I've never been more moved by a voice than I have been by Roy Orbison. I loved him personally, and I loved his voice. I think of him often and frequently listen to his songs.
I used to like to set different film clips to classical music, not even my own songs, but make little movies.
I sang and wrote songs when I was 12 years old.
For some reason, I'm really comfortable talking about my personal life in songs.
Stuff just comes out all the time, sometimes when I sing live it really comes alive and I sort of. . . I write songs and then almost. . . not forget about it, but live it really comes out and I suddenly realise what I've written. I don't know where it all comes from.
I like to let the songs speak so that they can go through some kind of rebirth as you play them.
Grace Kelly writes great songs, sings beautifully, is a world class saxophonist, and is going to be a big big star
In argument similes are like songs in love; they describe much, but prove nothing.
I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks - you learn craft, you learn structure, all that - as you go.
Not all of my songs are electronic, they're not house or dancey.
I didn't want to be a big record mogul and all that stuff. I just wanted to write songs and make people laugh.
I'm not afraid to go out on a limb, style-wise or with lyrics. I don't ever want to be afraid to cut those types of songs because radio might not play it.
After that I didn't listen to music as much because '70s music just wasn't. . . I remember all the songs, but it wasn't because I was into them, you know what I mean?
So, in some ways, the political songs tend to be a bit more like reportage, whereas the love songs tend to be like novels, you can pick them up off the shelf and go into them any time.
I want my songs to be heard by everyone.
If you get a song right for its usage at the time, it can be useful to others. . . . Those songs are more friendly to other artists looking for material.
I knew that collaborating on songwriting would be difficult for a lot of people, because I was known very much, for my independence and the fact that I wrote these quirky songs that were not typical structure, not typical sound - you know, really original stuff.
Songs like "Spirit Carries On" really gets the audience moved and on the same page. It's challenging and all so much fun to play.
On the other hand when you are someone who records their own songs you are basically stuck writing for one voice and for one style that can stifle you a bit. It's a real trade off.
I love researching, whether it's old Western documentaries or old Western country singers or John Ford Westerns, which are heavily influenced by family values, which so many of these country songs are related to.
