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without hearing any of the other guys. Mine was really emotional, and Bill's was totally the opposite, cool and low-
key. They really worked together. That's the kind of thing that keeps it from being too processed – that let's you
know it's not being machined to death, that there are human beings doing it. (1992)
Peter Buck (R.E.M.)
[On 'Country Feedback'] We didn't have a song. I walked in and I had four chords. I put them down with Bill playing
bass. I put the feedback on it. John Keane put the pedal steel on it. Michael walked in and said, "Oh, I've got words
for that." The next day he just sang it. The total recording time, not including the mix, was, like, 35 minutes. It's
really nice if you can get it to flow like that.
Bruce Springsteen
The only trick to writing a new song is you have to have a new idea. And to have a new idea, you've got to be a bit
of a new person, so that's where the challenge is. (1987)
The writing is more difficult now. On this album [Born To Run], I started slowly to find out who I am and where I
wanted to be. It was like coming out of the shadow of various influences and trying to be me. You have to let out
more of yourself all the time. You strip off the first layer, then the second, then the third. It gets harder because it
gets more personal. (1975)
Neil Young
I try not to think about the songs that I write, I just try to write them. And I try not to edit them... I know there's a
source where music comes through you and words come through you, and editing is really something you do to
something that you've thought about. I think some of the things I write are mine, but I think some just come through
me. My mind is working behind the scenes and puts these things together without me consciously thinking of it, and
then when the time is right it all comes out. (1985)
I've written most of my best songs driving on a long journey, scribbling lyrics on cigarette packs while steering.
(1990)
Bob Dylan
I just wanted a song to sing, and there came a point where I couldn't sing anything. So I had to write what I wanted
to sing 'cause nobody else was writing what I wanted. I couldn't find it anywhere. If I could, I probably would never
have started writing. (1984)
Since the late 1960s, maybe since Sgt. Pepper on, everybody started to spend more of their time in the studio,
actually making up songs and building them in the studio. I've done a little bit of that, but I'd rather have some kind
of song before I get there. It just seems to work out better that way. (1985)
Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys)
I think that 'Good Vibrations' was a contribution in that it was a pocket symphony.... It was a series of intricate
harmonies and mood changes. We used a cello for the first time in rock'n'roll, so I think in that respect it was an
innovation. (1976) When I've thought out a theme I go to the piano and sit playing "feels", which are rhythm patterns
and fragments of ideas. Then the song starts to blossom and become a real thing. (1966)
Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
When I write a song, the lyrics are the least important thing. I can go through two