Singer Songwriters Quotes

I've asked about you and they told me things but my mind didn't change and I still feel the same. ~ Drake

I go to a very visual place when I'm singing. It's very cinematic and I get this feeling of space. I love when music does that. ~ Dave Gahan

I do all the things that singer-songwriters do. I introduce the songs, I have a story to tell about everything all the time - I cannot be on stage and have something on my mind without telling the audience. I'm super emotional and expressive and vulnerable in that moment. ~ India.Arie

When I write songs, I like to write lyrics first, and I think that's different from a lot of singer-songwriters. But I heard Sammy Cahn was asked what comes first, the lyrics or the music, and he said, 'The paycheck.' ~ Jill Sobule

Compassion is an action word with no boundaries. ~ Prince

The way I work, I'm not a confessional singer-songwriter. ~ Andrew Bird

A lot of people do not like singer-songwriters, and a lot of people who like them do not like hard rock. It's either-or. ~ Art Alexakis

Singer/songwriters spend two or three years making an album, and then it goes up for sale and everybody pirates it and you don't make any money. Whereas, writing a film score you still get presented with a paycheck. ~ Cliff Martinez

We only had enough money really to cut 10 things and be in there for a month because it's expensive, you know. And, singer/songwriters, today are lucky if they can get a deal, you know. So, we actually worked so fast that we really cut 20 things. ~ Graham Nash

I hope you don't get known for nothing crazy, cause no man ever wants to hear those stories bout his lady. ~ Drake

People may not tell you how they feel about you, but they always show you. Pay attention. ~ Keri Hilson

You wind up creating from silence, like painting a picture on a blank canvas that could bring tears to somebody's eyes. As songwriters, our blank canvas is silence. Then we write a song from an idea that can change somebody's life. Songwriting is the closest thing to magic that we could ever experience. That's why I love songwriting. ~ Rodney Atkins

I kicked the door open, and I'm gonna hold my leg in there. I'm keeping the door open for all these amazing female singer-songwriters that are coming out. ~ Miranda Lambert

I was only a folk singer for about two years ... . By that time, it wasn't really folk music anymore. It was some new American phenomenon. Later, they called it singer/songwriters. Or art songs, which I liked best. Some people get nervous about that word. Art. They think it's a pretentious word from the giddyap. To me, ... the word art has never lost its vitality. ~ Joni Mitchell

Magic is easy if you put your heart into it. ~ Michael Jackson

So many artists who came out during that time, including myself, were able to get on radio. New forms of singer-songwriters developed out of that. ~ Carly Simon

Recently I have been attacked in newspapers by two 'fabulist' writers, as far as I can make out for the ordinariness of the worlds I portray. To which the most obvious reply is that it's all very well writing about elves and dragons and goddesses rising out of the ground and the rest of it--who couldn't do that and make it colorful? (Readable, of course, is another matter...) But writing about pubs and struggling singer-songwriters--well, that's hard work. Nothing happens. Nothing happens, and yet, somehow, I have to persuade you that something is happening somewhere in the hearts and minds of my characters, even though they're just standing there drinking beer and making jokes about Peter Frampton. ~ Nick Hornby

I think I'm different from a lot of singer-songwriters because some of my favorite singer-songwriters told stories. Like John Prine. ~ Jill Sobule

I like singer-songwriters, and I find sad songs comforting rather than depressing. It makes you realise you're not alone in the world. ~ Natalie Imbruglia

The road goes on forever and the party never ends. ~ Robert Earl Keen

I'm obsessively opposed to the typical. ~ Lady Gaga

And that's the kind of thing people think, you know, that if you sign up to be a singer-songwriter you know how to deal with people setting up hate websites, or people being obsessed with you and crying when you touch them, but you don't, and you just have to deal with. ~ Jessie J.

I heard you good with them soft lips.. Yeah you know word of mouth ~ Drake

I've had mentors who were kind of the troubadour singer-songwriters, like Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and that's just what I've always liked - people who would talk real honestly about their lives and their circumstance. ~ Jewel

The focus is on singer/songwriters now rather than huge shows. I mean, of course there's always a place for that too. ~ Emeli Sande

I keep thinking how young can you die from old age ~ Drake

When I listen to my favorite songwriters, they have such simple melodies and chords. I occasionally manage to stop at the right time, but all too often I keep on going until I have way too many notes and words. But that's just what I do. ~ Dave Matthews

A lot of the great songwriters in history have been collaborators, with a separate lyricist. ~ Mike Gordon

I wanted to be a rock star when I grew up, or at least a singer/songwriter. ~ Katey Sagal

Then on to all the terrific american songwriters, from Tin Pan Alley to the Beatles, from Bob Dylan to Paul Simon. Whoever wrote and sang in the song form I have appreciated. ~ Tom Chapin

What did you expect? Welcome, sonny? Make yourself at home? Marry my daughter? You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know ... morons ~ Gene Wilder

Hope for everything, expect nothing. ~ Darren Criss

I can only say thank you and thanks also to all of the great songwriters who wrote those wonderful songs that became number ones. ~ George Strait

There's people making babies to my music. That's nice. ~ Barry White

I love female singer-songwriters! ~ Melissa Benoist

Everybody got a deal, I did it without one ~ Drake

Smile to the future and it will smile back to you ~ Yoko Ono

I do have a romantic interest in outlasting everybody else. There's a sort of sad machismo to singer-songwriters, I think. ~ John Darnielle

There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are. ~ Barry Mann

My mother had a great vinyl collection, and she was constantly playing female singer-songwriters. I first learned about classic song structures by listening to them, and Laura Nyro particularly stood out. Her voice was outside what you'd usually hear on the radio; that really appealed to me. ~ Jenny Lewis

She could have a Grammy I'd still treat her ass like a nominee. ~ Drake

I need a coffee to go with my coffee. ~ Zooey Deschanel

Bruce is still my friend. We don't talk much. We don't have to. He is great and in his own league. I'm not him and he is not me. But we are on similar paths, writing and singing out own kind of songs around the world, along with Bob and a few other singer/songwriters. It is a a silent fraternity of sorts, occupying this space in people's souls with our music. Last year, I lost my right-hand man, the pedal steel guitarist Ben Keith. This year Bruce lost his right-hand man, the saxophonist Clarence Clemons. It's time for another talk; friends can help each other just by being there. Now both of us will look to our right and see a giant hole, a memory, the past and the future. I won't play with another steel player trying to recreate Ben's parts, and I know Bruce won't play with another sax man trying to play Clarence's. Those parts are not going to happen again. They already did. That takes a lot out of our repertoires. ~ Neil Young

I had to Derrick Rose the knee up before I got the re-up ~ Drake

Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys. ~ Sam Smith

There's always one more way to do things and that's your way, and you have a right to try it at least once. ~ Waylon Jennings

You don't even have to ask twice, you could have my heart or we could share it like the last slice. ~ Drake

I always saw myself as a singer-songwriter, a solo-artist, that's why working with other artists was never satisfying for me. ~ John Legend

I was part of the first wave of singer/songwriters but I was also in that first wave of singer/songwriters who experienced the music industry when technology started to take over. ~ Melissa Manchester

She live in a mindset that I could never move to ~ Drake

It's a folk singer's job to comfort disturbed people and to disturb comfortable people ~ Woody Guthrie

I want people to have a good time. It's boring only to hear singer/songwriters spilling their guts. ~ Lykke Li

I do a lot of things hopin I never had to fit in, so tryin to keep up with my progress is like a dead end. ~ Drake

There are questions I'm still not wise enough to answer, just wise enough to no longer ask. ~ George Jones

But I never get attracted to fans cause the eager beaver could be the collapse of a dam ~ Drake

There was a knock on our dressing-room door. Our manager shouted, 'Keith! Ron! The Police are here!' Oh, man, we panicked, flushed everything down the john. Then the door opened and it was Stewart Copeland and Sting. ~ Keith Richards

I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, lay down your rifle, and set down at the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I aint a gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks wants to fight. Give them the guns. ~ Woody Guthrie

For a lot of pop performers, fame and celebrity is part of the job. But for singer-songwriters, no one really cares. ~ Gabrielle Aplin

I was always a dreamer, in childhood especially. People thought I was a little strange. ~ Charley Pride

Your brain is your greatest weapon. Connect it to your heart, and you can go anywhere. ~ Angelique Kidjo

I rode an elevator with a guy who was whistling the tune of 'this is the song that never ends'. Putting that on me? Come on dude.. ~ Taylor Swift

Your wealth can be stolen, but the precious riches buried deep in your soul cannot. ~ Minnie Riperton

Music is my higher power ~ Oliver James

I've always treated my city like some shoulder pads. ~ Drake

Everything government touches turns to crap. ~ Ringo Starr

Loretta Lynn was one of those ladies a long time ago that opened a lot of doors and paved the way for a lot of ballsy singer-songwriters who weren't just cute. ~ Kacey Musgraves

The real reason Jews don't have more Hanukkah music is that, historically, American Jewish singer-songwriters were too busy making Christmas music. 'White Christmas,' 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,' 'Silver Bells' and 'The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting)' were all written by Jews. ~ Matisyahu

Throw em a bone and they want a steak. ~ Drake

But life is just a party, and parties weren't meant to last. ~ Prince

Like I say, I'm always writing and if something sticks, it sticks. I get to write with great songwriters in town. Lori McKenna is one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters who's ever walked the planet. I get to write with her. The Warren Brothers are friends of mine and I write with them all the time. Lance Miller is a great songwriter. Tom Douglas - you can't get any better than that. I write a lot of stuff but it's got to stick. ~ Tim McGraw

It won't be long before another day, were gonna have a good time. And no ones gonna take that time away. You can stay as long as you like ~ James Taylor

Sometimes we woke up and feel like a Guitar Master, sometimes we woke up and feel like a complete fool. but that's the fun part of learning guitar ~ Tommy Emmanuel

When I was 8 years old, it mattered what my favorite singer said and wore and expressed opinions about. ~ Taylor Swift

For people who don't know or didn't know that I started off as a singer, singing requires a certain level of drama, in itself. Honestly, it really prepared me to do this, and I've been really blessed to be able to transition into the acting world very smoothly. ~ Naturi Naughton

Robots are emotionless, so they don't get upset if their buddy is killed, they don't commit crimes of rage and revenge. But ... they see an 80-year-old grandmother in a wheelchair the same way they see a T80 tank; they're both just a series of zeros and ones. ~ P. W. Singer

Sinatra was the biggest influence on my life, my singing career. And rightly so. I mean he was the best singer ever. ~ James Darren

I love Katy Perry, she is a wonderful pop singer. ~ Pat Benatar

If you think of the 1930s in film as the decade of Gable and Lombard, Cagney and Harlow, Stanwyck and the Marx Brothers, think again. The biggest star - No. 1 in the 1936, '37 and '38 exhibitor polls - was a three-time box-office champ before she was 10. Shirley Temple, singer, dancer, and prime exemplar of Movie Cute, owned the '30s. ~ Richard Corliss

That moment when you realize not everyone is going to like you, it's a nice one. ~ Luke Hemmings

I would love to be a singer if I had the talent for it. I'd love to be a graphic designer if I had the talent for it. Those are things I've always just admired - the work of other artists. ~ Dan Bucatinsky

Being able to fantasize for a couple of days at being a rock singer surpassed most things I've done on stage. ~ Gary Cole

I love being a very personal singer-songwriter, but I also like being a scientist or explorer. ~ Bjork

I was just studying with my father, a very difficult task for me since he was a great, great Qawwali singer. ~ Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

I think when it comes to females in the media you'll see something that kind of upsets me which is that females are pinned up against each other more so than men. You know, for example like you never see online "vote for who has the better butt - this actor or this actor." It's always like this female singer and this female singer. And you get to vote. I mean, it's daily I see these things and these polls like "let us know who's sexier, who's the hotter momma" and I just don't see it like "who's the hotter dad" you know? I think that one thing that I do believe as a feminist is that in order for us to have gender equality we have to stop making it a girl fight and we have to stop being so interested in seeing girls trying to tear each other down, it has to be more about cheering each other on as women. That's just kind of how I feel about it. ~ Taylor Swift

The real exertion in the case of an opera singer lies not so much in her singing as in her acting of a role, for nearly every modern opera makes great dramatic and physical demands. ~ Maria Jeritza

We have a new generation of very rich people who want to do more with their money than buy a lot of expensive toys. They want to live meaningful lives. ~ Peter Singer

I respect country music because I feel like it's more about the talent and the songwriting and I put on a big show and we have a lot of stuff, but I feel confident in myself enough as an artist and a singer that I can have all of those fun toys and know that we don't need all the bells and whistles either. ~ Carrie Underwood

Music is exciting and easy to enjoy, the rhythm and voice.
It does not need interpretation. That is why it is called the Universal Language. ~ Ellen J. Barrier

I identify with Superman. I am adopted, I am an only child, and I love the idea that he comes from another world, that he's the ultimate immigrant. He has all these extraordinary powers, and he has a righteousness about him. ~ Bryan Singer

I'm not an amazingly trained soul singer, so with me it's about feeling and energy and spontaneity - that's a really big part of who I am. ~ Neneh Cherry

I met someone the other night who's 28 years old, and he hasn't worked a day since he left college because he's pursuing a dream he'll never, ever realize: He thinks he's a great singer. Actually, he's crap. ~ Simon Cowell

The beauty of Billie Holiday is that she gave every singer after her the license to interpret and perform music in ways that were unique to each of us. Her uniqueness was very much a part of the way she sang the songs, the story she wanted to tell through the songs. I didn't really have a full understanding of Billie until I left home
until I'd lived a little, shall we say. At different seasons of my life, when I'd sing her songs or listen to her albums, I'd hear things I didn't hear before. Wherever you are in life, you'll hear different things in her songs. ~ Dianne Reeves

Being a singer is a way for me to get to a platform to do more. ~ Chaka Khan

Some things lend themselves well to songs, some things don't, and I'm learning that a lot at the moment. It's still a relatively new way of writing. It's only really the last five to 10 years that I've taken my writing seriously in this way, as something I can keep working toward. I think I feel myself much more before as simply a songwriter. ~ PJ Harvey

People expect not just songwriters but all personalities to pontificate about their egos - they just wanna see someone talking about themselves constantly. I'm not interested in that. ~ Cass McCombs

Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. Amore or Pyar makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for second eyes of man and woman meets. ~ Gregory David Roberts

I'm a folk singer-songwriter. I am pretty poppy though. ~ Vance Joy

I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens. ~ Isaac Bashevis Singer

If you're a pop singer, you don't need to evolve. You just get a set together, have some hit songs and play them over and over. ~ Van Morrison

Songwriters might write cynical, world-wise lyrics and constantly talk about money, but most of us are downright naive when it comes to business. ~ Willie Nelson