If you want to make a song more hummy, add a few tiddely poms..

If I had my choice, I'd pick a song that tells a story every time. There is a great deal of pleasure in doing the vocal on a number that you can put ….

I write lyrics everyday as I go. I'm always taking notes in my phone whenever I am inspired by something. Most of my writing starts out as poetry bef….

It wasn't professional, but it was a few levels below the top level. I loved playing football, but my passion was always music. It didn't become a po….

It seems to be really trendy to get excited about a random-ass radio song. Which, I like radio songs, don't get me wrong. But I'm just confused at wh….

My songs are very much a kind of psychoanalysis. I am very introspective in my songs, and I am working through, always..

A lot of my songs are very personal, always, but this one felt like a memoir. I almost called it Hallucinated Memoir. "Granny" is a hallucinated memo….

When I reissue these Minimal Wave Record songs, I also re-master them. With Oppenheimer Analysis, it turned out that the band still had the master ta….

There's a particular trend towards the empty pop song right now. Where people are like, "This. Is. Brilliant. She's singing about a crush on somebody….

Shortly before she died Janis Joplin gave me the Gibson Hummingbird she recorded "Me and Bobbby McGee" on ... Janis was a good guitar player, for her….

My soul was a burden, bruised and bleeding. It was tired of the man who carried it, but I found no place to set it down to rest. Neither the charm of….

It's amazing to know that 5 years ago I was writing songs in a basement in the ghetto and now I'm writing for Michael Jackson. I'd be a fool not to s….

The song I came to sing remains unsung to this day. I have spent my days in stringing and in unstringing my instrument. The time has not come true, t….

There is the falsely mystical view of art that assumes a kind of supernatural inspiration, a possession by universal forces unrelated to questions of….

You're just like, "I like doing this - it's something I have a lot of passion for." You happen to do it, you enjoy songwriting, and eventually if you….

I was attracted to the aesthetics of post-punk bands and also their specific histories. Some of these acts could have achieved the level of fame of J….

Then the song of a whitethroat, pure and ethereal, with the dreamy quality of remembered joy..

If Mozart were around now he would write a killer rock song..

I love to read things that have moral messages, and I love to hear stories where it's not just a hook, you have to follow the story, you have to list….

I love to be in control of everything I do and everything around me. So that means, you give me a romantic lyric and I'll make the atmosphere, I will….

[Some] songs are all so detailed and in-depth that it takes forever to finish them..