It's always good to show that poetry isn't the little depressed lyric people believe it to be, that it's something bigger.
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.
'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow,' if you go through the lyrics, is such a haunting melody, and the words are, for a pop song, pretty deep and dark.
I am a big Pink Floyd fan. That is where a lot of the concept lyrics come from.
The most astonishing joy is to receive from the muses the gift of a whole lyric.
I try and journal every day, and that's where a lot of my lyric comes from.
But then you have to write a song, so at that point, I picked up the reins and started to write lyrics.
After that, I specifically started writing lyrics. I would like sweat and think and get it all together.
I have a little dictaphone and if a sound takes my fancy or if a lyric comes to me in the middle of the night I'll just record it there and then.
It’s easy to sing the song, but to pray the lyrics from deep within… that’s worship!
Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up.
I just learned my lyrics and tried not to bump into the trumpet player. That was my philosophy.
Sometimes it's liberating to confront horrible things in lyrics as a way to master the shadow-self that exists in everyone.
When I'm stuck for a closing to a lyric, I will drag out my last resort: overwhelming illogic.
I don't like to get too specific about lyrics. It places limitations on them, and spoils the listeners' interpretation.
The thing about Sondheim is that it does get very cerebral. You do need a faculty with words and a love for the lyrics to not just pull it off, but to have an appreciation for it.
Religious poetry, civic poetry, lyric or dramatic poetry are all categories of man's expression which are valid only if the endorsement of formal content is valid.
When I write, it is always the melody that comes first, and it just happens to be the case that the most beautiful tunes are sad, and the lyrics follow the mood of the melody.
I love the Ronettes, the 'do-run-run-run' pop stuff. I love the lyrics, having 'blue, blue blue' being repetitive.
Lyrics are the only thing to do with music that haven't been made easier technically.
When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.
