One of the things I wanted to do with 'The Turn' was write a production of songs that could be stripped down to one or two instruments if you chose to do it.
It's always difficult to know if a song needs more than piano, and I worry about my tendency to go in a sparse direction.
The true miracle lies in our eagerness to allow, appreciate, and honor the uniqueness, and freedom of each sentient being to sing the song of their heart.
I'm a hip-hop dancer, but when I'm in my room it turns into this lyrical nonsense, and I listen to Phil Wickham and India Arie, who has the most precious songs.
Songs of different moods are like keys, which help me enter the world of my book's characters.
My writing often contains souvenirs of the day - a song I heard, a bird I saw - which I then put into the novel.
One of my favorite albums in the world is Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska.' Each song has this very distinct character who has something profound to say.
I watch everybody every night, from sitting down to being on their feet at the end, and I feel a sense of reinvention, of caring, presenting these songs in their purest form.
Look, I got 11,052 songs on my iPod. Cyndi Lauper, Guns N' Roses, Geto Boys, N.W.A.... push shuffle and anything will come on.
I met will.i.am in the studio and played him a couple of songs and he liked them. We're similar but there's nobody in my lane doing what I'm doing.
There's more things that I'd like to do. You know, each song is a little bit of a puzzle. I see most of them as just failed attempts.
'Hallelujah' is going to be a standard that our grandkids, our great-great grandkids will learn to sing in church. It's one of those really, really special songs.
The song that's affected me the most profoundly is probably Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' or, more specifically, the couple seconds of instrumental break before Vincent Price starts 'rapping.'
I have a theory that the answers to all of life's major questions can found in a John Mayer song.
We played a gig and we had a song that was offensive to people of the Jewish persuasion, and we led off with it, and they were offended by it, and that was that.
Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.
As I've gone along, I felt like I was discovering an aspect of my voice that I didn't know was there: an ability to interpret a song in a way that makes it more accessible.
There's a guy at the record company who's 30, and he says, I would not listen to these songs except in this context. Somehow the recording process, the arrangements, make it more accessible.
I don't know why I write really depressing songs. I'm a kind of melancholy guy, I suppose. But I figure I'm about normal.
The creative process is beautiful and magical thing. Whether its a song, a radio story, or a novel, it all springs from the same place in the heart.
when the mind runs free , write a song . music pours happiness into the soul and a happy soul creates eternal success
