Tom Petty Quotes

I mean Gorilla was really our first sort of goes at songwriting.

Then a friend of Jim's suggested we make a theme song to explain the story, and this is where the Mads came from. Josh and I wrote it into the theme song.

Sometimes I have a melody in my head; sometimes it's just a verse. I read lines from a book or movies that I watch and grab a few quotes and start writing on paper. From there, I record a really rough version and work on the song.

I hear a good song and I start thinking, 'Oh shoot. You know there's a story that can be told to this,' and whatnot.

I started writing my own songs from the time I was a little kid. I would write my own lyrics to other people's songs that I heard on the radio and take whatever song and make it about fairies and angels - whatever little girls sing about.

When I was writing 'Shotgun,' it's one of the first songs that's come to me as an image.

Yes, basically, like you said, I'll work out a chord pattern and work out the lyrics over that.

As a songwriter, you try your best to write a good song, and you like nothing better than hearing a good song. It's easy to admire a great song, and you want to share out of enthusiasm.

Usually, my rhymes are just in my head. I start off with a theme, and once I start rapping and writing and singing, the chorus and all that, it just starts flowing. Then it's done in about an hour! I write a lot of songs.

I used to live with J.D. Souther, and I would watch him write. He's be sitting, he'd say something, and then he'd write it down. That's craft.

I've written probably over 200 songs that have a verse and a chorus and that's it.

Every song I've ever written always starts with the words because I want the music to be the musical extension of the feelings of the words, and not the words being the emotional extension of the feeling of the music.

I'd never written a song before 'The Blood'; I didn't know it was going to be a song.

I've always written poetry and lyrics. My first husband, who was a musician, we wrote a bunch of songs together.

Keeping the pen out of your hand as much as possible is the best way to write a song, in my estimation. But the pen must come in to tighten it up.

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

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

I don't have any particular methodology, to tell you the truth. 'Silver Blue' took exactly the amount of time to write that it takes to sing it, and 'Prisoner in Disguise' took about a year and a half. So you just never know.

The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me.

I really love writing themes and melody.

I built a studio in L.A. for me and my brother to just write every single day. And it's been great, man.

I've been writing songs since I was a little boy. You know, I think I wrote my first song when I was 11.

Usually when I write a song, I'll write the music and then kind of fit some words to it.

I started writing songs when I was eight.

A lot of '2112' was written in the back seat of a car and in cold dressing rooms while on tour in northern Ontario.