Ed Sheeran Quotes

I listened to a lot of Bob Dylan songs to see how he works. I've gotten into writing story-songs.

Bob Dylan is as influential as any artist that there has been.

When I think of folk music, I think of topical songs. And I don't write topical songs.

Bob Dylan is out of the mentorship of Allen Ginsberg.

Songwriting is just like any other kind of writing - it's either fiction or nonfiction. You can even get into philosophy and politics, which I've done on occasion.

Growing up, I listened to a lot of American singer/songwriters, so a lot of Tom Waits, Paul Simon - also Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. And bands like Vampire Weekend.

I was writing poetry, and the Mountain Goats was an outgrowth of that.

I can remember back as far as age 8, performing with the Boston Folk Song Society. It was a Woody Guthrie song.

I think I'm the oldest new Bob Dylan around. I predate Bruce Springsteen, Steve Forbat and John Prine. I was probably the first of the new Bob Dylans.

Bob Dylan and John Lennon and Bruce Springsteen, these are soul guys. Bruce Springsteen might not sing like Otis Redding, but he sings with white soul. He's singing and he's writing songs from the bottom of his gut.

You know, Leonard Cohen is amazing, just a mastermind, and really one of the great geniuses of our time.

Listen to the Bee Gees and you can learn to be a great writer.

I like singing all songs, really, but I find that writing social commentary comes naturally.

Bob Dylan was the source of pop music's unpredictability in the Sixties. Never as big a record-seller as commonly imagined, his importance was first aesthetic and social, and then as an influence.

I just fell into the Dylanesque idea of recording. He is real fast.

I think for writers who write that kind of stuff, they want to make changes. Look at Kris Kristofferson and Dylan. I mean, whole generations come along liking that stuff and that's great.

As a songwriter, oddly enough, my influences were people like Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, and Buddy Holly. Some psychedelic stuff, too.

One of the things that I think is such a constant in country music is that the song is so much a story. I believe it is supposed to be based around a story.

I've had mentors who were kind of the troubadour singer-songwriters, like Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan and Neil Young, and that's just what I've always liked - people who would talk real honestly about their lives and their circumstance.

My love was Bob Dylan, but as I got older I realized a good ballad was a good ballad.

I'm not that kind of Bob Dylan, tortured creative.

I do write a lot of folky songs naturally.

Country music's really good about telling a story, so I want songs that tell good stories where people can say, 'That happened to me!'

I stopped writing fiction the moment I started writing songs, and I miss it.

I always love listening to Bob Dylan. 'Blood on the Tracks' is one of my favorite albums.