A Quote by Joanna Newsom

I have a recording that I did of instrumental songs. — © Joanna Newsom
I have a recording that I did of instrumental songs.
I dread naming pieces of music because being instrumental, most of the time the songs that I write are instrumental, I want the listener to make up their own story as to what it is and get the emotion pure without using logic.
It's hard to get a start as an instrumental guitar player. It's a much quicker route to be in a band, so I was always in a band and writing songs with singers, but I always had the dream in the back of my mind to make an instrumental record.
I would like to do one of Ilaiyaraaja's songs. After all, I did play drums for him and have watched him closely while composing, recording and performing. I would like to do an album of Mohammed Rafi's Hindi songs, too.
On 'Love Letters', I focused exclusively on songs with lyrics, creating a collection of songs that directly address heartbreak and its ensuing emotions in a way that instrumental music can only hint at.
We with Michael Jackson were in the studio recording some work on "Man in the Mirror" or the duet. I can't remember which it was. We did the duet in three languages: English, French and Spanish. So, I spent like a week with him in the studio doing the three songs in different languages. It was just an awesome experience recording with him.
On 'Heartbreaker,' I had to sing those songs. I drank the way I did those songs. I ate the way I did those songs. I communicated the way I did those songs. With 'Gold,' I was trying to prove something to myself. I wanted to invent a modern classic.
I do pay performance royalties on others' songs I perform live, but I'm not recording these songs and putting them up for sale.
'The Beatles' did whatever they wanted. They were a collection of influences adapted to songs they wanted to write. George Harrison was instrumental in bringing in Indian music. Paul McCartney was a huge Little Richard fan. John Lennon was into minimalist aggressive rock.
Writing songs, especially with the instrumental stuff, it's difficult.
I started recording because I was always complaining about the records that I was getting of my songs. At least if I did them and messed them up, I wouldn't have anyone else to blame.
I was working two landscaping jobs; I was recording songs in the spare bedroom. I would get up at 4 A.M., go to work, get back at 6 P.M., have nap, then start recording, just go until I fell asleep.
I actually have a lot of couples coming & telling me that one of my songs was instrumental in strengthening their romance.
The act of song writing and recording became one and the same to me; because I essentially recorded everything I did from the day I began trying to write songs. I've always had a lot to say. I'd always written poems.
I chose the songs for the music more than for the lyrical content and it wasn't until the end of the recording and when we were trying to decide running order that I realized how sad a lot of the songs could sound.
Here's some free advice; like the folkies of yore, you need to be not just a writer of songs, you need to be a lover of songs, a listener of songs and a collector of songs. If you hear a song in a club that knocks you out or you hear an old recording of a great song you never knew existed, it does not diminish you to record it; it actually exalts you because you have brought a great song from obscurity to the ear of the public.
I sequence during the entire recording process. The sequencing changes as I'm recording and as I'm listening. From when I'm, like, four songs in, I start trying to figure out which song should come after which. Which is important, and it changes as the album goes.
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