Instant Creation Quotes

It doesn't necessarily take four years to write a good piece of music. It might take four hours. It just depends on when your inspiration comes.

All of the best songs happen on a whim.

When I go back to seek inspiration - whether it be from Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, the Beatles, Hank Williams, Ray Charles or Bob Dylan - it's from the performance. Those artists are in the studio playing their instrument and singing. There's no going back and redoing the vocals.

One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.

I pick up my pen. It flows. A building appears. There it is. There is nothing more to say.

Composing is improvisation slowed down.

There is only one true thing: Instantly paint what you see.

Any time is the time to make a poem.

As soon as I have the idea, I need to create as quickly as possible, because it's what's going on in society, and that's what connects me to my audience.

All my songs are based on personal experience, and 'Lost Without You' came out fully born.

A picture that is beautiful, or that comes off, or that works, looks as if it was all made at one stroke.

Umm... my favourite Wizkid tune of all time would be 'Don't Dull' 'cos I recorded the track in, like, 5 minutes. The beat was ready, we went into the studio and freestyled, and it was ready. The song became really, really big, so I think 'Don't Dull' is still my favourite.

The only character I ever remember actually creating in a flash of inspiration was George Liquor. God planted that in my head in an instant.

These rough sketches, which are born in an instant in the heat of inspiration, express the idea of their author in a few strokes, while on the other hand too much effort and diligence sometimes saps the vitality and powers of those who never know when to leave off.

We actually form the world at every instant, although we're not cognitively aware of that but - and there are people would argue with that to some degree.

I don't want to write the song that I wrote yesterday, and I don't want to write the song I'm going to write tomorrow; I only write the music I'm writing now.

A lot of artists use memories. A lot of prose writers, a lot of poets, a lot of songwriters, refer back to something. Generally it's all you've got, unless you're brilliant and can write totally in the now.

With 'Carousel' I had an idea and it all came out quickly.

To write a book about improvisation is partly a contradiction in terms. Improvisation is spontaneous. It's in the moment.

Most of my comedy writing happens through improvisation on stage; doing it in the moment. Going up with an idea and fleshing it out over time on stage and in front of people until it becomes a full bit.

At Second City and improvising at iO, you're creating a character in an instant. All of a sudden, you're creating this history and this past for your character, and you're discovering it while you're doing it, and that's part of the fun of it.