Adrian Belew Quotes

There's many, many ways to write a song. But generally, sitting down at a table and writing is not one of them.

With songs I almost see the images, see the action, and then all I have to do is describe it. It's almost like watching a scene from a film, and that's what I go about trying to catch in a song.

I try to imagine what the greatest song I could ever write would sound like, and then try to do it.

There are rhythmic ideas which sometimes only work up to a point. In writing there are moments when it just comes off the page, it's not just a collection of notes.

No, no, the songs write themselves, almost.

I have to have a guitar sitting around. I sing in the shower. I sing around the house. The music comes secondary. The lyrics come first.

I started as a songwriter and wanted to be like Leonard Cohen. I've always seen my stories as enlarged songs.

I sit down and create atmospheres, start playing guitar or piano and just sing whatever comes out of my mouth.

When I graduated high school, I bought a guitar and, at first, didn't really think I'd get into the songwriting thing as much as I did. But after learning a few songs of other people's to play on the guitar, I got bored with that and just started writing songs on my own, and that's kinda how it came about.

Every day you can write a song but some days there is just some magic in the air and something special about the catch; other days you write all day on a song line or idea.

I keep this crazy notebook of song ideas.

The first time I tried to write was when I was 14, after I got an electric guitar. I put a song together, and it wasn't that bad! The writing came natural to me.

Ultimately, I'm a fan of music. I describe writing music sometimes as hieroglyphics, like, you know, excavating, gently brushing off these artifacts and discovering the song underneath it all. It seems as if it is already written in it.

It's about the stories. If I write 14 stories that I love, then the next step is to get the environment of music around it to best envelop the story, and all kinds of sonic goodness - sonic goodies.

I'm always writing; my phone is full of ideas - melodies and lyrics and stuff.

I don't get my inspiration from a specific source. It's more like if you listen to a good tune, it gives me inspiration to write a better tune.

Some people start with the lyrics first because they know what they want to talk about and they just write a whole bunch of lyrical ideas, but for me the music tells me what to talk about.

Sometimes I'll come up with a lick that I really love, and I'll try to put the right words to it for years. Suddenly something comes to me that works just right.

And then when I found my sound, it took me two and a half weeks to find my sound and when I did I pulled out all the stops, all the stops I could find.

Music comes to me more readily than words.

I write lyrics based on music, on a musical flow, and what sounds good at the time.

I wouldn't sit down and work at writing a song like a novelist or something.

I like making sounds and putting it together, I'm not just a singer or a producer.

I love music. I love creating, so I just get inspired with whatever mood I'm in. Whatever the story dictates, that's where my mind goes.

I'm not one of those guys who can just take a guitar into a room and come out with a song. I need all my instruments dotted around.