Songwriting Quotes · Page 15

Telling stories through songwriting has been my favorite thing to do for as long as I can remember.

— Olivia Rodrigo

Songwriting is like ... being possessed. You try to go to sleep but the song won't let you.

— John Lennon

When you're moving in the positive, your destination is the brightest star.

— Stevie Wonder

Pop music really is a love and a joy and a science [of songwriting].

— Halsey

I've written so many songs about Englishmen, I have to go elsewhere.

— Ray Davies

Every story we remember is a novel. Novels make things more universal.

— Dave Eggers

I actually went to an Oasis concert. I thought they were a brilliant songwriting band.

— Tom Stoppard

You can do anything you want to do, if you know what to do.

— Betty Carter

One of the most frustrating parts about songwriting for me is production, but it makes me want to get better at it…

— Brendon Urie

Songwriting is a mysterious art. When I sit down to write a song, the end result should be mysterious and have this…

— Martin Gore

People like to say their songs are like children, but you gotta get those kids out there so they can make some…

— Amanda Shires

The words come. Usually, it's a long time before they come. And then when they start to come, it doesn't take so…

— Paul Simon

I just tried to come up with some honest songs. What I was writing about was real plain stuff that I wasn't…

— John Prine

“Unless the object of the singer’s affection is a vampire, surely what Hart means is unphotogenic. Only vampires are unphotographable, but affectionate…

— Stephen Sondheim

I am nervous that the craft of songwriting is taking a nose dive...And since I'm a songwriter and I connect with an…

— Barry Manilow

When you're songwriting, it's like talking about your own life experience. When you're with a band, you have to compromise.

— Timothy B. Schmit

I write a lot from instinct. But as you're writing out of instinct, once you reach a certain level as a songwriter,…

— Janis Ian

In a basic music way, my sense of melody and my style of songwriting and production carry the same thought process into…

— Sophie

Twenty-seven people sang 'Wind Beneath My Wings' before I got around to it. A lot of people saw the movie that I…

— Bette Midler

Sometimes you're writing a song and you have an image whilst writing a song. I don't think you ever base a songwriting…

— Luke Hemmings

I think the more the listener can contribute to the song, the better; the more they become part of the song, and…

— John Prine

I respect country music because I feel like it's more about the talent and the songwriting and I put on a big…

— Carrie Underwood

After a casual listen, it might be easy to lump Rocky Votolato in with the downtrodden likes of Conor Oberst and Elliott…

— Anthony Fantano

I don't know exactly where the ideas come from, but when I get into a songwriting mode and it's coming along, it's…

— Robert Earl Keen

It all comes together. It's - that's the way it's always worked for me with songwriting.

— Tracy Chapman

The one thing about songwriting that's been consistent is that I do it for the love of a good melody.

— Kim Shattuck

Hearing about a visual artist's approach can change the way you think about songwriting.

— St. Lucia

Usually the things that happen in my life are an easy trigger for songwriting.

— Coeur de pirate

The guitar influence that affected my songwriting came from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.

— Dave Mustaine

When we get together to rehearse, we could write music together all day long - GOOD music.

— Anthony Kiedis

My passion is more in songwriting than ... in being a star.

— Shania Twain

Look, you come in here tomorrow, and anything you do with your right hand I'll do with my left.

— Art Tatum

Kristofferson was writing what was really in his heart and saying it in ways we hadn't heard up till that point.

— Jeffrey Steele

The good thing about songwriting is you don't have to delineate between what's true and what's fiction; records aren't put on the…

— Jason Isbell

One night, Don Henley called, and I told him, 'I'm washing dishes and bike shorts.' He said, 'It's in the domestic exercises…

— Sheryl Crow

My songwriting is very personal. The music that influenced me was so impactful that had I grown up somewhere else, I know…

— Phoebe Bridgers

After becoming famous once again - a 1976 song, "Hurricane," even marked a return to protest songwriting - [Bob] Dylan got addicted…

— Bob Dylan

I never wrote poetry, just prose. I don't really consider songwriting a form of poetry either. The words are important, of course,…

— Michael Gira

Annie Lalley is one of the funniest and most likable personalities you'll ever see on stage --which makes the depth of her…

— Pierce Pettis

That's been a pretty interesting thing, visiting schools and performing and doing songwriting talks and stuff.

— Declan McKenna