Much responsibility rests upon the shoulders of the song leader; it is not infrequently within his power to make or break a meeting.
Few rappers realize the genre sprang from West African griots through Delta slave songs to jazz poetry and the comedic trash talk of 'the dozens.'
Even when I'm in quite a happy state of mind, I like writing really sad songs. I think a lot of people do.
My loving sister Mary has always shared the pain and pleasure of my heartbeat in a unique and special way. We have sung our sad and warm songs together.
When you have a kid and people go, 'What a beautiful child,' it's the same kind of reaction when you play a song that people recognize and love.
I just love to have fun with music, and try to find songs that say something that people want to hear.
I just can't seem to write songs about peace and love. Yeah right, how do you get that?
I love to sing old Motown songs to myself, or some Patti Smith Edith Piaf or Billie Holiday. That gets me in the mood for singing.
'They Don't Care About Us' by Michael Jackson - This song makes me want to dance, and I fell in love with it watching 'This Is It' with my kids.
People were very passionate and over the top about showing me their love and affection, and they memorized my songs in Spanish.
I'm all about telling stories. I like people to picture the music video in their head when they're just listening to the song.
In 2008, I was more just thinking about using the touchscreen for writing the songs. From there I started thinking about how I visualised music.
When I got into music, I wanted to learn guitar just enough to be able to write songs. I wanted to be able to express myself.
'Nashville' songs and country music have always been about storytelling and about the heart and confessionals. They're monologues.
I'm definitely interested in making more music and uploading new covers; I like to take suggestions because it's more fun if people know the song.
Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.
Music is a powerful tool in galvanizing people around an issue. There's no better way to get your point across than to put it in a beautiful song.
I was never too keen on the British music press. They've called us a supermarket hype, and they used to suggest that we didn't write our own songs.
My favorite music is never the music that anyone else likes, and other people's favorite songs are always my least favorite.
When you look at anyone's iPod or iPhone and their music collection on there, it's not the same 10 songs. People like diversity.
I wanted to write songs which I think is a different thing. I wanted to write music that is informed by folk music. The chord progressions are obvious references.
