Gil Scott-Heron Quotes

I don't know where my songs come from... If I knew, I'd know too much, more than we are allowed on this plane.

The Holy Ghost was working through me on this film, and I was just direction traffic.

You know, even I have had work or ideas come through me from a source that I honestly cannot identify. And what is that thing? And how are we to relate to it in a way that will not make us lose our minds, but, in fact, might actually keep us sane?

I always pray when I write songs that my spirit guides, or whoever is with me, inspiring me, would let me speak the truth.

I'm not in control of my muse. My muse does all the work.

The spiritual writing of the song is where you're chosen as a vehicle, and it comes from something up above. You don't move; it writes itself. It's very spooky, but that's happened to me just a few times.

I'm never really conscious of what I'm being influenced by when I'm writing.

When we seek daily spiritual guidance, we are guided toward the next step forward for our art. Sometimes the step is very small. Sometimes the step is, "Wait. Not now." Sometimes the step is, "Work on something else for a while." When we are open to Divine Guidance, we will receive it. It will come to us as the hunch, the inkling, the itch. It will come to us as timely conversations with others. It will come to us in many ways--but it will come.

But God has a few of us to whom he whispers in the ear; The rest may reason and welcome; 'tis we musicians know.

Sometimes you do know where the ideas are coming from and sometimes you don't. You might get a song coming through that you just don't know about.

What happens a lot with songwriting is that a melody or rhythm or something stays with you like catching a cold. And during that time what happens is that I can then fit things on to it, it all fits and glues together. Sometimes it's crazy cos it can almost be anything. But if you catch the cold then the nonsense makes sense. It's like you're getting beamed it, like with a ouija board and something's pushing your hand. It's not a pleasant experience necessarily.

I really admire songwriters or any kind of writer, painter or artist that says, "I'm going to get up at 8 o'clock in the morning and spend this time to this time creating." I do that sometimes, but the songs I like the best come as gifts from somewhere. It's almost like you didn't do anything, like you can't take credit for it because you sat down and the melody and words came out.

What is The Subconscious to every other man, in its creative aspect becomes, for writers, The Muse.

The muse appears at the point in my writing when I sense a subtle shift, a nudge to move over, and everything cracks open, the writing is freed, the lanuage is full, resources are plentiful, ideas pour forth, and to be frank, some of these ideas surprise me. It seems as thought the universe is my friend and is helping me write, its hand over mine.

I wake up in the morning, or the middle of the night when an idea comes through. My songwriting style, basically I just write down information given to me from the muse and how that works for songwriters. Record the muse and the muse delivers.

My collaborations tend to be pretty organic. It starts off with me being a fan first.

I've learnt that the muse is like an angry girlfriend. If she comes knocking you better be home because if you're not, she doesn't leave a note saying pick up after 3 P. M. from the post office. The gift she had is gone forever.

The feeling that you want the listener to get, you should get yourself when you first hit that chord, and that melody comes to mind.

Songs do write themselves through you; I know people find it hard to believe, but it's true.

I let the images crowd my mind before I start writing a script.

My influences happen at more of a subconscious level, I don't dig too deep into that or analyze it myself.

It's really hard for me to finish a song unless I have a strong visual in my head while I'm writing it.

Your brain forms a story and, if you're lucky, there's a line where the story takes over the brain. You don't even know what you have.

I quietly work with my computer on the tour bus, and then I wait to make my more natural rhythms when I get home.

The creative union of the conscious with the unconscious is what one usually calls 'inspiration.'