I don't think there are any clichés I try to avoid. As soon as I spot a cliché, I go for it. I feel like clichés are the most useful thing in songwriting. They're the tool on which you build all the rest of the song.
At first I was laboring under the impression that Chinese lyrics didn't rhyme. That turned out to be untrue - they don't rhyme in translation. - Stephin Merritt
At first I was laboring under the impression that Chinese lyrics didn't rhyme. That turned out to be untrue - they don't rhyme in translation.
- Stephin Merritt
Well, there are certainly original things to say. But I'm not sure that a pop song is the appropriate format to say them in. - Stephin Merritt
Well, there are certainly original things to say. But I'm not sure that a pop song is the appropriate format to say them in.
There's a whole kind of melancholy that you can only attain with reverb. That's an example of a technology introducing a whole new meaning. - Stephin Merritt
There's a whole kind of melancholy that you can only attain with reverb. That's an example of a technology introducing a whole new meaning.
If you start out with a song sounding like Britney Spears, and you end up with a song sounding like Pauline Oliveros, you'd better have pretty good l… - Stephin Merritt
If you start out with a song sounding like Britney Spears, and you end up with a song sounding like Pauline Oliveros, you'd better have pretty good l…
I write songs by sitting around in bars, so drinking songs are a little obvious. It's surprising that I don't write entirely drinking songs, since I … - Stephin Merritt
I write songs by sitting around in bars, so drinking songs are a little obvious. It's surprising that I don't write entirely drinking songs, since I …
There are only so many instruments you can layer on top of each other that aren't perfectly electronically programmed. "Long Vermont Roads" just cann… - Stephin Merritt
There are only so many instruments you can layer on top of each other that aren't perfectly electronically programmed. "Long Vermont Roads" just cann…
The adventure is when people don't know what they're doing at all. Like, I think that the first pop band to use synthesizers as their main instrument… - Stephin Merritt
The adventure is when people don't know what they're doing at all. Like, I think that the first pop band to use synthesizers as their main instrument…
You know, most love songs are not cheesy and corny. Most love songs are complaints, I think. Or about unrequited love, coming at it from some oblique… - Stephin Merritt
You know, most love songs are not cheesy and corny. Most love songs are complaints, I think. Or about unrequited love, coming at it from some oblique…
Never try to do anything artistic when you're feeling something overwhelming. It's like driving a car: If you're experiencing road rage, pull over. - Stephin Merritt
Never try to do anything artistic when you're feeling something overwhelming. It's like driving a car: If you're experiencing road rage, pull over.
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