Rudy Vallee Quotes

If you listen to the great Beatle records, the earliest ones where the lyrics are incredibly simple. Why are they still beautiful? Well, they're beautifully sung, beautifully played, and the mathematics in them is elegant. They retain their elegance.

I'm inspired by artists like Robyn, just because she writes amazing pop songs, and they're not throwaway. When I listen to a Robyn pop song, I don't feel like she's just kind of saying something and not thinking; I feel like it's really emotional.

I like the pop music, but I still want to have meaning in my music.

I think MTV put a huge dent in the songwriting craft.

I've covered so much Tom Waits. He's one of my favorite writers. I have a real affinity to how he writes.

If I'm not crying while writing a song, I'm not doing it right.

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.

And I'm not trying to write heavy songs.

Songs like Reach and S Club Party are pop classics. I'm really proud that I had a part in them.

Like, when I write a song, the song comes first before production. Everything is written on an acoustic guitar so you can strip away everything from it and have it be equally as entertaining and good without the bells and whistles.

I like Patti Smith's lyrics, and sometimes think I could be influenced by them. But she has a kind of cool that's beyond me.

I'm not proud of the lyrics to 'Shake It Up.'

But, in fairness to them, too, the popular song per se is really a pretty shallow medium to perform in.

The biggest influence? I've had several at different times - but the biggest for me was Bob Dylan, who was a guy that came along when I was twelve or thirteen and just changed all the rules about what it meant to write songs.

I don't own an ABBA album, and I never had the urge to go and buy one. If you're just talking about well crafted pop songs, they were fantastic.

Lyrics have become so dumbed down nowadays. People don't want to have to think about lyrics anymore, they just want to be told something. Until these great things started happening with us, I'd really given up on reaching people like that.

Somebody asked my friend Bob Seger, Why do you think the Eagles broke up? He said, Hotel California.

I am very into lyrics. I start with what the words are saying, what the storyline is saying, like a good script. It should really capture me, do something for me. If I don't get it, it's not going to move people, and if it's not going to move people, it's not going to happen.

To me, the lyrics of the song define the kind of style it is.

But in the finished art of the song the use of words has no connection with the use of words in poetry.

I'm definitely still putting effort into my lyrics, for them to be emotional and tell a story.

That's what is so great about being able to record a 13-song album. You can do a very eclectic group of songs. You do have some almost pop songs in there, but you do have your traditional country, story songs. You have your ballads, your happy songs, your sad songs, your love songs, and your feisty songs.

A song that sounds simple is just not that easy to write. One of the objectives of this record was to try and write melodies that continue to resonate.

People are consuming more than ever, but I think they want a bit of honesty and depth. Adele, Gotye, Janelle Monae - they're giving you a catchy song, but it's also a challenging song at the same time.

I always wrote poetry and stuff like that, so putting songs together wasn't that spectacular.