Songwriting is like editing. You write down all this stuff – all this bad, stupid stuff – and then you have to get rid of everything except the very best.
I don’t believe songs that try to say everything in a simple slogan.
For a long time, music was hope. Now it seems music isn’t enough to make me happy. It used to be that’s all I needed to keep going. Now I need other things to take up the other parts of my life.
I love ‘Crazy Horse,’ and Neil Young is one of my favorite guitar players.
The whole thing about rock music, pop music, is it’s really for kids.
I have many moods, and there is no objective reality. And I kind of live by that.
I feel some kind of duty to be really, really honest as a writer. The same is true of my songwriting.
A lot of my past is gone from my mind.
I like people wanting to know about me.
Every song brings back memories, like I remember where I wrote all these songs. ‘Universal Heartbeat’ was my apartment in New York City. ‘My Sister’ was at my apartment in Boston. I remember places and I remember what I was thinking when I wrote it.
My dad was depressed a lot of the time, and there were a lot of things in his life that he never resolved.
I’m able to see humor in a lot of things.
My growth as an artist and a person has been so slow and gradual, it’s hard to make a story out of it.
Writing helps me process things that are happening to me.
I’m pretty good with languages. I know a bit of French and actually want to live in France some day so that I can get fluent. I think it’d be tragic to go through life only knowing one language.
I love playing in front of people. I feel powerful, ’cause I don’t have to really say anything – I’m just singing.
Motivation is just this potion to create stuff, a compulsion to express the truth of my own experiences in this life.
I’ve finally learned to love my voice for its uniqueness.
Music is so hard. It’s a struggle to get people to care. It’s hard to make an impact in today’s world because people aren’t buying records anymore.
Popular culture is filled with girls.
In this world, where everything happens so fast, it’s hard to sit back, take the time and contemplate.