Barry Mann

“If I waited for inspiration every time I sat down to write a song I probably would be a plumber today.”

“One other thing, if it's possible, as songwriters, you should also develop yourself as record producers.”

“I think if one wants to be in a continual state of insanity one should stay married to that writing partner.”

“I think that most writers who wait until they're inspired to write are just waiting for the fear to subside.”

“There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are.”

“Probably most successful songwriters have an innate songwriting ability.”

“It's very hard to teach someone how to write a song if to begin with there's no creative crop to harvest.”

“I get a different kind of lyric from someone else that might make me go in a different musical direction.”

“We've written something like 900 songs in all.”

“If we were the team that won out, then life was good and we felt that we were worth something.”

“A guitar riff played on a piano doesn't come close to the purity of it being played on a guitar but I faked it enough to get by.”

“You have to be very brave in that first writing session.”

“It's amazing how a competitive nature can turn a negative into something positive.”

“I quit college. I was studying architecture for about a year.”

“I know at the beginning of our careers, my wife and I were gut wrenchingly competitive.”

“You're going to have more rejection than acceptance.”

“If we didn't get the record, we didn't exist.”

“The real danger of writing a great song when you're on something is that it might get you thinking that the only way to repeat that is by only writing when you're high.”

“You have certain writing tools but generally creating something from nothing makes one quite mad and Cynthia and I are quite mad you know.”

“I've written songs sober and I've written songs high.”