Glen Hansard Quotes

When I was a street performer, before I had any songs of my own that anybody would stop and put in money for, I would always be doing covers. Even with covers, people wouldn't stop in the beginning.

When I was little, I had concerts on the subway, and old ladies came up to me like, 'You are so good!'

Well, playing a guy who writes songs and busks on Grafton Street in Dublin and falls in love with Marketa Irglova wasn't very difficult for me. There was very little acting going on.

I sang on Church Street, every place that had a stage.

Actually I have been singing since I was a kid.

All the really good guitar players - Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, or even Bert Jansch or John Martin - I love all those people. But I didn't start out thinking that I would be a guitar player. In the beginning, I played the guitar so I could sing. I mainly concentrated on my voice.

I'm a complete and utter busker.

When I went to England on my own, I became a busker. I played guitar for money in Leicester Square. And the guys who are supposedly blind and crippled, who aren't, got me after I'd collected a lot of money, took my money and threatened to break my arm if I ever came back to their 'kip,' their turf.

I started writing songs, I guess, when I was about 13 or 14, but I didn't know if they were good enough yet or anything.

It's like freedom of speech - they can't tell you not to do it. When no one will put you on at a club or venue, you can go to the street, just start singing, and get a lot of good feedback from people as they walk by. I got really good at lip reading and seeing if a song is working. It was a good way to start.

I think I was 15 the first time I wrote a good song.

I was on the train; I did play, but I also played in bars, in the streets, at birthday parties for people who discovered me on the train.

I play instruments and stuff, but I can't rap or anything like that.

I play guitar; I can sing a little bit.

I've been singing since I was young.

I sang so many beautiful compositions, but 'Rockstar' was indeed magic.

I just wanted to eat, to survive. I started singing a cappella in bars. I saved up money to get my first guitar and started writing songs.

My first couple shows, I figured I should be playing the guitar and singing. That felt weird, but I got good at it pretty quick, and I learned my songs and how to play them.

Busking is the essence of what I do. It's made everything possible.

I've been singing since I was a little girl.

Without busking, there is no Fantastic Negrito.

I always had wished somebody else would sing my songs, but there wasn't anybody who knew them, so I sang them myself and eventually became a better singer and guitar player.

I guess I feel it's funny to be looked to for advice on writing when I am still taking in so much from other people.

I can put some chords together and maybe write a song, but I'm learning every day. And that's the fun part.

I felt like I was homeless anyway, so the change in environment wasn't that much of a big deal. I felt pretty much the same. After six months of living on the streets [in Camden], I started singing, busking.