British Songwriter Quotes

Freddie Mercury

Lemmy

Rod Stewart

Cat Stevens

Leona Lewis

Sid Vicious

Katie Melua

If you were the only girl in the world
And I were the only boy.

Oh! what a snug little Island,
A right little, tight little Island!

Thomas John Dibdin

His form was of the manliest beauty,
His heart was kind and soft;
Faithful below he did his duty,
But now he 's gone aloft.

Surely if God had meant us to do yoga, he would have put our heads behind our knees.

While you've a lucifer to light your fag,
Smile, boys, that's the style.
What's the use of worrying?
It never was worth while, so
Pack up your troubles in your old kit-bag,
And smile, smile, smile.

George Henry Powell

Relationships have a nasty habit of reversing themselves; whatever has been done to you in a previous involvement you'll do to the next person you're involved with, if you get half a chance.

Marianne Faithfull

What are the wild waves saying,
Sister, the whole day long,
That ever amid our playing
I hear but their low, lone song?

Joseph Edwards Carpenter

I didn't like the music business and I didn't like me. There's an element of falseness about the whole thing. Even things like doing an interview. It's not as though we just met in the pub and are having a chat — it's part of a process. If you do it all day, every day for years, you end up thinking: 'Who the hell am I?' I was lucky enough to make some money, enough to let me kick back. It was a great experience and it was nice to have a couple of No.1s but the best thing about it was that the money I made allowed me to have freedom and choice in my life.

Is the cabin still left standing? Has the rich man need of all?
Is the children's birthplace taken now within the new park wall?

Helen Blackwood, Baroness Dufferin and Claneboye

I know it's not much, but it's the best I can do,
My gift is my song and this one's for you.

It's a long way to Tipperary,
It's a long way to go.
It's a long way to Tipperary,
To the sweetest girl I know!
Goodbye Piccadilly,
Farewell Leicester Square!
It's a long long way to Tipperary,
But my heart's right there.

There's a hope for every woe,
And a balm for every pain,
But the first joys of our heart
Come never back again!

Robert Gilfillan

Speed, bonnie boat, like a bird on the wing,
'Onward,' the sailors cry;
Carry the lad that's born to be king,
Over the sea to Skye.

Sir Harold Boulton, 2nd Baronet

There's confusion in my head as I depart
but a singing, ringing, soaring in my heart
for beyond all time and space and doubt
I know
I've lived here before
long ago.

You can have everything in the world and still be the loneliest man. And that is the most bitter type of loneliness, success has brought me world idolisation and millions of pounds. But it's prevented me from having the one thing we all need: A loving, ongoing relationship.

Freddie Mercury

I do know that there are some things that exist in this world that you just can't prove. That could be the case with God or whoever might be up there, but I don't follow any one religion.

A big turning point happened when my son brought back a guitar into the house — You know, 'cause I'd given all those guitars away to charity — way back in 1979 and hadn't really touched the instrument, you know, for like two decades. … So then one day … when everybody's asleep and nobody's watching, I pick it up — and lo and behold, I still know where to put my fingers and out comes this music. I said, "Maybe I've got another job to do." And in this time and period it's probably the best thing I can do because lecturing, politics, God, I've got nothing to do with that. I want to just get heart-to-heart, make sure people understand some of the real subtle beauties of what I've discovered.

The love, the echoes of long ago
you needed the world to know
They are in Xanadu
The dream that came through a million years
That lived on through all the tears, it came to Xanadu

There's nothing better than going out there and performing and making that connection with audiences. Even after all this time I get the biggest buzz from that.

It first was a rumour dismissed as a lie
but then came the evidence none could deny:
a double page spread in the Sunday Express —
The Russians are running the DHSS!

Attila the Stockbroker

The dark in soul see in the universe their own shadow; the shattered spirit can only reflect external beauty in form as untrue and broken as itself.

I constantly get people telling me I should be selling as much as Katie Melua... but there's a reason she sells that many and I don't - she makes music that's easy on the ear and even easier on the brain. She's the perfect good girl in the middle of the road. I'm not keen to make things too easy for anyone. I like to provoke a response, whether that's someone telling me they love what I do or throwing a bottle at me. The trouble is that the bottle-throwing faction won't buy the album. You've immediately limited your audience.

I don't think there's anything better than hearing your favorite band live.

When you blame yourself, you learn from it. If you blame someone else, you don't learn nothing, cause hey, it's not your fault, it's his fault, over there.

I don't understand why people think it's so difficult to learn to play guitar. I found it incredibly easy. You just pick a chord, go twang, and you've got music.