I had to be honest in my songwriting for it to be where it…

There's been many times when a producer will say, 'I don't think you want to say that.' We were told we shouldn't be so…

— Tyler Joseph

I didn't think anything we did was spectacular. I remember we thought, Let's just write some scary music.

— Ozzy Osbourne

What I strive to do with songwriting is be really honest, authentic and try to be open and share that with people. I choose…

— Brett Dennen

I want to be honest, and even if that's scary, I know it's worth it.

— Emm Gryner

Cover versions, that's my forte, that's all I ever used to do. When you play your own songs, it's quite scary, 'cause I'm quite…

— Ellie Goulding

I love songwriting, and rap is part of my songwriting, but I'm not a rapper.

— Amber Liu

I sit down with a guitar player and if there's a situation I feel strongly about, or a guy that I've been thinking about…

— Avril Lavigne

You can't manufacture inspiration, so a lot of it is still a waiting game for me. There's still a lot of mystery to songwriting.…

— Conor Oberst

Songwriters might write cynical, world-wise lyrics and constantly talk about money, but most of us are downright naive when it comes to business.

— Willie Nelson

Songwriting is like editing. You write down all this stuff - all this bad, stupid stuff - and then you have to get rid…

— Juliana Hatfield

I got signed with the songwriting deal when I was sixteen and they were really great - my publishers, who to this day are…

— Lights

You wind up creating from silence, like painting a picture on a blank canvas that could bring tears to somebody's eyes. As songwriters, our…

— Rodney Atkins

Most of us have the residue of thousands of songs in our ears, that if you end up songwriting, I think you're mostly smoking…

— Tom Waits

Teasing out the way the world might look through another's eyes is what makes the creative process so fascinating and enjoyable.

— Stephen L. Carter

Every time I finish a song... most of the time it's in my own head, like this sounds too much like a Townes Van…

— Conor Oberst