I would only listen to certain things, like a lot of teenagers do. But the Tragically Hip is a ribbon that's been with me pretty much my entire musical life. Every mix tape I ever made had at least one… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I do get a little shy about contemporary language and events, but I also enjoy the idea of dating myself, somehow, anchoring a song… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
In my mind I still qualify as punk, though I know four out of five punks would disagree. — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I've always viewed my career with some suspicion, like I don't want to count on it to be the only thing I do. Partly… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I was listening to this interview with fiction writer George Saunders the other day, and he said something about how the role of a… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
A more detailed world is a more complicated and complex one, and therefore a more empathetic one. I feel Gord's Downie lyrics are exceptionally… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I think of Gord Downie voice as Whitman-esque. He has a poetic voice that contains multitudes, both the suppleness of the instrument of his… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
One of the wonderful things about music these days is that it's less cliqueish. — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I try to write lyrics that will be able to function on their own if they get separated from the music. But I wouldn't… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I think we all have a certain number of "coming of age" songs, and then a writer has to expand and grow into more… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
John Berger once defined music by saying that it began as a howl, became a prayer, then a lament, and still contains the elements… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
No one else writes like Gord Downie, so it's difficult to compare him. He can work in the abstract and still somehow be really… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
That's something I've certainly taken from writers like Gord Downie is that there is a whole potential for breaking out of meter. Even if… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
There are definitely parts of me in most of the protagonists I write, but I find a bit of distance can be useful, so… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
In this frightening, anxious time to be alive it can be liberating to remember that nothing lasts forever. That can focus and invigorate our… — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
I listened to lots of other kinds of music, but punk is what allowed me to actually play music. — John K. Samson Copy Share Image
