Mandy Patinkin Quotes

I fell into lyric writing because of music. I backed into it.

I find it harder to write the lyrics afterwards because then you're just trying to fit them into something that's already there.

I always write lyrics first and the rhythm and the melody come from the lyrics. It always comes from the lyrics: words have rhythm and words have melody.

On the first two albums, I essentially began with lyrics and placed the music underneath or around the words.

I write my music.

But then you have to write a song, so at that point, I picked up the reins and started to write lyrics.

I would start seeing, in just the sense I was saying now, the kind of record it was going to be and what the arrangement demands, and what my vocal part should be in the record. This was all emerging as the song was emerging.

I don't write poetry and then strum some chords and then fit the words on top of the chords.

There's two facets to writing a song. There's you sitting in your room writing the sentiments of the song; the lyrics, the melody and the changes, and then there's the part where you go into the studio and you put clothing on it.

I was never a 'sit down with a notepad and write lyrics' kind of person.

For Stevie, the words are of prime importance; the song moves around the words, rather than the words moving around the song.

I really wanted to work hard on my lyrics.

I always wrote poetry and stuff like that, so putting songs together wasn't that spectacular.

I'd always loved poetry and I'd always loved writing music and composing music, but I hadn't thought of putting the two together until around that time.

I don't really love to perform in music. Some people like it more, but it's not my thing so much, but just the writing, when you get the lyric, and the lyric just goes just the right way, or you find the right bridge that takes you to the solo, and those moments are tremendous, and it's difficult to portray.

I always start with writing vocal melodies before writing lyrics.

I write lyrics based on music, on a musical flow, and what sounds good at the time.

You work very hard on the lyrics. Getting them to fit the contours of improvised melodies.

I am hoping to improve my writing and rapping, as well as get a better grasp on how to make beats and music that complements what I do vocally. It's a learning process that hopefully won't end.

If there's a track that's rhyme friendly, the verse will basically write itself. If the track is less rhyme friendly, you have to put forth a little more effort to get the song out.

When I'm recording, I usually just mumble and hum a melody and then fill the words in as I go.

I guess I started writing poetry and stuff and then decided to set it to music.

In my opinion, lyrics are a paramount factor and will always be.

I don't really write. I'm an on-the-spot type of person. This beat, let's listen to it; let's vibe. And then I'll do a melody, and then we'll go back and do it.

I write all my own music, everything.