Quote

There's always a tension between wanting to write a really concise, instant gratification type song that gets under your skin the first time you hear it, and wanting to really stretch out. I think it's a healthy tension.

Andrew Bird

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Andrew Bird
Age: 51
Born: 1973
Born: July 11
Fiddler
Film Editor
Guitarist
Jazz Musician
Musician
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Chicago
Illinois
Andrew Wegman Bird
Andrew W. Bird
Really
Type
Gratification
Always
Gets
Stretch
Time
Hear
Tension
Think
Song
Wanting
Thinking
Write
Instant
Firsts
Skin
First
Skins
Writing
Healthy
Concise

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I don't like to disappear between records. I like to play shows while I'm making the record.
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All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.
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I can't relate to the process of just disappearing and writing a record, all at the same time, followed by the sort of drudgery of going out on tour and trying to recreate the record, playing the same 12 songs every night.
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I've always found that whatever you say about indie rock, it is the most inclusive genre or title for anything. It doesn't pin you down too much, like other labels would. It's just newer, it has less baggage.
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With the words, a lot of things start with questions. Some word kind of piques my interest, and I love the way it sounds, but I really don't know what it means. And I honestly don't care for a while.
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Every time I get up in the morning, melodies occur to me and I start trying to shape lyrics to melodies.
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I just pay attention to what's in my head. That's my number-one rule.
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The melodies come out so strong that I'm like, Oh, crap. It's really better if they could both be kind of able to compromise, but the melodies, even more recently, they come out very fully cast and formed.
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When I'm onstage, I'm completely comfortable, and I feel very vital and alive.
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The way I work, I'm not a confessional singer-songwriter.
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The earth almost looks like it's packed down and dense from so many feet treading over it.
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The first notes I still play when I start a sound check are classical. Those are my roots.
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I create little challenges for myself, like, 'Okay, whatever you do in this song, you've got to somehow work in Greek Cypriots,' or something like that.
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I'm just trying to get my body in shape so that I can handle it. It's a very physically demanding thing. I've been doing it for 16 years, so I know what I'm going into now. I'm trying to stay calm and not panic.
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I've literally opened it up to suggestions and it's totally chaotic and kind of a bad idea. You don't need the actual feedback to get a sense. When you're showing a song for the first time, people can feel that newness.
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A day off after a show with no agenda in a foreign city is about the most fertile creative situation I can imagine. Just walking with nothing to do, killing time and hearing the sights and sounds of an unfamiliar place.
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There's kind of this unequaled thrill of playing a half-finished song, it's kind of sense of slight embarrassment like you're blushing. I like doing that. I did that with Eyeoneye and it was almost a curse on the song for a while I debuted it when it was half-finished in a very public way
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I am, in some sense, a writer. Even though I kinda downplay the word thing, I do enjoy writing sometimes.
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Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.
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Just don't let the human factor fail to be a factor at all
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