Quote

I've always had levity in my songs, so I like to turn things over, twist them around, and make fun of myself.

Andrew Bird

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Turn
Turns
Song
Around
Levity
Make
Twist
Always
Twists
Things
Songs
Like
Fun

More quotes by Andrew Bird

Image
I've never approached classical music in a formal way, ever. I couldn't read very well. I'd have to play every piece and internalize it, almost as if I had written it myself.
Andrew Bird
Image
It's like you don't know you're making a record unless you're half-killing yourself.
Andrew Bird
Image
Music as a social conduit has always been important to me.
Andrew Bird
Image
I think life is a wondrous thing. I'm happy to try pretty hard.
Andrew Bird
Image
The first splurge of creativity is kind of free, and the last 30 percent is painstakingly hard work, but it's good to light a fire and make it public and create that expectation. It's become part of the writing process, really, a way to ask the audience what they think, how they think it's going. I can't write songs in a vacuum.
Andrew Bird
Image
The instrumental record is a bit subtler. It's the kind of stuff on sound check, when I first pick up my violin and start to play, the kind of melodies that just pour out of me. Some of them sound very classical. Some of them sound experimental, polyrhythmic loops that I make.
Andrew Bird
Image
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.
Andrew Bird
Image
I think any songwriter or record, no matter how good it is, can become tedious if it's the same person's point of view. After four tracks, you start to get worn down no matter how good it is. It can be relentlessly good, but it's still going to wear you out.
Andrew Bird
Image
Every time I get up in the morning, melodies occur to me and I start trying to shape lyrics to melodies.
Andrew Bird
Image
What's cool about indie rock is that one band can do effectively the same thing as another band, and one band nails it, and the other one doesn't. I like that elusiveness.
Andrew Bird
Image
You can build up expectations for a song before you record it, and then it's like nothing's good enough in the studio.
Andrew Bird
Image
I finished touring the last record and I started recording new .I never really left the bubble, which is I think a good thing. I was just very focused. Maybe I should have taken a break or something, and not done such a long push.
Andrew Bird
Image
A good espresso to me is a little bit salty you just become used to a good taste. Anytime I go into a new place and they don't clean their machine properly or the water temperature isn't right, it tastes awful.
Andrew Bird
Image
If you take a little time, let's say three weeks off, after recording a song, and you listen to it every other day, you're just going to know eventually.
Andrew Bird
Image
Some of my earlier songs are kind of more about mental illness.
Andrew Bird
Image
I write a lot more when I'm happy, because you're hopeful, you're motivated.
Andrew Bird
Image
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.
Andrew Bird
Image
No, it's not dissatisfaction that inspires me to tinker with my songs, it's just restlessness.
Andrew Bird
Image
It's not set in stone. I like to keep it rolling and changing, and so I am like, Great, I get to remake my song.
Andrew Bird
Image
I'm coming from a place that's more experimental and indulgent already, so for the last 10 years, it's been more like, How can I defend my own sensibilities by writing a nugget of a little catchy pop song? That's how I'm stretching myself, by writing something really simple.
Andrew Bird