I'm opinionated because I care so much about the music and the songs.
There are no rules when it comes to songwriting, so I'd turn Carter family songs from the 1930s into pop songs.
I was a huge Beatles fan. We could talk about who I listened to growing up and what my sources were, but certainly the Beatles were a late, important resource for me, and I just took my guitar and a handful of songs, and I decided, well, I'll just go over and travel around Europe and see what comes of it.
Nothing in my songs is disrespective.
I've always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks - you learn craft, you learn structure, all that - as you go.
There's some songs you can cover, and I've covered and butchered a few, but you can't do them all.
I have been writing songs and poems since I was a little girl. I started writing short scripts, which evolved into the idea for a book.
With the 'iCarly' soundtrack, I didn't get to write any of the songs. I just picked songs that meant a lot to me that I really liked.
My songs are like cheap Neil Young copies.
I think there's only eight songs on 'Born to Run' - I don't think it's much more than 35 minutes long. But as you move into it, where every song comes up in the sequence makes a lot of sense - though we weren't thinking about it; we were going on instinct at the time.
My own personal goal is I just hope to still write songs and kind of let that sustain me as a job. If I could never have a 9-to-5 job, and making a living doing this, it'd just be incredible.
It's always a mixture of fiction and your own story. It's more I recreate atmospheres and moods through songs.
The truth of it is that every singer out there with songs on the radio is raising the next generation, so make your words count.
I don't care if it's a Cole Porter song, or George Gershwin, or Lennon/McCartney, or Elton John, or you know, whoever, Bob Dylan. Great songs are great songs, and they stand the test of time, and they can be interpreted and recorded with many points of view, but yet still retain the essence of what makes them good songs.
I don't want to think that anything is off limits for me to write about, but I also don't want to intrude on anybody's life, which is why there's very little specificity or names in the songs I write.
All of my songs are autobiographical.
I had to go into a studio and compose and write and press up 12 songs in 14 hours. When you're recording a song from scratch it takes you 14 hours to do just one song.
I can't do some of the songs that younger girls like Mary J. Blige and Beyonce are doing. They have their own place and I have my own place.
The wonderful thing about having your songs on the radio is that people are going to go out to your concerts and buy your merchandise and that sort of thing, and it feels good to get that level of name recognition.
My first songs were about animals and shoes. I wrote one song about PF Flyers, and one to my fish.
I think some people think I'm, like, anti-label, and I'm not. I just wanted to sign a deal when the time was right. I'm anti being shot out of a rocket when you're not ready and the songs and image aren't there.
We recorded several of Kenny's songs in the living room of my home.
I didn't even realize I was writing songs - I thought I was just being witty and sarcastic.
I always played around with writing songs, but when you're spending a lot of time in bars, you have a lot of big ideas, but you don't do much with them.
I just love to have fun with music, and try to find songs that say something that people want to hear.
I would hate to think my songs were giving advice to people.
Even if the songs are at times painful - 'cause some of the songs are not all roses and balloons; some of them dig into deep things that I've been going through - there's a joy that I think people feel from my music and, hopefully, from my performance because I am so in love with doing what I do.
Writing songs with Brian and performing them with Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, David Marks, Bruce Johnston and many other brilliant musicians over the years is my legacy, and something of which I am very proud and protective.
Obviously I got known for some other songs early on, and some of those were rock'n'roll songs. Some of them were melodic pop songs. And I've done lots of different things, as you know, but every so often I get drawn back.
I sing to my wife; it helps me. She was my muse. I've written so many songs about her, to her, with references to her, and still do. She's a big part of my life. We were together for 33 years. It actually does me good - she's with me all that time in that way.
You pick up loads of baggage with your first record with reaction to it from fans and critics. So I went to Ireland by myself for a couple of weeks with my guitar. I read lots of poetry, I read Patti Smith's autobiography and started words and phrases and then songs started to take shape.
I always say, 'Hip-hop takes me everywhere.' It's crazy when I step onstage, and people might not speak much English, but they know every word to your songs. It's kind of freaky, but it's really cool.
No matter where I go, I actually have a lot of couples coming and telling me that one of my songs was instrumental in strengthening their romance!
To me, it makes more sense to write different songs and to play different kinds of music and to find your own voice. But no matter what, get out and play for people. Get out and learn, and do everything that you can, you know?
I've been writing songs since I was, like, five and I've been singing since, like, I can't remember.
I think everyone mentions Bob Dylan, but he's someone I just admire so much as a songwriter. I think people write songs, and then there's Bob Dylan songs. He's one step ahead of just everybody else.