A good poem is a tautology. It expands one word by adding a number which clarify it, thus making a new word which has never before been spoken. The seedword is always so ordinary that hardly anyone perceives it. Classical odes grow from and or because, romantic lyrics from but and if. Immature verses expand a personal pronoun ad nauseam, the greatest works bring glory to a common verb. Good poems, therefore, are always close to banality, over which, however, they tower like precipices.
I wrote lyrics that were intensely personal to me a few years ago. Maybe people know me better now.
At times, it could be a bit difficult to understand everything that's being said when just listening, but I wanted the lyrics to be the first impression.
Sometimes people mishear my lyrics and think a song's about something it isn't.
In rap, as in most popular lyrics, a very low standard is set for rhyme; but this was not always the case with popular music.
In my prayers every day, which are a combination of Hebrew prayers and Shakespeare and Sondheim lyrics and things people have said to me that I've written down and shoved in my pocket, I also say the name of every person I've ever known who's passed on.
I'm very honest in my music and I'm often asked to explain the lyrics; as an introvert, I find that quite hard. And I always wear high heels on stage, which can be painful.
I hope that one or two immortal lyrics will come out of all this tumbling around.
It was all the things I wanted my music to be, but yet it wasn't grand and it wasn't obtuse - it wasn't overshooting, it wasn't undershooting, it was precise. The lyrics and the way that I was able to extract and excavate emotion within me.
Maybe one day I'll write my rock album so I can use more obscure references and just be weird. If the lyrics are too crazy, though, then it's not pop anymore.
Lyrical content is very important to me. I'm always trying to make sure the lyrics and music complement each other perfectly.
My lyrics say I have morals, I have confidence, I have weaknesses, I have strong points, that I am a human being.
Right now, I'm Writing song lyrics. Experimenting with a play. Toying with an idea for a documentary. I hope one of these will eventually be launched into the light of day.
Whether it's a letter, song lyrics, part of a novel, or instructions on how to fix a kitchen sink, it's writing. You keep your craft honed, you acquire the discipline to finish things. You turn into a self-taskmaster.
I write my lyrics into the computer and I hum my music into the dictaphone.
I've gotten to a point where I don't want lyrics to mean anything.
Lyrics are for teenage girls, brah.
A lot of the time there is a lot of melancholy in the lyrics.
I'm a songwriter. So I'm OK. But when I wrote "Stand By Me" as a song and to know that the song will probably be here for hundred and hundreds of years to come, it's great, you know. And it was just simple lyrics.
I find I always throw limbs here and there in my lyrics. I kind of put my physical self into the songs.