I do get a little shy about contemporary language and events, but I also enjoy the idea of dating myself, somehow, anchoring a song in a specific tim…

- John K. Samson

I think of Gord Downie voice as Whitman-esque. He has a poetic voice that contains multitudes, both the suppleness of the instrument of his voice, an…

- John K. Samson

I've always viewed my career with some suspicion, like I don't want to count on it to be the only thing I do. Partly that has to do with feeling like…

- John K. Samson

I would only listen to certain things, like a lot of teenagers do. But the Tragically Hip is a ribbon that's been with me pretty much my entire music…

- John K. Samson

I try to write lyrics that will be able to function on their own if they get separated from the music. But I wouldn't want to take anything away from…

- John K. Samson

John Berger once defined music by saying that it began as a howl, became a prayer, then a lament, and still contains the elements of all three. I thi…

- John K. Samson

There are definitely parts of me in most of the protagonists I write, but I find a bit of distance can be useful, so I often find myself better able …

- John K. Samson

I think we all have a certain number of "coming of age" songs, and then a writer has to expand and grow into more varied and specific themes. And the…

- John K. Samson

In this frightening, anxious time to be alive it can be liberating to remember that nothing lasts forever. That can focus and invigorate our hopes.

- John K. Samson