Billy Eckstine Quotes

We were never a frivolous band; we prided ourselves on having something to say, and I think that's what gives your songs longevity.

I like the pop music, but I still want to have meaning in my music.

I was always more interested in story songs, things with a point of view... and things that informed me.

What I keep searching for in movies, more and more, is the right gravity.

It's amazing that you can listen to any song and you can always tell when there's some substance beneath it and when there isn't. Even if it's poetically written and technically brilliant, I'd rather hear something that's all over the place but has some soul to it.

I don't want to sing boring pop songs - I want to sing songs that are meaningful to me.

When you write a song, the goal is not to convey the details of your life. You should write a memoir or something if that's what you're going to do.

Lyrics are kind of the whole thing; it's the message. Something might have a beautiful melody but if it's not the truth coming out of your mouth, it's not appealing.

What I've learned over the years is that the craft of songwriting is trying to take the personal and make it universal - or in the case of telling a story, taking the universal and making it personal.

It's not my concern to make a commercial pop record. I want to make a record of music that I would listen to, that is lyrically rich and has songs that people can relate to - more along the Jakob Dylan route: people who create for the art of it and not necessarily the monetary rewards of it.

I like poems you can tack all over with a hammer and there are no hollow places.

I've always loved the blues, ever since I was a kid. It has a depth to it that a lot of contemporary music doesn't have. It has pain and suffering in it, but funny stories, too. And it is built on storytelling, which is something I really love.

It's good for me to pull away from something that is just done for effect, which was basically Sue White in 'Green Wing.' In that, it was very much: if in trouble, gurn, or fall down. There was no character background to Sue. You didn't know who she was. She didn't have any toehold in any kind of reality.

The words of the songs speak for themselves.

I love songs that tell stories. They make you feel something, something real.

I love flawed characters, male or female, and I only want to talk about flawed characters, really, in what I do.

People are consuming more than ever, but I think they want a bit of honesty and depth. Adele, Gotye, Janelle Monae - they're giving you a catchy song, but it's also a challenging song at the same time.

I'm not interested in going and doing a big, action-adventure romp with nothing to say about being a human being.

I want something that's going to linger and stay with me and give me something to think about and chew over. That's the real objective here; it creates something that doesn't feel disposable.

The audience will show up if you have authenticity. Like 'Moonlight,' there was stuff in there that is so specific to that community where the filmmakers grew up. Even if I don't understand everything they're talking about, I will love it if I feel that it's real.

I'm not about sound bites. I'm about substance.

You're only reduced to a cliche if you don't humanize a character.

Of course, I write. I have stories to tell. But I don't want to do superficial stuff any more.

I've always written songs that were confessional, acoustic, wordy - my writing style matches my personality. The music always has to match the mouth it comes out of.

We did want to stand for something, not just cute girls with cute concepts. Everything we talk about has meaning behind it.