160 Lyricism Quotes

Following is our list of lyricism quotations and slogans full of insightful wisdom and perspective about lyricism definition.

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Famous Lyricism Quotes

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

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

As poetry is the harmony of words, so music is that of notes; and as poetry is a rise above prose and oratory, so is music the exaltation of poetry. — Henry Purcell

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

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

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation. - Robert Fitzgerald

Poetry is at least an elegance and at most a revelation. — Robert Fitzgerald

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

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

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

Poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty in words. — Edgar Allan Poe

Poetry teaches us music, metaphor, condensation and specificity. - Walter Mosley

Poetry teaches us music, metaphor, condensation and specificity. — Walter Mosley

Music is the soul of language. - Max Heindel

Music is the soul of language. — Max Heindel

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

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits. - Carl Sandburg

Poetry is the synthesis of hyacinths and biscuits. — Carl Sandburg

music is not technique and melody, but the meaning of life itself, infinitely sorrowful and unbearably beautiful. — Pearl S. Buck

Short Lyricism Quotes

  • Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans. Lennon lyric explained on QuoraJohn 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
  • Life is like a beautiful melody, only the lyrics are messed up. — Hans Christian Andersen
  • 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
  • If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z. — Talib Kweli
  • 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

Lyricism Image Quotes

Lyricism quote Music is my life, but the lyrics tell you my stories
Music is my life, but the lyrics tell you my stories

Lyricism In Poetry Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

I didn't come in and say: "I'm a singer." I came into the band as a second guitar player and a vocalist, but not the songwriter. I had been writing poetry for years, so I sort of had the nature of the words. I felt like no one else could sing my lyrics, so I took a crack at it. — Paul Banks

He passes from lyric to epic poetry in order to speak about the world and the torment in the world through man, rationally and emotionally. The poet then becomes a danger. — Salvatore Quasimodo

We have certain rules for traditional lyric poetry in Korea. I twist my body, confused by what to say and how to act, facing these rules. Confronting traditional lyricism, I speak with a bare body without the tattoos of culture on it. — Kim Hyesoon

Lyrical poetry is much the same an every age, as the songs of the nightingales in every spring-time. — Heinrich Heine

I have always wanted what I have now come to call the voice of personal narrative. That has always been the appealing voice in poetry. It started for me lyrically in Shakespeare's sonnets. — Diane Wakoski

Lyricism Definition Quotes

The fact that our message and my lyrics can have a positive impact on someone's life is really astounding. It definitely makes me appreciate what I do even more because I'm not just doing it for self-gain, I'm doing it to help others. — Beau Bokan

I've grown up a lot, I've experienced a lot, I'm in love, I'm super happy with who I am and comfortable in my own skin and that's definitely gonna be portrayed in the music and in the lyrics. — Jordin Sparks

Hopefully people can look at our band and see that we're a heavy rock band. We're definitely not a metal band, but we're a band that focuses on meaningful lyrics and melody. — Adam Rich

Poetry does so many different things, it's difficult to say anything definitive about its role, which of course varies from culture to culture. It can range from being stories of the tribe to the private lyric, to being as W.H. Auden said "the clear expression of mixed feelings" to nonsense verse. — Stephen Dunn

Sometimes song happens all at once where you sit down and the lyrics and the music just come out. So there definitely isn't one way that it happens - there are a lot of different things that take place. — Jonathan Jackson

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

There isn't much of an agenda lyrically. And I definitely didn't want to write about things I don't know anything about. — Mick Barr

I want to say my life inspires my lyrics, but I also try to abstract them as much as possible because I don't want to refer to my life explicitly. I'm definitely really embarrassed by my lyrics. — Grimes

I think every generation has that movement of hip-hop that you know you're playing it and you definitely have that moment of like, "Why am I saying this so enthusiastically? Why am I so stoked and psyched to say these lyrics?" — Solange Knowles

I think there's just certain lyrics and certain forms of hip-hop that definitely rang true, again, to a lot of people's truth, but you don't necessarily want to hear someone using that as a just kind of a in-the-moment, fun, careless expression. — Solange Knowles

Music And Lyrics 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

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

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

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

Music's staying power is a function of how timeless the lyrics, song and production are. — Gary Wright

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

Song Lyric Quotes

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

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

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

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

Lyric Poetry Quotes

Loveliest of trees, the cherry now Is hung with bloom along the bough. — A. E. Housman

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

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

Religious poetry, civic poetry, lyric or dramatic poetry are all categories of man's expression which are valid only if the endorsement of formal content is valid. — Salvatore Quasimodo

Primitive times are lyrical, ancient times epical, modern times dramatic. The ode sings of eternity, the epic imparts solemnity tohistory, the drama depicts life. The characteristic of the first poetry is ingeniousness, of the second, simplicity, of the third, truth. — Victor Hugo

Logic , like lyrical poetry , is no employment for the middle-aged — John Maynard Keynes

It is no longer possible for lyric poetry to express the immensity of our experience. Life has grown too cumbersome, too complicated. We have acquired values which are best expressed in prose. — Boris Pasternak

Good Lyric Quotes

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

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

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

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 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

Lyric Quotes

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

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

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

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

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

Lyrical Quotes

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

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

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

Worst music ever sells millions. The worst music with the shittiest lyrics. The fact is that they pay radio stations to put it on the radio, then you've heard it a million times when you're driving from your shitty job to your shitty house. It's indoctrination, it's sad. — Sia Furler

Nothing really goes through my head when I'm performing live, I normally just look out into the crowd and see the fans and it makes me feel really happy - especially when they all sing the lyrics back, it's amazing. — Perrie Edwards

In both pop and disco, the meaning of the lyrics is not too important. I have nothing I feel I particularly want to say. — Giorgio Moroder

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

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

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

People Writing About Lyricism

Name Quotes Likes
Read quotes by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
quotes on love

699 7457
Read quotes by Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton
quotes on life, leadership and love

42 200
Read quotes by Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews
quotes on life, music

120 875
Read quotes by Jake Paul

Jake Paul
quotes on sports, leadership and life

95 1
Read quotes by Robert Fitzgerald

Robert Fitzgerald
quotes on education, leadership and life

26 118
Read quotes by Dexter Gordon

Dexter Gordon
quotes on love, life and leadership

17 198

More Lyricism 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

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