 I also used to work in the Catskill Mountains as a bus boy, and I performed in talent shows. |
| It's amazing how a competitive nature can turn a negative into something positive. |
| If I waited for inspiration every time I sat down to write a song I probably would be a plumber today. |
| If we were the team that won out, then life was good and we felt that we were worth something. |
| One other thing, if it's possible, as songwriters, you should also develop yourself as record producers. |
| A guitar riff played on a piano doesn't come close to the purity of it being played on a guitar but I faked it enough to get by. |
| You're going to have more rejection than acceptance. |
| There's so much fear involved in trying to do something you don't know how to do that drugs and alcohol can become a big part of your life if you have an addictive personality or are very unsure, which most songwriters are. |
| The real danger of writing a great song when you're on something is that it might get you thinking that the only way to repeat that is by only writing when you're high. |
| You've got to really be able to accept the rejection. |
| I quit college. I was studying architecture for about a year. |
| We've written something like 900 songs in all. |
| It's very important, at least for me and for Cynthia, to get outside input. |
| I get a different kind of lyric from someone else that might make me go in a different musical direction. |
| We became the songs we wrote. |
| I think that most writers who wait until they're inspired to write are just waiting for the fear to subside. |
| Cynthia's lyrics always expressed the feelings people felt but they couldn't express themselves. |
| You can get stale writing with each other for a while. |
| You have to be very brave in that first writing session. |
| I looked through our catalog year by year, and I saw that there were pockets of time when we wrote some terrific songs. Then all of a sudden, we'd go for another two or three months and there weren't great songs. |
