Songwriting Journey Quotes

I didn't write songs for a very long time.

Oh, God. Mate, I've written about 800 songs, and that's no exaggeration!

The first song I ever wrote was when I was 12, and it had, like, four lines in it. You progress and get better.

My songwriting process, and maybe loads of other people's, is just this sort of smashing together of emotions and stuff to make some music. It's kind of simple and really complex at the same time and, as you can see, incredibly hard to explain.

I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could.

I think after a long tour and after an album, your brain feels like it wants to relax, but at the same time, making music for me is something that comes kind of naturally. Just like a brain process.

You can't manufacture inspiration, so a lot of it is still a waiting game for me. There's still a lot of mystery to songwriting. I don't have a method that I can go back to - they either come or they don't.

I'm always trying to find myself little holes where I can do some songwriting.

The songwriting process is different on every record because you're never coming from the same place when you're writing.

When I'm writing songs, my favourite thing to do is to try and rabbit-trail and go places I've never gone to before. Just like exploring a new terrain or a new country or something.

When I'm in a songwriting phase, it's a phase. I don't just suddenly feel inspired and then write a song, because I always write with a co-writer.

Sometimes when you're writing a song and that song comes into your head, it definitely comes from somewhere, like a real experience.

When I started The Shins, it really was just me, alone, but it was still The Shins. I was totally recording stuff and writing songs as The Shins and all of that. So the beginning inception of the whole thing was some sort of a lie, I guess.

I've been adjusting to what it means to be a songwriter, figuring out what I like about it and what I don't like about it and what it means to me as opposed to other people.

It's hard not to go back and look at my songwriting catalog and go, 'Look, there are 600 to 700 songs here.'

I stand firm behind the belief that, for me, songwriting isn't something that I do or command, it happens to me. I can either choose to stop and acknowledge it, or put it off and hope that it won't fade away. 'That Wasn't Me' is no exception - it came together more quickly than any other song I have ever constructed on my own.

When I became a songwriter, it was out of some sort of desperation. I needed to create something. I had to latch on to something, and the guitar was what I grabbed.

My songwriting, when I'm writing, is nothing like it is in its finished form - but you have to start somewhere.

The art of songwriting is just stumbling your way to something really special, and you don't know what you're going to write until you are writing it. There is no formula. And, sometimes, you really have to work at it and hunker down.

On my first album some of the songs were written when I was 14 or 15 so your life experience means you change, but my style is similar.

And that's what got me to the piano, that's what got me up in the morning: a blank piece of paper and a hope to have something by the end of the day.

I found songwriting really hard at first, but after a while it was actually very easy. I wrote about everyday stuff.

Once I'd become a songwriter, it just stays with you. You always want to write more songs because it's such a great feeling.

It all comes together. It's - that's the way it's always worked for me with songwriting.

When you find a song that you love, you just have to do it - why would I try to match it? When I wrote more of the songs in the '90s - 'Nick of Time' and other songs I was surprised I came up with - it was because nobody else was saying what I wanted to say.