I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.Collection: Romantic
I've always littered my songs with jokes. You might need to dig a little deeper to find the humor, but I would totally object to being some kind of distraught personality. I've never tried to attach myself to that.Collection: Humor
A baseball team is like a band. Because, conceptually, there are no heroes in baseball - there's just the team.
A lot of people don't know what it's like to actually be hungry. I do. I've also slept on the streets.
Thank God we don't know a lot about Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautreamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious.
When you play with great musicians, whether they're schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes. It comes down to people's personalities and individual energies.
People expect not just songwriters but all personalities to pontificate about their egos - they just wanna see someone talking about themselves constantly. I'm not interested in that.
Sometimes I feel like I finish a song, and there's another song that I have to write in response to that song. Each is like its own separate feeling, its own separate universe.
I'm making music with my friends. It's fun. It should be fun. You shouldn't make music if it isn't fun.
I've always thought about myself as somewhat of a folk musician. I just write words. I don't think I'm even a musician. I don't play a lot of instruments, not really a soloist or anything.
I write for myself, and I write for my friends and people who I have a connection with. I try to give some dignity to peoples' lifestyles that tend to be ignored.
I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people; we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life, and I don't have a problem with that. This is a transitory world; we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it and holding on.
I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.
I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.
I love songs because by nature they are concise; they sum up. I try to use as few words as possible. It's usually funnier that way, anyway.
I grew up in the suburbs and was raised on rap radio, so it took me a long time to stumble upon the acoustic guitar as a resource for anything.
I have no idea what will become of my work in the future, the future folk will not be aware of our influence over them, as we are unaware of how our dead influence us.
I project love, music and love, and I pray for peace. A good song cuts straight to the heart; sometimes it doesn't need to be too many lines - of course, I do love a good story.
Try to keep your mind. Try not to eat bad, try not to wake up with too bad of a hangover.Collection: Hangover
Elvis Presley wore a Star of David and a cross around his neck and, when someone asked him about it, he said, "It makes me think." I love that quote. It's simple. It's beautiful. It's true.Collection: Beautiful
I just like writing lyrics. I find a little satisfaction in performing live, making records. But primarily, I just try to write every day.Collection: Writing
Everyone wants to be well-loved and appreciated but, at the same time, there are some people that just don't want to be your friend, and there's nothing you can do or say to change that.Collection: People
I don't really write for an album. I just write songs whenever I feel like it, whenever they come to me. It's all a complete accident.Collection: Song
I think it's worthwhile to expand your comfort level and just do something awful. I wasn't trying to make music for money.Collection: Thinking
I couldn't write a political song. There's just opinion; it's all arbitrary anyway. It's all subjective.Collection: Song
I want to make something that's useful to someone, somewhere.Collection: Want
To me, craft work is the ultimate. Maybe I got this idea from the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, who was employed as a sculptor to the state and church, making coins and things. While he admired Michelangelo, he also made fun of his spiritual angst with art.Collection: Spiritual
I think I like singing when I'm singing live. It's just in the studio when it's a drag.Collection: Thinking
It doesn't mean that I'm overly enthusiastic about much music. Except the people that really touch me. It has to touch me, it has to grab a hold of me, I'm not looking for anything in particular.Collection: Mean
When you're playing festivals, you only get a half-hour. It's like a meat market. You don't get to be artistic. You don't get to play music. It's called a showcase for a reason.Collection: Play
I think I prefer singing in falsetto. I like the way it sounds. It doesn't sound like my natural voice. It sounds like a character.Collection: Character
I hate my voice. I've never been comfortable singing.Collection: Hate
Usually there's no specific reason for loneliness - it's a broad feeling.Collection: Loneliness
Loneliness is the most compelling force in the universe.Collection: Loneliness
I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's not paycheck at the end; it's more of a "whatever is left over" kind of situation. Also, it keeps me from thinking about my creativity as a business, which it is not. It should remain pure; that's one of the reasons I made music in the first place.Collection: Creativity
I miss working. It's real, you know? But I don't know anything but songwriting, and I don't even know that. I didn't go to school; the only thing I know how to do is this. The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.Collection: Real
I don't like the word "happy." I wouldn't want to use it that context. I enjoy writing songs, it's a really good challenge, it tickles me. It's a wonderful way to engage with your surroundings, through poetry and songs.Collection: Song
Beggars can't be choosers. We don't have all the money in the world. So anyone who wants to be in the band and be broke - that's their own death wish.Collection: Wish
Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best. To make it about the artist and to dwell upon biographical information can only make it singular, and I am really, really disgusted by that.Collection: Art