Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
A suit is a sign of respect.
The truth is, I'm pretty lighthearted.
I can never turn a tour into a vacation.
Sometimes you have to wear what you want.
I don't play an instrument. I pretend. I try to.
I have pit bulls barking at me on half of the love songs.
I watched R.E.M. connect with the back row of a 50,000-seat venue.
The last thing you want to do is write songs about being in a band.
I drink wine on stage to sort of loosen my grip on reality a little.
Lyrics need to be good, but they don't need to be obvious right away.
Live on coffee and flowers. Try not to worry what the weather will be.
I focus on the words and then I have fun putting together the music after.
A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song.
Usually, writing lyrics for me is like bleeding drop by drop from the forehead.
I actually don't go to shows anymore. Rock concerts have lost their appeal for me.
A lot of my lyrics are approximate meaning without me knowing why they sound right.
When you realize that the baby's healthy and born, it's a release and you're so happy.
You gotta lean towards the things that make you like yourself. Forget everything else.
I'm not saying I'm not a moody guy sometimes, but I think I have a pretty normal balance.
People will dig their heels in and fight for the things they love and against the things they hate.
My parents know that I have always been sort of a dark melodramatic kid, so they were never concerned.
I can only write songs when somebody gives me some water to swim in. Otherwise, I'm a fish on the beach.
I became at peace with the darkness or the personality that I have. I am usually pretty funny and happy.
My favourite store? Seize Sur Vingt in New York. They make most of my suits, and they are really cool people.
Sadness is not always the worst feeling. Sometimes it's a really pleasurable thing to be overwhelmed with sadness.
When it comes to lyrics, I just write down a lot of things, and only a very tiny fraction of it, I think, is any good.
I don't want somebody telling my daughter who she can marry, or what she can do with her body. That's what was at stake.
Music has got a community vibe to it that pulls people together, and those communities are different in different places.
A song is a song and, if I am emotionally connected to do it, whether it is sad or not sad, I am going to chase that song.
Not all the songs are real events, but I do write about stuff that is close to my heart and it comes out one way or another.
I'm going to keep drinking on stage. I have a pretty healthy relationship with alcohol. I know how far to go and when to stop.
Once you do have a child you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends and it should be.
'Alligator' was the first record that anyone paid attention to, and it seemed like it was the screamy songs that got us that attention.
Somehow, you realize you can kind of do anything in music. You don't have to be good at a certain thing; you can just do whatever you want.
It takes us a long time to write a song that we all really like, so it makes sense that it would take a while for the listener to get there, too.
I'm doing a little freelance work, and I think everybody's trying to take their minds off rock and roll for a little while and get some perspective.
Maybe because I have spent too much of my life in rock clubs. I don't really go to parties anymore either. I'll usually be in the bus by 11:30 after a show.
Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave know best. Although I wear a lot of jeans, I've been told that Nick Cave doesn't own a pair and wouldn't be caught dead in denim.
I do a lot of editing and switching around and putting little pieces together to get the right mood and personality, and it takes me forever to get a song finished.
Getting on stage and performing and standing under lights is such an unsettling experience - in a good and bad way - but it's the only place I can go to feel comfortable.
I'm a stubborn guy that loses his temper, sometimes driving the station wagon in the wrong direction for hours and hours and never admitting that he's gone the wrong way.
The song 'Humiliation' is kind of about what if, outside of a dinner party or something, I was blown up by a drone missile, out by the pool. What an embarrassing way to go.
I love to make songs out of some of those shadows - you know, some of the things you lie awake thinking about, social anxieties and romantic insecurities and all that stuff.
It is the melody and the rhythm that are by far the most important and then words and imagery and stuff, story bits will start to stick to a melody and that is the way I write.
I've never had so much fun being back at my job sitting in front of my computer. Compared to 10 months on the road, going home and sleeping in my own bed every night is really nice.
Once you do have a child, you want to talk about every detail of it. And it is really boring to all your friends, and it should be. I was really worried about even going there at all.
The same song can have drastically different feels and personalities just by changing some minor things. A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song.
A person with grace is somebody who's socially graceful or is a classy person, but sometimes you just feel the opposite of that, and you just feel like a jerk and a loser and a weirdo.
At first, when 'Boxer' came out, people were a little let down, and we worried that it might be the end for us. But then it began to grow on people. 'Boxer' bought us our creative freedom.
A lot of the lyrics I write involve images that just swing the song in a way that feels really good to me and there isn't a literal explanation. They're not riddles for the listener to solve.