Music Quotes

“Jazz songs have always been quite literal because many of them are taken from musical theater and you only have a couple of moments to describe the scenery. I really borrow from that practice in my own songwriting. I want them to be consumed almost as little movies.”

“There is pleasure in the pathless woods, there is rapture in the lonely shore, there is society where none intrudes, by the deep sea, and music in its roar; I love not Man the less, but Nature more.”

“I want people, at the end of my days, to be like, 'Yo, he did all that, but overall, the dude was a great musician.' That's the goal.”

“We lived, ate, and breathed pop songs.”

“I certainly knew who was there before me - Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, Billie Holiday - not only because that was the music that was played when I was growing up, but because I made it my business to know these things.”

“If you look at the content of songs people write, it's usually about the things they know best.”

“The 'Annette' movie is something really unique and special for us, as we were able to create not only the story for it, but also the music.”

“When I was writing the Destiny's Child songs, it was a big thing to be that young and taking control. And the label at the time didn't know that we were going to be that successful, so they gave us all control. And I got used to it.”

“A country song is a song about life.”

“I've been inspired by Bollywood, Pakistani music, qawwali for as long as I can remember - that came first.”

“I listen to and I play all kinds of music, and I'm interested in jazz and in bluegrass - I like it all - but Cuban music speaks to me in a certain way.”

“Even Azathoth is bored of this tune.”

“Other guys like to go golfing, but music is my hobby.”

“I can't listen to music while I'm doing something else. Well, unless I'm working out. But I, like, fall off the treadmill all the time if I'm listening to something that I like too much.”

“I went to school for singing, middle school at LaGuardia High School. Followed by Berkeley College of Music and afterwards I went to acting school at the Neighborhood Playhouse for Theater.”

“The fundamentalist seeks to bring down a great deal more than buildings. Such people are against, to offer just a brief list, freedom of speech, a multi-party political system, universal adult suffrage, accountable government, Jews, homosexuals, women's rights, pluralism, secularism, short skirts, dancing, beardlessness, evolution theory, sex. There are tyrants, not Muslims.United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said that we should now define ourselves not only by what we are for but by what we are against. I would reverse that proposition, because in the present instance what we are against is a no brainer. Suicidist assassins ram wide-bodied aircraft into the World Trade Center and Pentagon and kill thousands of people: um, I'm against that. But what are we for? What will we risk our lives to defend? Can we unanimously concur that all the items in the preceding list -- yes, even the short skirts and the dancing -- are worth dying for?The fundamentalist believes that we believe in nothing. In his world-view, he has his absolute certainties, while we are sunk in sybaritic indulgences. To prove him wrong, we must first know that he is wrong. We must agree on what matters: kissing in public places, bacon sandwiches, disagreement, cutting-edge fashion, literature, generosity, water, a more equitable distribution of the world's resources, movies, music, freedom of thought, beauty, love. These will be our weapons. Not by making war but by the unafraid way we choose to live shall we defeat them.How to defeat terrorism? Don't be terrorized. Don't let fear rule your life. Even if you are scared.”

“Whenever I write a novel, music just sort of naturally slips in (much like cats do, I suppose).”

“We used to have a nanny who was obsessed with Take That. She was in love with Mark Owen and her room in our house would be plastered with Take That posters. Whenever I used to walk in the door she would be playing Take That songs to Harley, my daughter. That's when I fell in love with the song 'A Million Love Songs,' that song means a lot to me.”

“I always knew I would do music. At first, I wanted to play basketball, and when I let go of that dream when I was 11, I pretty much knew I was going to be in music.”

“I don't want to just make music. My only problem is that there are 24 hours in a day and that I have one of me.”