Glen Hansard Quotes

We spent night after night out there learning the art of entertaining a crowd.

When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.

For me, something will come in my head and I'll either end up calling my cell phone to record it, or I'll just pick my guitar up and see what comes out. Sometimes it sucks, sometimes it doesn't. So there's really no set method behind it.

No, no, the songs write themselves, almost.

I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.

Typically I go in the studio and whatever I'm contemplating that day will wind up being a song. I don't come in with lyrics... I just go in and let it happen.

I will always do stand-up, even if my acting career takes off. Stand-up is my life.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

I probably wrote three-quarters of the songs without an instrument in my hands.

I tried several times to get the song right. The tune and the chords that I started with, there really wasn't anywhere else it could go. I stopped fighting it and let it take me away.

The first time I learned how to play, my guitar was out of tune. I didn't know it; I just started writing songs.

I don't think about the styles. I write whatever comes out and I use whatever kind of instrumentation works for those songs.

I didn't really know what I was doing when I started. I just started writing songs. After two songs I just continued to explore it.

I keep a guitar around while writing and will improvise music. I do this for several reasons, such as that it's fun, and sometimes it helps me with the meter.

I think my voice worked out fine, but it was a lot of work for me. And I was very self-conscious about it. I was a bit self-conscious about writing lyrics too.

When I start writing, I'll have a vague concept or I'll just have a title, and the song just goes on its own direction. Usually it goes in many directions within each song. They get really convoluted sometimes.

If I try to write a song, I will completely fail to write a song. But if I'm just holding my guitar and I just start humming, then I'll have a song in an hour.

I have a lyric journal that I write in a lot. When I'm going to play, I just sit down and have my books with me and my notes and tapes and whatever I need to refer to. I just play and try different things. It's a kind of discipline.

When I'm not on T.V. or working on a movie, I'm on the road doing stand-up. That's my roots.

I'd stand on the side of the road when I was just a little girl singing on trash cans.

There's a relationship between music and spirituality and inspiration and to a certain extent improvisation that draws me in, because I don't totally understand it. I know that those relationships have been telling me, since I started making records, where to go. What to write down.

Some people compose their thoughts in front of a typewriter but I find that I am better at composing my thoughts in front of an audience.

Doing my Broadway show '700 Sundays' reminded me how much I love working in front of an audience.

I remember, when I first rapped, I was writing raps. I don't write raps at all; I stopped early. I don't know - it seems like every day I find something a little bit easier.

My music is born from instinct. I react to situations a script may provide while creating a song.