We were the ones that from the beginning said that 'Wide Open Spaces' was a hit. 'This is a hit, people are going to relate to it.'
I did 'We Can't Stop' for Rihanna, but it never worked. Every time I would play 'We Can't Stop' I was like 'this is the new 'Party in the U.S.A.'' I was like OK if I keep saying this is the new 'Party in the U.S.A.,' why don't I go to the girl who did 'Party in the U.S.A.?'
Sometimes, I make 50 songs and pick out the best 10. I've been in the studio all day, all night, making the beat, writing the raps. You never know what's gonna be a hit.
Things began to pick up for me record-wise when in 1971 I wrote 'She's a Lady' for Tom Jones.
The very first big one I had was 'Turn Around and Look At Me.'
I had no idea 'Big Green Tractor' was going to be as big a hit as it was. You just can't predict those things.
I think that every song has to be like it could be the biggest hit of my album.
I really want to make a great record, like my 'Rumours' or 'Thriller.'
The success of 'Take Me To Church,' I never imagined it. I never imagined that it would work on radio, that it would find its way onto the charts, even at home and certainly not in America.
I'd love to have a hit record. I don't believe anyone that says they wouldn't like that.
I was invited to L.A. when I was 16 for a weekend-long songwriting session by a writer I had met through my voice teacher in Pittsburgh. My first hit, 'Hide Away,' was one of the songs written during those sessions. It was played for a radio rep who then started a new label; the song got a pretty organic start at radio and then took off.
You better believe I'm not a pop star.
It's like, on my solo stuff, every single person who buys the record, gets it. On the other stuff, the masses... when you have a hit on the radio, not everyone's going to get it. They are going to buy it for the hit.
In 1983 I'd had a number one. I'd sold 6 million copies of Total Eclipse Of The Heart all over the world.
I am extremely thrilled that my superhit single 'La la la,' composed by the talented Bilal Saeed, will be a part of the film 'Baazaar.' The song is a hit with the youth, and it always feels nice that the work you do is appreciated globally.
That's going to be on my headstone: 'He came. He wrote 'In the Air Tonight.' He... died.'
I've always wanted to have one of those hits on the radio, but we haven't really been able to crack that code.
I think 'Rather Be' is an amazingly written pop song with incredible production.
I have to write pretty songs; that's what gets them on the charts.
I haven't had a big hit record in America since 1987.
I wrote 'Don't Stop' just like I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks' - I didn't try to make either a hit. I just wanted to write a song I liked.
'Fool If You Think It's Over' is still the only song I've ever not played guitar on, but it just so happened to be my first single, and it just so happened to be a massive hit. It was in the U.S. Top 10 for seven weeks.
If you can't handle the responsibility of a hit single, don't write one.
Nobody had any idea that 'If You Could Read My Mind' would become a hit single.
I've never written a song that I thought was a hit.
