I guess I'm a real fan of older music, and that's what shaped my taste and the way I sing.
I think the thing that has made it possible for me to write personal songs and sing them year after year is the sensibility for good writing. Just opening your veins all over the paper is not necessarily going to be interesting. I wanted to speak to people.
I knew that I could sing when I was young. I would listen to a lot of jazz; I'm a big jazz fan. When I first got to high school and studied musical theater, I could sing. But I added certain things to my voice, and I realized after graduating high school that this is the kind of voice I had. It's not very nimble, but it's heavy.
To sing a simple round is truly an enlightening experience.
My dad is a big Outlaw country guy - Johnny Cash, Johnny Horton, Waylon, Willie. He loves Elvis and turned me onto Elvis. He was always playing me stuff. He and I would sing and entertain the family. We'd have a little skit on Thanksgiving or whatever.
Get up, groan, write a bit, moan, eat breakfast, write some more, cycle my bike through the Sligo hills, make up country songs as I pedal along, sing them, have lunch, have a nap, groan, moan, write a small bit more, cook dinner, feed wifey, open a bottle, or several, slump, sleep.
My singing wasn't horrible, but my dancing really made it look silly. It's not like I'm a horrible singer that can't sing. But I don't have the consistency or the presentation skills that a good performer has.
You've got to find ways to breathe while you're dancing so that when it comes time for you to stop and sing again, you have it. To prepare, I do a lot of aerobic activity. Many times at the gym, people will look at me because I'll be on the treadmill humming.
I realized I was tired of singing about trees and flowers. I wanted to sing about real life. From then on, nobody could tell me anything was better than blues.
If my tongue were trained to measures, I would sing a stirring song.
To sing a song is quite different than to write a poem. I'm not and never will be a novelist, but to write a novel is not the same thing as writing a play. There is a difference in form, but essentially what you're after is the same thing.
I really love something that's strong vocally and a little more difficult to sing because it's fun.
Only one of us would usually sing lead. Which most of the time was, Mickey or Dave. They thought it was perfectly a natural routine, because Mickey and Dave saw themselves as TV actors.
I never wanted to look pretty on stage and sing about something we've all heard about before.
You must understand the whole of life, not just one little part of it. That is why you must read, that is why you must look at the skies, that is why you must sing and dance, and write poems and suffer and understand, for all that is life.
I'd love to do a modern-day musical that's full of original music. To get your contemporaries to sing and dance without looking foolish and for it to be transformational and magical and all those things a musical is supposed to be.
We happened to be in the studio next door and I think Noel Redding came around and said, 'Do you fancy having a sing on this?' We just went and did it and it was great.
I'm sure any vocal teacher that listens to me would rather cut my throat than do anything - I do everything all wrong - but I think for me that's the best - because I don't think I have a voice so I think what I project would be style - if I learned to sing I'd lose my style.
I can't believe that I get to stand on the stages I stand on every summer, and get to sing the songs that I sing.
It doesn't take a year to sing a song. Takes a year for people to figure out how to market it.
I like to sing around the bonfire, in my car and in the shower.
I like to sing very much.
Well, somebody's got to sing. They won't hire you unless you sing.
I work on my voice through what I have to sing.
I wanna sing about something that's sexy and edgy.
When someone gets passed that mic, and they know deep down inside that they wanna say something or sing something or produce something, but they don't do that, it's like killing your musical life.
I'll never sing something that I've never been through. So even if I didn't write it, I have to have at least experienced it.
I'm not really religious but very spiritual. I give money to this company that manufactures hearing aids on a regular basis. More people should really hear me sing. I have a gift from God.
The core of me is country. It's what I love. It's what I write. Even when I sing pop stuff, I'm still singing it 'countrily.'
I've never been in a competition before, and I said I'm going to go. I think - I just love to sing.
I may be learning guitar, but I'll never be able to sing.
I really do think everybody can sing.
Every performer wants to sing live. That's what I live for.
I've sung my whole life. I've taken lots of voice lessons and I love to sing. But I've never really sung professionally at all.
With Pearl Jam, everybody is so good at what they do, it's hard to get up the courage to say, 'Can I sing this part,' or, 'I want to play guitar.'
You have to be ready to sing and perform at any time.
