You find yourself in the world, without any power, immovable as a rock, stupid, so to speak, as a log of wood.
It was endlessly amusing to me to try to imitate John Lennon and Paul McCartney's harmonies using the guitar.
I find that the time that goes by is actually your best friend when you are making a record. The passing of time gives you perspective on what you recorded and what you wrote. If something sounds good to you 12 months after you recorded it then chances are pretty good that there's something valuable about the part or the song.
Certain things you have to stumble on to. They can't be preprogrammed.
When I first started making music, it was learning other peoples songs and putting them onto four-track. Like Beatles songs and stuff. When I started writing, I used the singing side of the production as a vehicle for melody and lyrical ideas.
I went every Sunday to church when I was growing up, and I think that music had an affect on me before my memory can recall.
I treat the act of making a record very much like working in a laboratory, experimenting with sounds and ideas. Whoever chooses to latch onto it, great; whoever doesn't, that's fine, too. The reaction always pales in comparison to the weight of the act of production.
I'm reading Joe Eszterhas biography; it's fabulous. Every time he made a movie, he fought with the director or the producer over the ending.
We need to recognise that what really matters isn't buying more and more consumer goods, but family, friends, and knowing that we are doing something worthwhile with our lives. Helping to reduce the appalling consequences of world poverty should be part of that reassessment.
In the New York Times, you're going to get completely different information than you would in the USA Today.
I excel at pulling strings!” said Arachne. “I’m a spider!