You can have a great lyric and a so-so melody; it's going…

Sometimes, the best songs are the ones you write without any pen and paper or audio recording device or guitar in your hands. Because…

— Jon Foreman

I've wanted to do a Christmas song for years but thought every lyric and melody had been written.

— Limahl

'Dawn (Go Away)' is a sad lyric, but the melody is so happy and fun.

— Erich Bergen

Think of what big governments have gotten up to in this century : not one, but two world wars, the gulag, the holocaust, aerial…

— P. J. O'Rourke

This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die again, but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the…

— Eugenio Montale

I just want to write a great lyric and write a great song, and everything else is icing on the cake.

— Isaac Hanson

I'm a real stickler for a great lyric, or what I think is a great lyric. It's almost impossible for me to sing a…

— Sara Evans

If you can say the lyrics almost like a poem and they stand up, that's a great thing. Some songs have great lyrics and…

— Harry Connick, Jr

Unless I've got Katy Perry on the cover of my CD, it's going to be tough to sell a lot of records.

— Kenny G

“Hiring a guy with more confirmed kills than college credits was a tough sell.”

— Chuck Hogan

Usually it's lyric first, but sometimes it's melody. And I carry a hand-held recorder everywhere I go so I can just hum or whistle…

— Hal Ketchum

I usually start with a lyric or a melody and then build a song around that.

— Grace Potter

I believe the right lyric and melody can soar beyond the clouds to the ears of the heavens.

— Jimmie Allen

No one can threaten poetry. It's always been there, always will be. Humans need it to live: it has sustaining powers. How could we…

— Gregory Orr

What makes a great song - you don't put it into words. You feel it. The perfect lyric. The perfect melody. It makes you…

— Diane Warren