Song Quotes by James Mercer

9 Song quotes by James Mercer

James Mercer’s nine brief thoughts on songs provide a tidy window into his melodic, introspective approach. The collection is compact, yet each quote reflects the nuanced tone he brings to his music.

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My attempt at really doing classic sort of songwriting is Shins stuff.

James Mercer

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So happy that Broken Bells is a thing in my life and really cool in so many ways. Not only, like, as…

James Mercer

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You have to keep the recording process open. If you make too many decisions before you go in, you can lose out…

James Mercer

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The real challenge of writing songs isn't just writing a bunch of parts - like a verse, chorus, verse - but making…

James Mercer

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I think that once you start writing songs, you start developing a library of ideas that you can go and take from,…

James Mercer

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I've never been one to think it was cheating to sample this or to loop the drum part there - I've always…

James Mercer

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I'm trying to avoid having regrets about missing opportunities. That would be the worst thing. Like having an audience waiting, and not…

James Mercer

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I remember being in high school, and you had to draw those lines and define yourself. I don't think when I was…

James Mercer

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I think that was going on with bands like The Strokes was that the idea of the band, a real band, was…

James Mercer

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More by James Mercer

I do like talking with friends about big concepts, you know, the stuff that will ruin a party. To me, the party hasn't begun…

James Mercer

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Horrible dates are when you're with people who are immature and can't really be comfortable in their own skin.

James Mercer

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I'm real happy. I've been lucky in love, and I've got a wonderful kid now, and things have been going well.

James Mercer

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The fact that I'm often pushing my voice as hard as I can is from playing in nightclubs in Albuquerque where you don't have…

James Mercer

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I really [enjoy] working with new people and just sort of the freshness of it. ... I [want] to have those new conversations, musically…

James Mercer

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Meeting Perry Farrel was kind of cool. He's such an icon, and I was such a fan of Jane's Addiction.

James Mercer

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My dad and I get into it all the time. He loves to discuss politics much more than I do and we have pretty…

James Mercer

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For the longest time, I didn't even want to admit I was serious about music. Before the Shins, I would tell myself, 'Oh, I'm…

James Mercer

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Humans are social creatures that really crave intimacy.

James Mercer

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I tend to write a pretty half and half split of, like, slow, morose things and then sort of more upbeat stuff.

James Mercer

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If you're 14 and you're skinny, you can't be on the football team, basically. It's just not even really possible. But skating is something…

James Mercer

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I think that what's funny is that I seem to be taking up the roles that I remember my dad having - for some…

James Mercer

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One thing that I've struggled with has been a certain amount of animosity toward the whole human race.

James Mercer

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For some reason, it seems like pop writers, it's like they just get worse or something over time. And then you're really jealous of…

James Mercer

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I think that was going on with bands like The Strokes was that the idea of the band, a real band, was making a…

James Mercer

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