Leonard Cohen Quotes

My songwriting process, and maybe loads of other people's, is just this sort of smashing together of emotions and stuff to make some music. It's kind of simple and really complex at the same time and, as you can see, incredibly hard to explain.

Other artists, they write 13 songs, and hopefully one or two of them are successful singles. And the other 11, for the most part, are filler.

My task with 'Uh-Huh' was to make a more even record and get away from juvenile topics like 'Hurts So Good.' But I also knew if I wanted to continue, I had to have more hits.

I live in L.A., and whenever I get together with anybody to write, everybody is obsessed and fearful and wants to write a hit for everyone else. They wanna write a hit for Rihanna; they wanna write a hit for Katy Perry.

I don't want another 'It Wasn't Me.' I've been asked that question so many times. Do I want a song of that magnitude? Great, always, but not the same type of music.

The success of 'Take Me To Church,' I never imagined it. I never imagined that it would work on radio, that it would find its way onto the charts, even at home and certainly not in America.

I really wanted a No. 1 single from my first album, but I would not do anything different. It was real and honest and I didn't pretend anything.

Songwriting is such a personal thing and it's hard to be in a room with somebody you don't know and trust.

Songwriting as an art is a bit archaic now. Just writing a song is not good enough.

I could write all songs all day long about what I think about the music industry or music in general. Sometimes I gotta be like, "Let's write about something else." You don't want to say the same thing over and over again. In a lot of ways, I look at records as a year or two of my life encapsulated in songs. They're almost like journal entries.

There's definitely been some songs in the past that we've put out, and it was purely us going, 'Okay, we think radio will play this. We think this will be a hit. This will be big for the show,' and all this stuff. But it's like, do you really believe in it?

I have to write pretty songs; that's what gets them on the charts.

I love telling a story through song. It helps me take it to a deeper place.

I'm not concerned at all to have a number one song or a top 10 or top 50 or top whatever.

All musicians should write poetry or at least read it if they want to improve their game. Except for people who believe lyrics don't matter.

For songs to be big, I don't think there's a certain formula to it.

The end game is always a hit song.

I just want to make good music, and as long as I'm happy with it, the charting isn't that important to me. Although, the best feeling is having a song you're very happy with and also having it at Number One!

If you look at the big rock hits I've had - 'High on Emotion,' for example - the songs I write have to have a real meaning. There has to be depth.

I never have a clear goal or a theme when it comes to writing an album.

I just want to get to that point where I'm able to fully create music that's good lyrically and quality-wise as far as the way it's knocking and everything.

With a lot of pop music, they just have one song and a good beat, but there's not necessarily that much talent.

I think some sing-songwriter music can just be very serious - after an hour and a half of it, you are exhausted - so I try and give it light and shade.

I like to make glamorously informed songs for glamorously intelligent people.

I don't know how it is for people who write fiction or literature, but for me, when I'm writing music, especially with this album, I felt compelled to hold up my end of the conversation. I want people to connect deeper with it.