Cass mccombs quotes

I hate my voice. I've never been comfortable singing.

It's just a joy to be able to work with a lot of different musicians. When you play with great musicians, whether they're schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes.

Beggars can't be choosers. We don't have all the money in the world. So anyone who wants to be in the band and be broke - that's their own death wish.

As it turns out, it's really expensive to make movies, much more than records.

I'm not trying to write for the masses. I don't care.

As long as there are a few people there, I can lose myself, which is the ultimate goal. And that's happening more and more; the non-musical world is becoming less and less interesting to me.

I love songs because by nature they are concise; they sum up. I try to use as few words as possible. It's usually funnier that way, anyway.

I don't really write for an album. I just write songs whenever I feel like it, whenever they come to me. It's all a complete accident.

To me, craft work is the ultimate. Maybe I got this idea from the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, who was employed as a sculptor to the state and church, making coins and things. While he admired Michelangelo, he also made fun of his spiritual angst with art.

It doesn't mean that I'm overly enthusiastic about much music. Except the people that really touch me. It has to touch me, it has to grab a hold of me, I'm not looking for anything in particular.

People expect not just songwriters but all personalities to pontificate about their egos.

Musicians wake up and create a more loving community by creating heavier music.

I've always been interested in an idea of boundless love - an impersonal, big love.

I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.

When you're playing festivals, you only get a half-hour. It's like a meat market. You don't get to be artistic. You don't get to play music. It's called a showcase for a reason.

I couldn't write a political song. There's just opinion; it's all arbitrary anyway. It's all subjective.

I project love, music and love, and I pray for peace. A good song cuts straight to the heart; sometimes it doesn't need to be too many lines - of course, I do love a good story.

It's the stupidest thing of all time, going on tour. It deteriorates the soul, but it's fun.

I don't think I'm even a musician. I don't play a lot of instruments, not really a soloist or anything.

Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best. To make it about the artist and to dwell upon biographical information can only make it singular, and I am really, really disgusted by that.

I write for myself, and I write for my friends and people who I have a connection with. I try to give some dignity to peoples' lifestyles that tend to be ignored.

I wouldn't claim to know what another person is thinking. I can imagine it, but it's my interpretation, and I try to make that clear. It's my vision of what I think their life is. I don't think there are empirical truths in that regard.

Even if I'm writing music, it's with a lyric in mind, to communicate some kind of feeling.

A baseball team is like a band. Because, conceptually, there are no heroes in baseball - there's just the team.

I don't have a problem doing interviews. It's not punishment. There's things about it that I don't like. No one else is really saying these kinds of things, so someone has to. I don't think that it's the most humbled thing to talk about yourself for hours and hours and hours.

People take things a little too personal. I write these songs, and they're experiments with thoughts. That's it. I'm not a teacher.

A lot of religious texts make for good reading. That's why they hold up.

That's what I mean by "Western morality," is the lack of morality. There is none. People are out for themselves, and they'll stab you in the back.

I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.

Try to keep your mind. Try not to eat bad, try not to wake up with too bad of a hangover.

It's not like that when you're a songwriter - songwriters aren't like pulp writers or journalists, even. You just follow the muse. It's called muse-ic. Whenever the muse decides to bestow her inspiration on the songwriter, then the song is born.

When I'm trying to write a song for someone else, you can only see anything through your own eyes.

I don't know about timeless. I actually think most of what I do is completely modern, but universally modern. Who decides what timeless even means? Are the things that we consider timeless now going to, in fact, be considered timeless in 300 years? Probably not.

Lyrics are my racket; music is play - the fluff stuff.

Thank god we don't know a lot about William Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautréamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious. Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.

I love being lost! I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone. I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people, we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life and I don't have a problem with that.

Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.

This is a transitory world, we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it, and holding on. Even if it's a moment it's true love, true love doesn't mean that it goes on for eternity. Eternity is a terrible concept.

With death comes a choice. And death is a choice.

I don't like going to the studio. It just seems too cold. There's no crowd to react to, or share anything with; it's just talking into a microphone that's going into a computer.

Dead men always have the last laugh. They win. They're dead. You can't hurt their feelings anymore.

All these biopics and biographies and people gossiping about so-and-so's drug abuse or who's sleeping with who, it's just a bunch of nonsense.

I took piano lessons when I was a little kid, but even before that, you're singing in the classroom and wherever. Gosh, children are always singing. But I took music lessons, some choir and things like that at school. I learned how to play the guitar when I was about 13... ancient history.

Everyone wants to be well-loved and appreciated but, at the same time, there are some people that just don't want to be your friend, and there's nothing you can do or say to change that.

I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.

I want to make something that's useful to someone, somewhere.

Loneliness is the most compelling force in the universe.

I miss working. It's real, you know? But I don't know anything but songwriting, and I don't even know that. I didn't go to school; the only thing I know how to do is this. The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.

I think I try to do a lot of things to weed out casual fans.

I've always thought about myself as somewhat of a folk musician. I just write words.

Music is the marriage of the feelings of the living to the wisdom of the dead.

You can't just explain a joke. Either it isn't funny, or the person just totally missed the punchline.

If it's possible to have an enemy without making it personal or moral, then that's what I'm trying to do.

I have been singing as long as I can remember. I used to be in choir; I used to do musical theater. I'd prefer not to sing my own songs, but there you have it.

I don't think anyone knows anything and I don't trust people who say that they do. Don't give me a plan, give me action.

That's the thing about inspiration, it just smacks you upside the head, you can't plan for it. It comes like a stranger in the night; you never know when it's going to come or leave, and you just have to deal with the in-between moments because there's nothing you can really do about it.

It's not my way to talk about my feelings. They're impudent to myself, so it wouldn't make any sense if I tried to explain them to anyone else. I've never been to therapy - not interested in it.

This is rock'n'roll, not classical music. It's about people working together.

I'm making music with my friends. It's fun. It should be fun. You shouldn't make music if it isn't fun.

I just like writing lyrics. I find a little satisfaction in performing live, making records. But primarily, I just try to write every day.

I was just a folk singer. I cut my teeth on the streets, you know.

I've always littered my songs with jokes. You might need to dig a little deeper to find the humor, but I would totally object to being some kind of distraught personality. I've never tried to attach myself to that.

I think it's worthwhile to expand your comfort level and just do something awful. I wasn't trying to make music for money.

Elvis Presley wore a Star of David and a cross around his neck and, when someone asked him about it, he said, "It makes me think." I love that quote. It's simple. It's beautiful. It's true.

I think I prefer singing in falsetto. I like the way it sounds. It doesn't sound like my natural voice. It sounds like a character.

Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best.

Bringing the individual into it music only distracts from the universal and makes it trivial. And then it's easy to wash your hands of it because you might not be from their background, or you might disagree with their personal perspective. So you discount it and go back into your corner instead of coming out and engaging with everything.

I do like the word timeless. That's a great word.

I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people; we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life, and I don't have a problem with that. This is a transitory world; we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it and holding on.

If you've ever sang in falsetto, you know that your throat is between your voice and your mouth. In a standard voice, you sing from your belly. And when you sing in a falsetto, you're blocking that. It gives it a filter. It gives it a character. It's less revealing.

The writing of the record didn't take long, because I just have a huge stack of papers and I just pluck from the stack. It took a long time because it's very expensive to make records; in fact, I think it's a complete rip-off.

I wouldn't go into the studio if I didn't have a band who's ready, willing, and able.

It's hard to make out the difference between insults and bad advice.

When I was young, I used to go to Baha'i camp, and they taught me a lot about the equality of religions.

I think I like singing when I'm singing live. It's just in the studio when it's a drag.

I grew up in the suburbs and was raised on rap radio, so it took me a long time to stumble upon the acoustic guitar as a resource for anything.

Opinions only carry weight in the second or third person.

I don't think I'm a particularly somber human being.

I don't like the word "happy." I wouldn't want to use it that context. I enjoy writing songs, it's a really good challenge, it tickles me. It's a wonderful way to engage with your surroundings, through poetry and songs.

I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's not paycheck at the end; it's more of a "whatever is left over" kind of situation. Also, it keeps me from thinking about my creativity as a business, which it is not. It should remain pure; that's one of the reasons I made music in the first place.

I don't live anywhere, so that's what's fun about tours.

People just wanna see someone talking about themselves constantly. I'm not interested in that.

I think a master craftsman is someone who is unpretentious. He has a physical object in front of him and, while he works with a higher aim, he doesn't let his personality get in the way of his art. It's simply about the task at hand and to make it as functional and necessary to the world as he can.

Usually there's no specific reason for loneliness - it's a broad feeling.

Folk art has never been much about politics; it's about action and utility.