Poetic Lyrics Quotes

The first set of lyrics for the first songs I ever wrote, which are the ones on 'Pretty Hate Machine,' came from private journal entries that I realized I was writing in lyric form.

When it comes to 'Maruvaarthai,' I have said many a time that Carnatic music drives my creative influence. In that sense, Darbuka Siva gave me a lot of room to breathe with the melody. The instrumental, however, was grounded. The lyrics is just poetic, and phonetically, they sound beautiful.

Bob Dylan enabled rock & roll to grow up and survive. He injected the power of language and ideas into the music.

Definitely I grew up listening to Joni Mitchell, and I think she is a wonderful writer, so she is probably part of me.

When I discovered Gil Scott-Heron, I discovered a musical hero, a man who spoke baritone truth to power over jazzy funk at a time when funky music was primarily about shake, shake, shaking your booty.

I'll never be Bob Dylan. He's the master.

As I got older, I really got into Tupac's poetry, his books and just learning about his life and what he was into.

Sometimes, for me, lyrics are derived from poems that I'm working on, and they kind of cross back and forth between the two.

I've always been amused by [Bob] Dylan; I don't think he's been amused by me.

I think I'm the oldest new Bob Dylan around. I predate Bruce Springsteen, Steve Forbat and John Prine. I was probably the first of the new Bob Dylans.

Leonard Cohen and Nick Cave know best. Although I wear a lot of jeans, I've been told that Nick Cave doesn't own a pair and wouldn't be caught dead in denim.

I think opera has gained a kind of glamorous appeal. It's a live performance that aligns all of the arts, and when it is represented in the media, in film in particular, it is presented as something that is really a special event, whether it's a great date or something that's just hugely romantic.

When I was first introduced to the music of Jacques Brel, I was totally floored. I had never heard anything as intelligent or sexy or angry as his music.

When I first got to Motown, Smokey was already a fixture there. To me, he is one of the greatest songwriters and poets, so anything they ask me to do for Smokey is going to get a yes.

I'd always loved poetry and I'd always loved writing music and composing music, but I hadn't thought of putting the two together until around that time.

I had nothing but respect for Pac.

The Smiths hasn't been equaled. That goes for the composition of the songs, the lyrics, and the performance.

Tupac is huge; he's an inspiration. Arguably, he's probably the biggest, most analyzed and loved artist of all time.

These three elements are called Qawwali, and they've got to be there.

I saw rock n' roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen.

It must have been when I was 14 or 15 that I started tentatively writing songs and was able to convey an emotion and a lyric with what I wanted to say.

I love 2Pac, the cadences of 2Pac.

I can't do that wonderful thing that Tom Waits and Bob Dylan do - to do imagery. I'm not good at that. I just write from the heart.

I really appreciate Frank Ocean's lyrical style, I appreciate the way that he can kind of draw you into this personal space, but it's still lyrical. It's almost poetic, in a way, but it's very personal at the same time.

Much as my Boomer friends will hate me for saying this, Kanye West is the New Dylan. Not only do Kanye's best lyrics match Dylan's prescience, highly inventive word-play and genius for storytelling, his indefatigable cockiness eerily channels Muhammad Ali.