Conor Oberst Quotes

It's been an objective of mine since I started writing songs to include both intellect and energy.

If you're somebody who writes songs or writes fiction, a writer that people pay for your opinion in any way, you shouldn't be the least bit uncomfortable giving it to them. People want songwriters to tell them how they think and how they feel. That's what a song is. That's what I want to hear in a song.

I admired Mary's work very much. From the time someone gave me 'The Liars' Club,' I immediately went into a world where I grew up. And I remember, when I finished the book, I actually thought, 'You know what, I need to write songs with her.'

There's a lot for screenwriters to steal from songwriters, in terms of getting to the point.

Composers, like authors, have a lot in common. Our main goal is to connect with the listener emotionally.

I started as a songwriter and wanted to be like Leonard Cohen. I've always seen my stories as enlarged songs.

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 think the thing that has made it possible for me to write personal songs and sing them year after year is the sensibility for good writing. Just opening your veins all over the paper is not necessarily going to be interesting. I wanted to speak to people.

I always try to write a song, I never just want to write a record.

As a songwriter, I'm not necessarily writing about myself or my life.

There's a few times in the past when I wrote a song, and I put the words together, and they were very clear pictures, and I felt like I was putting together a really good story. But I don't think I was ever really able to stay on that. What I've sort of developed lyrically is more about the sound of the vocals and what they are.

What I've learned over the years is that the craft of songwriting is trying to take the personal and make it universal - or in the case of telling a story, taking the universal and making it personal.

The songs sort of come out spontaneously and it'll take me awhile to figure out what exactly is happening lyrically, what kind of story I'm telling. Then I start building little bridges - word bridges - to make everything go from one point to the next point to the next point until it reaches the end.

'Pain' is more indicative of what I like to do. I'm lyric-conscious. I like to tell stories, give advice. Instead of writing a 'Dear Abby' column, I do it on records.

It doesn't bother me when people try to deconstruct my songs - because at least they're looking at the lyrics, and paying attention to the way the story is told.

Music is closer to poetry than anything.

As a songwriter, we're looking for a good story, and we're always looking to push the limits.

My goal is to write catchy songs that make people feel something.

When I write a song, I want to write something that is really catchy and says something that might actually touch somebody.

Every song has a bouquet, which is the music. If you can put words with something that is really apt, then you've done it.

Once we start hitting lyrical themes that can whack you from all these different perspectives, we know we're onto something special.

Throughout my career as a songwriter, I've had a knack for writing songs that were about me and my life experiences and observations.

I try to make all my songs good. I don't ever write one to finish one. A lot of protest songs end up that way, driven by some kind of emotional response.

Depth on different levels is so important to me. You look at a band like The Beatles, all their material has so much depth to it. And I want people to be able to run away with my melodies and get lost in them and take the lyrics and be able to relate to them.

It's always interesting - how do you actually convey thought through song? We're used to the convention on stage. In film, we used to be used to it, and now sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. You need to be fresh and really look at the material.