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 specific. He lets parts of his consciousness in that most writers aren't able to do, myself… — 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
