160 Lyric Quotes

Following is our list of lyric quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about good song lyric.

Famous Lyric Quotes

The country is lyric, the town dramatic. When mingled, they make the most perfect musical drama. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

When you know the lyrics to a tune, you have some kind of insight as to it's composition. — Dexter Gordon

Words are what make the song. I get a personal vision about what the lyrics are about. — Julie Andrews

If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z. — Talib Kweli

I'm really big into lyrics in my own songs, so I look up to Drake in that aspect. — Jake Paul

I'm not a lyric writer to make statements. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics, creating colorful images. I think that's more what entertainment and music should be. — Chris Cornell

You're like the lyrics to my favorite song. You stick with me all day long. And when I reach the end I wanna hear it again. — TobyMac

Its a combination of melody and lyrics, not one without the other. Its a confluence of these different elements that makes something powerful. — Michael Bolton

Lyric writing is an interesting process in Sonic Youth. There's three people writing now, and we've all had a lot of interest and involvement with expression through words — Thurston Moore

Are you tired of lyrical liars, passing fliers, Wannabe MC's, but really good triers, Tripping over mic cords, getting you bored, A total fraud, this kind of thing I can't afford! — KRS-One

Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. — Hans Christian Andersen

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought. — Yip Harburg

Poetic justice, poetic justice.. if I told you that a flower bloom in a dark room would you trust it. I mean I write poems in these songs. — Kendrick Lamar

I write the lyrics based on what is going on in my life - I'm not going to write about the old hair metal stuff, like castles and stuff. — Oliver Sykes

I've always written songs that were confessional, acoustic, wordy - my writing style matches my personality. The music always has to match the mouth it comes out of. — Camila Cabello

Short Lyric Quotes

• Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Lennon lyric explained on Quora — John Lennon
• When you're happy you enjoy the music, but when you're sad you understand the lyrics. — Frank Ocean
• And gentle winds and waters near, make music to the lonely ear. — Lord Byron
• I have a high art, I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me. — Archilochus
• Hands, touching hands, reaching out, touching me, touching you. — Neil Diamond
• If I had only one friend left, i'd want it to be you. — Paul Overstreet
• I hope that one or two immortal lyrics will come out of all this tumbling around. — Louise Bogan
• I have so much of you in my heart. — John Keats
• Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough. — A. E. Housman
• Music's staying power is a function of how timeless the lyrics, song and production are. — Gary Wright

Lyric Image Quotes

Country Lyric Quotes

I grew up with all kinds ofmusic, but my heart was particularly drawn to Country Music because of the guitar playing, the lyrics and of artists like Steve Warner and Vince Gill. — Bryan White

I'm not crazy about country-western music. But the lyrics are good. "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy" is pretty clever. — Alice Cooper

If you go into the eastern bloc countries we are huge, and in Russia. Maybe there is something about the depressing nature of our music and lyrics that some people find an affinity with. — Martin Gore

In country music the lyric is important and the melodies get a little more complex all the time, and you hear marvelous new singers who are interested in writing and interpreting a lyric and in all form of popular music. — Dinah Shore

I felt a kinship with country music, because country has lyrics that tell stories — Desmond Child

I've also been writing for other artists, producing other artists, doing some country stuff. Those lyrics I tend to leave more universal. — Meredith Brooks

The melody seems to have gone to the country. The country music seems to still have melody and interesting lyrics. But pop music, you've got to really listen hard to somebody who's doing a good melody and a good lyric. — Barry Manilow

The Ploughmen is part inspired fever-dream, part adventure story, a lyric parable of not just goodand evil but of the vast and beautiful and often lonely country in-between. Kim Zupan is a wonder. — Rick Bass

Only two to three per cent of an audience is interested in words and pays attention to lyrics; most of the rest of it is about image or the beat or the sound, or else it's a tribal thing - country & western, rap, heavy metal, with historical folk rock off in some kind of cult. — Al Stewart

As the writer of the lyric of the song 'God's Country,' I am outraged by the suggestion that somehow I am connected with, believe in, or am sympathetic with Communist or totalitarian philosophy. — Yip Harburg

Good Song Lyric Quotes

A good song is a nice set of chords and some good lyrics; a great song is a song that reinvents itself over time. That you can always find something interesting in the more you listen to it - it keeps revealing something to you. — Bryce Dessner

Musically, there's probably nothing better than, after spending weeks or months of grinding on a lyric or a song, when you play a good song from beginning to end for the first time - there's a moment there where all the pain and suffering is worth it. — Five for Fighting

Here are some funny songs, there are some songs that we didn't even remember. I heard this song that Ringo is singing, I still don't know the title of it, but it is got the most amazing lyrics and it's a quite a good production. And quite a good tun — George Harrison

I find in my poetry and prose the rhythms and imagery of the best - I mean, when I'm at my best - of the good Southern black preachers. The lyricism of the spirituals and the directness of gospel songs and the mystery of blues are in my music or in my poetry and prose, or I missed everything. — Maya Angelou

I'm a composer, and therefore I know when I've written a good tune. When you've written a good song is when you know that the lyric is completely coalesced with the song. — Andrew Lloyd Webber

That song "Futuro" was written by Quique Rangel, the bassist. I wouldn't know how to explain the song, but each would have to give their own interpretation. If the lyrics generate that message for you, then that's good. — Ruben Isaac Albarran Ortega

I think we need to sort of broaden our definition of poetry, which maybe it's a good thing that they just gave this Nobel Prize to [Bob] Dylan because blurring the lines of song lyrics and also hip-hop for me is like some of the greatest uses - most innovative uses of language in my lifetime. — Jim Jarmusch

A lot of people listening to music now don't listen to the songs or lyrics at all. They just go, "Good tones..." and that's it. — Alex Scally

A good song is like a mannequin - its form makes sense, but there's no life. There should be memorable melody, thoughtful lyric, appropriate arrangement. — Greta Salpeter

I would say a great song [is where] you like everything in the song. The lyrics move you, the beat makes you want to dance and you feel invincible when you listen to that song. A good song I think you can listen to but you get tired of it really fast. — Aino Jawo

Lyricism Quotes

The only music minister to whom the Lord will say, 'Well done, thy good and faithful servant,' is the one whose life proves what their lyrics are saying, and to whom music is the least important part of their life. Glorifying the only worthy One has to be a minister's most important goal! — Keith Green

Sometimes I need to reject the music proposed for my songs because the musicians misunderstand that the Fanny Crosby who once wrote for the people in the saloons has merely changed the lyrics. Oh my no. The church must never sing it's songs to the melodies of the world. — Fanny Crosby

All my lyrics are open to interpretation by the individual and imply many different meanings, therefore their relevance is purely subjective. — Ian Curtis

You were the one who made things different, you were the one who took me in. You were the one thing I could count on, above all, you were my friend. — Tom Petty

I was babysitting the night High School Musical premiered last year. I watched with the kids and we sang along to the lyrics. I was making $12 an hour. — Monique Coleman

It was about working with other musicians, but more than that it's about exploring musical areas that you could never do with the band you're in, in my case Judas Priest. You could tackle musical areas and lyrical areas that wouldn't be appropriate for Priest. — Glenn Tipton

All classes of people under social pressure are permeated with a common experience; they are emotionally welded as others cannot be. With them, even ordinary living has epic depth and lyric intensity, and this, their material handicap, is their spiritual advantage. — Alain LeRoy Locke

When you write a song, most of the words you use are in black and white, and then, from time to time, you use one that’s in color. These words in color are a part of ourselves, because we give them a meaning. If you like, we give them a third dimension. — Jacques Brel

But, Eminem... No, I've loved rap for a long time, especially when it got out of its first period and became this gangsta rap, ya know this heavy rap thing? That's when I started to fall in love with it. I loved the lyrics. I loved the beat. — Alan Vega

Once there was a darkness, a deep and endless night, you gave me everything you had and oh, you gave me light — Sarah McLachlan

Music And Lyrics Quotes

Fleetwood Mac were really accessible musically, but lyrically and emotionally, we weren't so easy. And it was our music that helped us survive. But all of us were in pieces personally. — Mick Fleetwood

My music is basically all about witty punchlines and lyric progression that is aimed to make you laugh or say "Woah." — Mike Stud

If conversation was the lyrics, laughter was the music, making time spent together a melody that could be replayed over and over without getting stale. — Nicholas Sparks

A film just doesn't involve actors, a director and a producer, there is also the cameraman, the sound engineer, the music composer, the lyric writer. So many people come together to make a film. When we all feel satisfied with the film that we have created it's a win for all of us. — Aamir Khan

Most people think its sex, money, and drugs but Hip-Hop is about lyrics, storytelling, and everybody having a different style. That's just another idea of beautiful, being yourself and creating music that represents you and what you like. — Rapsody

Rock 'n roll smells phony and false. It is sung, played and written for the most part by cretinous goons and by means of its almost imbecilic reiteration and sly, lewd, in plain fact, dirty lyrics ... manages to be the martial music of every side-burned delinquent on the face of the earth. — Frank Sinatra

As I have continued to make music and progress as an artist, I think I am steadily getting better at expanding my lyrical content and defining who I am as an artist. — Mike Stud

It means rock'n'roll in the sack. It means sex: the lyrics, the beat of it, the thunderous feeling through your body. Before the word groupie even existed I knew that I wanted to share myself with someone who created that music and turned me on in every kind of way. — Pamela Des Barres

I've programmed myself musically to come up with love-feeling tracks that are romantic, sexy, but classy, all in one. And that's the challenge. Once I create that music, then the lyrical content starts to come - you know, the stories and things like that. — R. Kelly

'White Rabbit' was mostly done in about two days, the music in about half an hour. The music is a 'Bolero' rip-off and the lyrics a rearrangement of 'Alice in Wonderland.' You take two spectacular hits and throw them together, and it's hard to miss. — Grace Slick

Song Lyric Quotes

When I wrote a song, it would have to be from something I was really excited about, or a melody that's been haunting me for weeks, or a message I wanted to convey lyrically. So it would have to start from something I felt very strongly about. — Brendon Urie

Chelsea Morning is a great Joni Mitchell song and I guess I'm partial to her lyrics because they show me a slightly different perspective on life. — Neil Diamond

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song. — John Mellencamp

We human beings are tuned such that we crave great melody and great lyrics. And if somebody writes a great song, it's timeless that we as humans are going to feel something for that and there's going to be a real appreciation. — Art Garfunkel

We recorded Star Climbing over a three-year period between our studios, working on songs and lyrics until we felt like we had found the albums direction. It is our most distinctive album to date, combining all our different tastes and styles into one. — Stuart Price

We all love to sing along with our favorite songs. We sing in the car, in the shower, and at the karaoke bar. The problem is that half the time we don't know what we're singing. We're making up lyrics as we go along and hoping no one will notice. — Shawn Amos

As a musician and a guitar player, I can noodle as well as anybody. But from my background as a session musician, I always try to play what is called for by the lyric and listening to the song. As a writer, that's what I do, too. — Richie Sambora

I'm always thinking about songs, I'm thinking of life maybe a little bit more lyrically than a computer programmer or someone like that. — Jon Foreman

Whether it's a letter, song lyrics, part of a novel, or instructions on how to fix a kitchen sink, it's writing. You keep your craft honed, you acquire the discipline to finish things. You turn into a self-taskmaster. — Jimmy Buffett

But I always loved songs with great lyrics. — Johnny Rivers

Lyric Poetry Quotes

Will you love me in December as you do in May, Will you love me in the good old fashioned way? When my hair has all turned gray, Will you kiss me then and say, That you love me in December as you do in May? — Jimmy Walker

There's a fierce practicality and empiricism which the whole imaginative, lyrical aspect of poetry comes from. — David Whyte

A lyric, it is true, is the expression of personal emotion, but then so is all poetry, and to suppose that there are several kinds of poetry, differing from each other in essence, is to be deceived by wholly artificial divisions which have no real being. — John Drinkwater

This proves that great lyric poetry can die, be reborn, die again, but will always remain one of the most outstanding creations of the human soul. — Eugenio Montale

Poetry is a lyrical insinuation. Often, its melodic subtlety kisses the subconscious mind. — Masiela Lusha

Music straightjackets a poem and prevents it from breathing on its own, whereas it liberates a lyric. Poetry doesn't need music; lyrics do. — Stephen Sondheim

In fact, in lyric poetry, truthfulness becomes recognizable as a ring of truth within the medium itself. — Seamus Heaney

I am convinced that the first lyric poem was written at night, and that the moon was witness to the event and that the event was witness to the moon. For me, the moon has always been the very embodiment of lyric poetry. — Mary Ruefle

I think it was T.S. Eliot who talked about good poetry being felt before it’s understood. I believe that. There are some bands where I love their lyrics but I don’t have a clue what they’re on about. — Marcus Mumford

Most songs have bridges in them, to distract listeners from the main verses of a song so they don't get bored. My songs don't have a lot of bridges because lyric poetry never had them. — Bob Dylan

Good Lyric Quotes

I think it need realness, you should speak on thing that you know about, that you being from, that you experienced or that you been around, you know. I think you need a good hook, good beats and good lyrics. — Obie Trice

What I believe is really good in the so-called documentary approach to photography is the addition of lyricism.[this quality] is usually produced unconsciously and even unintentionally and accidentally by the cameraman. — Walker Evans

A man who is not touched by the earthy lyricism of hot pastrami, the pungent fantasy of corned beef, pickles, frankfurters, the great lusty impertinence of good mustard is a man of stone and without heart. — Herb Gardner

People don't really care about lyrics anymore. It's kinda really sad, like they'll listen to something musically and has a really cool beat down or something, that's great, that's good enough; but the message is the most important thing. — Roger Miret

For me the music is a vehicle for my lyrics. It's a chance to get some really good words across. — Joe Strummer

A good idea for lyrics and a melody to expand on. — Gordon Waller

Since I didn't spend a great amount of time on writing the lyrics, some people would argue that they're too vague or simplistic, but I think it's kind of good. I wouldn't say they're all stream of consciousness, but they're not necessarily overwrought. — Jack Tatum

A good example of a lyric that makes me laugh but might not hit anybody right away is, "Sit behind the guitar and play the chords," just because it's such a lame image. It's not rock'n'roll at all to be sitting behind a guitar. — Tim Heidecker

I'm a lyric soprano. I can try to step outside that and do different kind of singing, but it's not something I can sustain over the long haul, and what is good for your voice is good for your career. — Victoria Clark

I'm as good as anybody out there lyrically and conceptually and can go toe to toe with the best of them throughout history. — Coolio

Lyrical Quotes

I said Yo Jay, I can rap. And I spit this rap that said I'm killin' ya'll *****s on this lyrical sh*t, mayonnaise colored benz, I push miracle whips. — Kanye West

I did try to come back and listen You never it..I didn't wish it But I did hear every answer ever question It's all about protection stil through the sunlight days I wait Track a ghost through the fog The sun is burning me And you come running out in the wind with me The ocean is your blanket. — Stevie Nicks

It's funny how the littlest things can make you feel larger than life; the right lyric, the most heartfelt melody, the clearest message. Love. — Alex Gaskarth

When I'm lost in the rain, In your eyes I know I'll find the light to light my way And when I'm scared, losing ground When my world is going crazy You can turn it all around and when I'm down you're there Pushing me to the top You're always there, giving me all you've got — Christina Aguilera

Every now and then we find a special friend, who never lets us down, who understands it all, reaches out each time you fall, you're the best friend that I've found. — Jordan Hill

If skills sold truth be told I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli Truthfully I want to rhyme like Common Sense (But I did five Mil) I ain't been rhyming like Common since. — Jay-Z

Shay sometimes talked in a mysterious way, like she was quoting the lyrics of some band no one else listened to. — Scott Westerfeld

Angels in America' - which is composed of two three-hour plays, 'Millennium Approaches' and 'Perestroika' - proved to be a watershed drama, the most lyrical and ambitious augury of an era since Tennessee Williams's 'The Glass Menagerie. — John Lahr

Death left its old tragic heaven and became the lyrical core of man: his invisible truth, his visible secret. — Michel Foucault

Just to prove i was right that it's harder to be friends than lovers and you shouldn't try and mix the two, cause if you do and then you're still unhappy, then you know that the problem is you. — Liz Phair

Great Lyric Quotes

The lyricism of marginality may find inspiration in the image of the outlaw, the great social nomad, who prowls on the confines of a docile, frightened order. — Michel Foucault

Sometimes, the best songs are the ones you write without any pen and paper or audio recording device or guitar in your hands. Because there's nothing between you and the melody; it's just a great lyric. — Jon Foreman

The video forum for me has been a source of great consternation because once you start projecting a look to a song, it robs the listener of their ability to adopt that song and make the lyric their own. — Sheryl Crow

I create my own lyrics. I have a great band. I have a drummer from East Berlin. — Nina Hagen

I think maybe since there isn't a great deal of access to the mainstream media and people don't understand the language of mainstream media, if you put music out there with lyrics that are loosely political, people absorb some of it and spit it back out. — Thom Yorke

Mozart combines serenity, melancholy, and tragic intensity into one great lyric improvisation. Over it all hovers the greater spirit that is Mozart's - the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering - a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages. — Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics are very different. There is a clear line between that and a poem. Something that has been a source of great excitement and delight for me is this idea that I get to rhyme. — Joanna Newsom

Music is also one of the great heart openers. Sometimes, you hear the lyrics of a song and you dance, laugh, smile, or perhaps even cry. — Michael Franti

Something taken off the page can sound great, I guess. Usually it doesn't. It seems like lately Pitchfork is trying to champion lyric writers more. — Stephen Malkmus

I'm a songwriter. So I'm OK. But when I wrote "Stand By Me" as a song and to know that the song will probably be here for hundred and hundreds of years to come, it's great, you know. And it was just simple lyrics. — Ben E. King

People Writing About Lyric

Name	Quotes	Likes
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow quotes on love	699	7457
Dexter Gordon quotes on love, life and leadership	17	198
Julie Andrews quotes on life, music	120	875
Talib Kweli quotes on leadership, palestine and love	158	1080
Jake Paul quotes on sports, leadership and life	95	1
Chris Cornell quotes on death, life and love	63	1125

More Lyric Quotes

Caught like a leaf in the wind Lookin' for a friend Where can you turn Whisper the words of a prayer and you'll find Him there Arms open wide, love in His eyes Jesus - He meets you where you are Jesus - He heals your secret scars All the love you're looking for is Jesus The friend of a wounded heart — Wayne Watson

Well a good writer writes, a good musician listens to a lot more than he actually composes, and if you're going to do lyrics - well, there's a Freudian slip. That's not even a slip, that's a Freudian move: I said going to do lyrics. If you really want it to ring true, you'll live it first. Go really get your heart broken! — David Lee Roth

Lyric night of the lingering Indian Summer, Shadowy fields that are scentless but full of singing, Never a bird, but the passionless chant of insects, Ceaseless, insistent. The grasshopper's horn, and far-off, high in the maples, The wheel of a locust leisurely grinding the silence Under a moon waning and worn, broken, Tired with summer. — Sara Teasdale

In Conclusion

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