P. J. Harvey Quotes

Popular music usually has a chorus that needs to repeat, and people need to remember the song. That's sort of the major guideline when you're writing a song.

You can say things a million times, but if you can't sing it, then it really isn't much of a song.

Melody is king, and don't you ever forget it. Lyrics appear to be out front, but they're not; they're just an accompanying factor. If they're good, you're really in good shape. Lyrics are written to be rewritten.

Music is creation. In reggae the lyric, the music itself, arrangement, that vibe, such melody - everything within the music moves the people, understand?

I am moved more by melodies, song structure, and evocative textures.

People say it's a bit repetitive to say, 'Oh oh oh oh oh oh,' but you can't translate the melody into words.

I'd say almost that words come first, melody second.

Our songs all carry the same way.

Lyrics is the face of any song. The combination of composition, lyrics and singing is what makes a song a song.

When I learning to write songs, I never really was interested in the chorus.

People think the chorus is the hard part in 'Take on Me,' but they're wrong. The hard part was making the verses bounce.

I'm definitely trying to make songs that people can sing along to and remember. If you can recognize a chorus and leave with it in your head, it's usually a good sign. But then with the verses, I can get a little more free form. I don't really like to copy and paste things.

Basically, I'm a melodic writer.

It doesn't really matter what chords I play, what words I say or time of day it is, as it's only a Northern Song.

Writing dialogue is like writing a song, which I've done.

Sing!" Grandpa Smedry yelled, his voice echoing down a hallway to the right."Sing!" If he breaks into song I think I might have to strangle myself... I thought, cringing.

I don't think people care about the mechanics of songwriting.

A bad song, the three best singers in the world cannot save it, and that's the bottom line.

It's different obviously with a song when you're talking about narrative, you're talking about the verse leading into the chorus or whatever it is, but you have to have a sensibility of how something would flow either way.

I knew a lot of chords, but they weren't the chords that came with the melody that came with the idea I had for the song. Melodies are simple things. If you see a train wreck, there's a melody. If you see a little daisy blowing in the breeze, there's a melody.

I am a moderately good singer. I am not a great singer but I can interpret a song, which I don't think is quite the same as singing it.

As a songwriter, your songs are, in a way, like your children - you want them to be appreciated.

If I was talking about making a song special, I probably meant getting the lyrics and arrangement together, or getting some instrument that's going to tie the whole thing together. That can take months, or it can happen really fast.

A different drumbeat or some vocal overdub could completely transform the song.

All you gotta do is think of the song in your head. And it doesn't matter whether you can play it or not, you can get somebody to play it. With songs I've written, there's a song called "The Statue", which I can't play. There are songs that I've written that I've actually just hummed on - there's a song on one of the albums they have there on the Internet called "My Love Was True" and it's almost operatic. I can't play it. But I can sing it.