Tonight, tonight, won't be just any night. Tonight there will be no morning star.
Stephen SondheimRead
Making lyrics feel natural, sit on music in such a way that you don't feel the effort of the author, so that they shine and bubble and rise and fall, is very, very hard to do. Whereas you can sit at the piano and just play and feel you're making art.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Creating seamless and expressive lyrics in music is a challenging task that can contrast with the more natural act of playing an instrument.
This quote by Stephen Sondheim emphasizes the difficulty of crafting lyrics that feel inherent to the music, suggesting that this seamless integration is a complex artistic endeavor. In contrast, he notes that simply playing an instrument, like a piano, can feel more instinctive and effortless, allowing the musician to express themselves freely and create art without the same level of complication.
Themes
LyricsMusicArtCreativityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be used in a speech about the challenges of songwriting.
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