I always knew I couldn't sing, but I also knew I had a voice that isn't heard by many, and that I could learn how to stretch it and make songs sound good.
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.
I need a little bass and I don't even need that crazy bass to break your face. I just want it to sound good when I have my favorite song.
I like the Sci Fi channel and 'Science Fiction Theatre.' I've been doing a lot of television-watching and thinking about good songs to write.
It's good fun, making a solo album, because there's perhaps songs that wouldn't get used for the Stones or any other kind of outfit that I'm working with. It's just nice to be the boss.
I may not be the most famous songwriter in the world, but you know a David Friedman song when you hear it. It took me a long time to appreciate that.
I became famous, I think, really because of the interpretation of other people's songs, way back when, and that's what I enjoy the most. And I'm a lazy bugger.
Video is a funny thing. It's one thing to be an artist, singer-songwriter, and use words and create pictures in people's minds. And then be asked to do video for it, to actually give a certain visual for your song.
It's funny, when I'm not on the road or doing stuff with Bad Company - or whatever- I've always written songs galore... a lot of stuff people don't even hear.
The fact that I'm shouting that I have Gangnam style makes people crack up. Imagine if Brad Pitt was singing the song - would it be funny? A twist is important when it comes to writing lyrics.
Do I appreciate the idea of jealousy, revenge and all these so-called dark qualities? Yes. Do I write these songs in order to engage in some public war with someone? No.
You know, I've sung a lot of emotional songs in my life, but when you're writing it yourself, it's very difficult to decide what to reveal.
Since I was a child, my whole life has revolved around music. It's often while listening to a song that ideas for my fashion collections formed.
The things in my songs are the edited highlights of my life. I don't go seeking out strange sexual experiences every day of the week.
By the end of the writing process, which is about 80 songs per album, I look at the material and think, what's going to make a difference in someone's life.
The thing is, my life is a country song. I don't need to be manufactured, and I don't need anyone to tell me what to say or what to sing.
You know, that single girl life and that sense of isolation - that doesn't leave you just like that. And that's what that song is about. I remember that, and that is imprinted on me, that sense.
If you want break it down, rock and roll is about saying what you can't say in normal life to girls, so you have to say it in songs.
Pop songs are not as graceful as they used to be. Performers today haven't gone through the regimen of learning how to write. And of course, everyone wants to own copyrights.
It's interesting to do other people's music - that's how I learned to play, by learning other people's songs. It's nice to delve into how other people got to where they are.
I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.
