that were so directly emotional in those days. They still don't. Part of Hank's [Williams] thing was…

— Michael McCaul

There's a lot of craft in songwriting. The divine inspiration is when the idea comes. It may be a riff. It may…

— John Oates

The words to country songs are very earthy like the blues. They're not as dressed up and the people are very honest…

— Ray Charles

Listening closely to songs these days, there's a lot of lazy songwriting where people get away with it. I don't want to…

— Steve Gunn

We were on a tour, and there were some chord formations that were tough for me to play when I was a…

— Jorma Kaukonen

“... because one day, maybe one day, if I learned how to write clear enough, sing loud enough, be strong enough, I…

— Charlotte Eriksson

It was my 16th birthday-my mom and dad gave me my Goya classical guitar that day. I sat down, wrote this song,…

— Stevie Nicks

“A critic can call any poem 'doggerel.' That is no more than a slur. 'Doggerel' or 'maudlin' or 'sappy' or 'sentimental' is…

— Jimmy Webb

I think just letting go is a really good thing to do in many areas of your life, songwriting included.

— Ingrid Michaelson

I've always used songwriting as a way to help me organise reality.

— Jason Mraz

I think my songwriting might be a little more on the darker side maybe.

— Neko Case

It's the damage that we do and never know. It's the words that we don't say that scare me so.

— Elvis Costello

I never judge my own songwriting. It's just my heart. What's there to judge about your own heart?

— Banks

It's amazing to me that songwriting is an actual job.

— Nadine Coyle

I'm such an emotional person that when it comes to songwriting, I can click into whatever zone I need.

— Natalie Prass

Sometimes an unexpected chord change can be the difference between a good song and a great song.

— Gary Talley