We managed to put together a compilation that had some creativity to it. In the meantime I was listening to the free radio stations and I noticed that during their war coverage they were playing these songs born out of the Vietnam War that were all critical of the soldiers.
I don't have a special place or ritual for writing songs, basically I write songs whenever an idea hits me, in my hotel room, on the road, in the plane.
Sometimes the song title comes with the songs, other times you just sorta make something up afterwards.
A songwriter writes songs all the time, whereas just writing a song can be done by anyone, anytime.
Maybe my songs are my partner. How 'bout that? Yeah, the biggest relationship I have is with my songs.
Whether the issue was black political power or nuclear power, Scott-Heron didn't mince words. His comeback record, 'I'm New Here,' doesn't mince words either, but instead of political battles, these songs suggest he's fighting personal ones.
Great songs come out of people's bedrooms; they come out of studios; there's no formula for it.
You can get really left of centre influences in mainstream pop. Michael Jackson and Prince are some of the most progressive artists ever if you actually dissect their songs there's some crazy stuff going on.
Most of the people you see me working for me are actually with me. And I'm proud to say that I've known them for 20 years almost. I've written songs with, produced songs with them a lot of times. I don't deviate form my comfort zone. I feel like when God brings people to you, it's good to keep 'em around.
But my point is these Civil War songs were gruesome. The hatred that's so bad in this country today, and for the past 10 or 15 years, bad as it is, is nothing compared to the kind of things people would write down and sing back in the Civil War.
I dread naming pieces of music because being instrumental, most of the time the songs that I write are instrumental, I want the listener to make up their own story as to what it is and get the emotion pure without using logic.
I work on words quite separately to music. They're both ongoing, and I don't ever feel like I'm working in a cycle in that respect, because it's every day anyway, no matter what I'm doing. Then I get to a point when I've collected together enough words that seem like they want to be songs rather than poems, or sometimes not.
From the first album, we've had songs like 'The Jack' that are blues based. We also did it in 'Ride On,' where we went into the blues.
The good part is once I start directing, I can choose the songs I want to do. I'm just selective now when it comes to choreography.
I'd like to be writing songs for other people - I just like writing songs.
Some of the songs are so crazy, the words are so crazy... it's hard to believe I was so crazy.
Robert Burns enriched Scottish song with his genius and is mainly responsible for the rich treasure house of song that we enjoy today. He collected folk songs, retained the melodic line, kept what words were usable and rewrote the rest. He didn't claim ownership.
I try to make songs visual and tactile to kind of put you into the action.
Tom would bring in songs, Mike would engineer, and we recorded about 30 songs.
My sense of proprietorship has been so weak that actually I didn't pay attention and I lost the copyrights on a lot of the songs.
Great songs stand out wherever they're from.
I find singing some of Foreigner's older songs are a little reckless and not exactly who I am now.
The real mariachis in Mexico are singers like Agustin Lara and Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete - the Golden Era of Mexican Filmmaking. Mariachis sing very soft and very beautiful. That's old-school mariachi. They are caressing the songs.
I'm just writing songs about how I feel or about how people I know feel.
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.
I started playing guitar when I was 13. I'd written a few songs on the guitar over some time. I'd written a book of poetry, and I got a book of lyrics that I had when I was a kid.
I have to practice to be good at guitar. I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.
I don't do concept records anymore - I just prefer doing good songs.
My approach is to be part of a band that makes music, not hit songs.
There were times I used to go to parties when I was, you know, like 15-, 16-years-old, and I'd always bring my guitar, and all my friends would be like, sing one of the Smokey songs. And everything I sang was his music, and I could sound just like him.
There was a time that I was only known for being a plagiarist. It used to hurt at times because there was so much effort I was putting into music. And instead of that, it was a couple tunes that I had reproduced from folk songs to remake as film songs, which were being written about.
Some of the songs I do once in a while that I kinda... my set list is basically like my hits, there is a good reason why they are there; people really like them.
As a little kid I had a girlfriend, and her boyfriend used to beat me up, so then I used to sing these songs, and that's what it's all about. Country music is all about your heart and your people and things like that.
I love when people get songs wrong. I love when people take something from a song that's totally not what I intended!
My best moments are when I write songs out of nowhere.
I have been around for a long, long time. I didn't make it 'til I was older. I went through the period when women were not getting signed, particularly if you were writing songs that were lyrically propelled.
