Singer-songwriters Quotes

You always have to work to become a better singer, songwriter and performer.

You've got to care about the music...You'd better not be doing it for the publicity, the fame or the money. And you'd sure better not be doing it because it's a way to make a living, 'cause that ain't always going to be easy. You got to believe it, believe in the music. You got to mean it.

It's my responsibility as a singer-songwriter to report the news.

People don't run out of dreams - people just run out of time.

I just hold it down for my side, I just hold it down for my set. I just give everybody a piece of this and make do with what's left.

I would like to see every single soldier on every single side, just take off your helmet, unbuckle your kit, lay down your rifle, and set down at the side of some shady lane, and say, nope, I aint a gonna kill nobody. Plenty of rich folks wants to fight. Give them the guns.

There is a fun, flippant side to me, of course. But I would much rather be known as the Ice Queen.

Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain

The most valuable lessons in life cannot be taught, they must be experienced.

I'm always looking for overlooked post-Dylan singer-songwriter records from the '70s.

Destiny has a lot to do with it, but so do you. You have to persevere, you have to insist.

I'm almost a black singer. And without the backbeat, it's singer/songwriter. There's a definite choice to be made there, every time. And I love the sex of singing with a beat; I like the sexiness of it. I think it's really where I'm from.

I do a lot of things hopin I never had to fit in, so tryin to keep up with my progress is like a dead end.

As human beings we suffer from an innate tendency to jump to conclusions; to judge people too quickly and to pronounce them failures or heroes without due consideration of the actual facts and ideals of the period.

We need to have music that contributes to the well-being of the spirit. Music that cradles people's lives and makes things a little easier. That's what I try to do, and what I want to do. You don't want to close the door on hope.

I go to a very visual place when I'm singing. It's very cinematic and I get this feeling of space. I love when music does that.

When I listen to my favorite songwriters, they have such simple melodies and chords. I occasionally manage to stop at the right time, but all too often I keep on going until I have way too many notes and words. But that's just what I do.

The trip had become boring. It wasn't exciting anymore to totally be a singer/songwriter because it wasn't working for me.

Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple

There are certain emotions in your body that not even your best friend can sympathize with, but you will find the right film or the right book, and it will understand you.

I've had mentors who were kind of the troubadour singer-songwriters, like Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and that's just what I've always liked - people who would talk real honestly about their lives and their circumstance.

I need a soul mate so that I can be who I am, naked. I want there to be someone who picks up my heavy, bleeding heart and takes it somewhere safe and warm.

Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary? When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything.

Measure yourself by your best moments, not by your worst. We are too prone to judge ourselves by our moments of despondency and depression.

Sometimes the best moment to sing a victory song is in the middle of your battle.

Drink up cause everyone here is good tonight. Except the niggas that I came wit, they good for life

You can't say you're happy either. You don't even smile for me.

When you're happy you enjoy the music, but when you're sad you understand the lyrics.

Nina Simone was a gifted and prolific singer, songwriter and pianist who became a powerful presence in the civil rights movement and paid a professional price for it. Behind the scenes, she struggled in a fractious, sometimes violent relationship with her husband and manager and with mental health issues that strained other relationships, including with her only daughter.

Then it evolved into more of a ballad style singer/songwriter thing. And there was a conflict in trying to merge the two styles with the same band behind me. 'Cause the musicians that I would need to do ballad-oriented tunes would require musicians who were more into jazz.

Thank you so much for breaking my heart because you got me four Grammys.

Create a vision that makes you wanna jump out of bed in the morning.

One of my rules is: Never TRY to do anything. Just do it.

Truth is everybody is going to hurt you: you just gotta find the ones worth suffering for.

I have a condition called Aspergers Syndrome, which is like a mild form of autism It means I don't interact properly in certain social situations.

I am the author of my life. Unfortunately, I am writing in pen and can’t erase my mistakes.

I'm sure I would have been considered a more significant artist if I was a singer-songwriter. It's just not the way I roll. I love being a curator and a musicologist. People write me letters and thank me for turning them on to Fred McDowell and Sippie Wallace, and that's partly my job this time around.

I've been close friends with Katy since teenagers, before she was Katy Perry. She's always been a great resource for me to pull from and watch - from her choice of how public she wants to be about her personal life on down. I also watched her develop from the coffee-house singer-songwriter I knew to her be to playing arenas and killing it.

I have been a provoker and I'll probably always be one in the public arena for the rest of my life.

Mad cause he aint like me... Oh you mad cause nobody ever did it like me.

There's no such thing as perfect people. There's no such thing as a perfect life. So come as you are, broken and scarred. Lift up your heart and be amazed and be changed by a perfect God.

Like I say, I'm always writing and if something sticks, it sticks. I get to write with great songwriters in town. Lori McKenna is one of my all-time favorite singer-songwriters who's ever walked the planet. I get to write with her. The Warren Brothers are friends of mine and I write with them all the time. Lance Miller is a great songwriter. Tom Douglas - you can't get any better than that. I write a lot of stuff but it's got to stick.

There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are.

I think one thing you could probably say for all my albums is that they're all pretty eclectic pop. There's always a little bit of urban influence, some dance, a little bit of country, singer-songwriter, pop-rock. I like everything! On every album you can find that.

It may not be the most popular but there is a place for it. I think about the kind of music I love, acoustic, melodic, and I guess it kind of took a bit of courage on my part to think I could be one of those songwriters.

I've made three studio albums and one live one with my brother. It's melodic singer-songwriter acoustic-rock music.

We all got dreams and we all star reaching

A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn't.

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are

Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.