Songwriting Quotes · Page 12

Songwriting is a mystery. And it's a mystery to me that it's a mystery. But that sounds stupid.

— Neil Finn

The Swedish style of songwriting is so mathematical.

— Luke Hemmings

Songwriting was always my 'plan B'. I didn't even know that songwriting was a job until my late teens!

— Keri Hilson

For me, songwriting is something like breathing: I just do it. But that doesn't mean you're fantastic.

— Adam Duritz

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

All the characters on the album are inside me, though none are me. They are sides of me or who I was.

— David Berman

Pressure has always been more of a friend than a foe for me with songwriting.

— Mark Foster

Songwriting is reliant on inspiration, which ideally you don't have that much control over. Songs kind of half make themselves, and then…

— Win Butler

Write down the thoughts and even more, write down a specific line. If you don't, it'll fly away forever.

— Margaret Atwood

What is the character trying to say? Why? Be as specific as you can, using sense images that evoke something about the…

— Pat Pattison

The songwriting process is different on every record because you're never coming from the same place when you're writing.

— Benji Madden

George felt the group wasn't giving him the freedom he needed to develop his songwriting. But I have to admit the end…

— Andrew Ridgeley

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It's a desire to communicate. A deep desire to…

— Bono

The thing about me is that I'm very fortunate to have had the opportunities with Avenged Sevenfold in songwriting. I really think…

— Synyster Gates

It's such a weird process, songwriting, because you just have to feel it. There's no right or wrong melody or lyric.

— Jay Sean

Everyone has his own particular talent, niche and interests. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't try new genres or styles or…

— Kevin Alexander

My songs emerge unbidden and unplanned and completely on a schedule of their own...We have, all of us, over the years, written…

— David Crosby

Poetry is a solitary process. One does not write poetry for the masses. Poetry is a self-involved, lofty pursuit. Songs are for…

— Patti Smith

I didn't really know you could make a living in songwriting. I was just very fortunate to have the opportunity to play…

— Sam Hunt

You always want to write the perfect song. But no one will ever write the perfect song, I guess. I would just…

— Mose Allison

You know, it's a pretty mysterious thing still, why you start the songs you start, and the specific flavor of them, the…

— Gillian Welch

There are a lot of new sounds I've gone for, which I may not have been ready to go for in the…

— Illy

I think there are a lot of artists that are very traditional. I think someone can be a fan of someone like…

— Charles Kelley

Most of the time, when I had hits as a soloist - maybe not so much with Simon & Garfunkel - I…

— Paul Simon

I have a weird life because I live on songwriting royalties, which are a strange income. Sometimes it rains, sometimes it doesn't.…

— Joe Strummer

Every time I write a song, it's different. I'm all about the rhythm of the words and the melody. Musically, you gotta…

— Dan Bern

I think our songwriting has evolved. We can show that we have continued to branch out and do different stuff and incorporate…

— John Bush

So I realized when I was successful in a piece, it was because I didn't abandon a notion early on what it…

— Andy Wilkinson

“A steampunk nation Baby pollution rises up then the loving comes arraigning 'cause Our art's official and only partially artificial And our…

— Criss Jami

As you get older, your songwriting starts to become less and less about you, and especially when you have kids and a…

— Sam Roberts

I feel like the inspiration is that I've managed to change my songwriting over the past couple of years and also production…

— Marika Hackman

People say you make your best work when in despair, but I think happiness is a good place to write from

— Paul Weller

Things musicals taught me: All your problems will go away if you sing about it.

— Margaret Atwood

I've been thinking about songwriting more in terms of playing it live, and how it will sound as a band.

— Florence Welch

Sometimes songwriting can turn into a gossip column, and I try to avoid that as much as I can.

— Taylor Goldsmith

Songwriting is about getting the demon out of me. It's like being possessed.

— John Lennon

Songwriting is a burst of inspiration and then a long bit of work and a tremendous bit of desperation.

— Donovan

You might 'write from the heart,' but you'd better polish with your brain.

— Margaret Atwood

I love songwriting. It's second to my love for singing in how I express myself.

— Michael Bolton