Lucinda Williams Quotes

I'm fascinated by the whole concept of snake handling. When you read about the Pentecostal snake handlers, what strikes you the most is their commitment.

I'm just like everyone. I like to feel togetherness with someone.

So few people are truly themselves when they're in the spotlight.

I'm not just a doormat. I'm not just being stepped on all over the place. If you look at the bulk of my material, it's about trying to find some strength through that.

People let their own hang-ups become the obstacles between them and personal happiness.

I think we start suffering as soon as we come out of the womb. I think that people tend to stereotype. When they think of suffering, they think of abuse - physical abuse, emotional abuse, poverty, that kind of thing. There's different levels of suffering. I don't think that it has to do with how much money you have - if you were raised in the ghetto or the Hamptons. For me it's more about perception: self-perception and how you perceive the world.

As it turns out, now is the moment you've been waiting for

I guess you could write a good song if your heart hadn't been broken, but I don't know of anyone whose heart hasn't been broken.

The old jazz singers or old blues singers, you always just saw them kind of sitting down and singing. They weren't worried as much about their voice sounding perfect. They would make the song kind of fit their voice.

The perfect man? A poet on a motorcycle.

First thing, I throw on some jeans, a T-shirt and my Keds sneakers and make coffee. That is actually my favorite time of day. That is when I do my songwriting, when I am in writing mode.

I don't mean to complain. I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

Have compassion for everyone you meet, even if they don’t want it.

I have such a great band. We had played all this material on the road. I just wanted to let it fly.

It's just the more you do it the better you get, or at least that's how I feel in my case. I think it's a combination of confidence and just having done it this long and just learning. I'm always learning. I'm still honing my craft.

Sade's stuff is real deceptive. She's got stuff about prostitutes, poverty and people on the streets.

I'm trying to learn how to tap into the power of my own being. I know it sounds corny.

Theres so many other things to write about than unrequited love.

Some of their best songs don't have bridges and choruses. So that made me think I should trust my instincts. My songs were okay, I figured. I didn't need to change anything.

You can't really praise somebody's work and then criticize the process.

I just broke up with my boyfriend, and I've been spending more time alone than I'd like.

It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ’n’ Roll)

Just because I'm talking about something that might have been a sad or painful situation doesn't mean that I'm sad or tortured 24 hours a day any more than anybody else is.

You should put time into learning your craft. It seems like people want success so quickly, way before they're ready.

I have had to come to terms with wearing glasses.

I mean, whose songs don't focus on tragedy and loss?

I'd rather play a few nights at the Fillmore than play one night at an arena.

What I do as a songwriter is a constant force in my life, that I'm grateful to have.

The thing about Alzheimer's is that it's... it's sort of like all these little, small deaths along the way, before they actually physically die.

I'm pretty much the same person I was 20 years ago. My politics haven't changed. I have the same feeling of idealism. But I am a little bit wiser and more experienced.

I'm an artist first and foremost. So things are gonna go up and down and sideways and whichever way all through life.

It's really about living in your head... just looking out at the world, then going back into your head and tossing around a lot of ideas and coming out with something interesting to say.

I grew up around poets and novelists and my dad wrote poems about everything - from a cat sleeping in a window to a car wreck he passed on the highway. I learned not to censor myself: that was one of things I learned in my apprenticeship, my creative-writing apprenticeship with my dad.

We just did a few takes of a song and just picked the best one. It was real organic and genuine.

I'm polite. I guess that's the dichotomy within me. I don't like to piss people off just for the sake of pissing them off. I pick my battles.

Sometimes I dream song ideas. I write a song in my dream, the melody and everything. But then sometimes I can't remember them. I think later on, I probably do.

I usually don't write about my life right when it happens. I process it, and I store it away. Then, when I get in the mood I pull the stuff back out.

I don't keep a journal anymore. I did when I was a teenager, but now because I write about it all in my songs, that's what I'm really doing.

Any time there's a major change, whether it's going into a relationship, getting out of a relationship, moving to a new city, a death - that usually provides a catalyst for an explosion of creativity.

The more I separate myself from my upbringing, the more I appreciate what it's done for me.

Believe it or not, people went so far as to suggest that I might not be able to write songs anymore because now I am married. I tried to explain again that there are other things to write about besides boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy breaks up with girl, girl is sad.

I think in the world of rock music or whatever it's called - anything outside of Nashville - there's a lot more freedom within that industry to do whatever you want to do.

There's this whole idea that you've got the blues and you're going to write. Bullshit. When I feel really bad, all I want to do is sit in front of the TV with the remote control and check out.

Sometimes I feel like I just open myself up like I'm a vehicle for something coming through me. It's like a meditative state I have to be in.

I'm in a contented, loving relationship, but that doesn't mean I'm not struggling with other things that are going on around me in the world.

I don't want to beat people over the head with my political views. It's more about the humanitarian aspect of it.

People seemed to think, you get to a certain age or you get married or you, you're comfortable. And so now there's nothing to write about: that angst is gone. The youthful angst. And that just hasn't happened with me.

It's always been hard for me to do without sounding precious or too corny or whatever.

What seems conceit, bad manners or cynicism is always a sign of things no ear have heard, no eyes have seen. You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.

There's always stuff to write about. So it's very gratifying on a lot of levels. This is stuff I got asked over and over again, or heard about. People would ask me about it, but they kind of knew the answer. It would be this ongoing question: "Your fans are wondering, now that you're married, are you still going to be able to write songs?" I'm serious! I would get asked that!