Able Quote by John K. Samson

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

— Michael Gira

Writing lyrics is part spontaneous, intuitive and part really thought through and carefully analyzed as you write it. It's a mixture of two approaches,…

— Ian Anderson

Poems, unlike songs, are written to be read and, thus, come equipped with their own rhythms and melodies; they're self-contained entities, the whole shebang.

— Jonathan Miles

Lyrics have to be underwritten. That's why poets generally make poor lyric writers because the language is too rich. You get drowned in it.

— Stephen Sondheim

I get to a point when I've collected together enough words that seem like they want to be songs rather than poems, or sometimes…

— PJ Harvey

I don't write lyrics. I hear the track and sing in gibberish over it, then I try and fit words into the phrasing and…

— Kelela

When poetry separates from song, then the words have to carry all the rhythm themselves; they have to do all the work. They can't…

— Edward Hirsch

I have always written poetry but I have never applied it to songwriting.

— Janine Turner

I write my own lyrics completely on my own. Sometimes I have people helping me with concepts or like choruses and stuff sometimes, but…

— Big Sean

I don't write poems and put them to music. Just let things flow.

— Martin Gore

I wouldn't consider myself a songwriter at all. Maybe I piece together a certain little thing here and there, but songwriters are people who…

— Frank Fairfield

I like bringing my poet brain and sensibility to lyrics I write.

— Jamila Woods