Solo Song Quotes

#1. Each member does whatever they want with the song and it totally changes it from whatever idea I hear around it. It turns it into a Sonic Youth song and completely away from it being a solo song.

Thurston Moore

#2. A band has a certain responsibility to work songs for years and stick to rules more. A solo artist can just do whatever they want, and also present themselves as somebody who's just singing about their life.

Christopher Owens

#3. Working on solo material is something I had always dreamed of doing, and I'm incredibly happy with the results. 'Everything To Me' is a very personal song to me lyrically; it is such an upbeat and optimistic record, perfect for the summer. I can't wait for people to hear it!

Shane Filan

#4. I love a lot of the young, new artists who are coming up, including Adele. I suppose anybody would freak out to work with her. To be able to play a saxophone solo on one of her songs would be the most ultimate thing ever.

Dave Koz

#5. I'm competitive with anyone who writes a good song - I don't care if it's a band or solo artist or whoever.

Chris Martin

#6. I think a solo moves forward the way a song does, because it's reflective of the chords that I'm considering as I'm soloing, and at the same time I'm going as much out on a limb as Frank Zappa used to, in terms of just going crazy on the instrument.

John Frusciante

#7. I think that the blues is in everything, so it's not possible to neglect it. You hear somebody go 'Ooh ooh oooh,' and that's the blues. You hear a rock n' roll song. That's the blues. Somebody playing a guitar solo? They're playing the blues.

Wynton Marsalis

#8. That is the true joy of being a solo artist. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. I can show up with my guitar and my song, and it can sound a hundred different ways. That's the freedom of being on your own. The flipside is: That's you on the cover. If it sucks, it's your fault.

Jenny Lewis

#9. There are some pop songs I hate but I can't get them out of my head. Our songs also have the standard pop format: Verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, bad solo. All in all, I think we sound like The Knack and the Bay City Rollers being molested by Black Flag and Black Sabbath.

Kurt Cobain

#10. I am a solo flier looking out over the land of Boyfriends and Girlfriends. I am three notes in the middle of a song.

David Levithan

#11. On 'Metallica,' I recorded six or seven different guitar solos for almost every song, took the best aspects of each solo, mapped out a master solo and made a composite. Then I learned how to play the composite solo, tightened it up and replayed it for the final version.

Kirk Hammett

#12. I got to sing solo in the junior choir when I was 10 or 11 and won a competition, and my sister's piano playing improved to a certain level. One time my sister and I worked together. The first song we ever sang in High School was Rags to Riches by Tony Bennett.

Gordon Lightfoot

#13. The most important part of any rock song is the guitar solo.

David Lee Roth

#14. After all my years of doing instrumental music I still like just a simple instrumental song with a nice catchy melody and an opportunity to play a solo over a harmonic structure.

Stanley Clarke

#15. I'm a minimalist at heart. If a song doesn't need a solo, I'm not going to force one into it.

The Edge

#16. When I do my solo concerts, I'm used to being on the stage for two hours solid, singing 16 songs. And when I did 'Funny Thing,' I was on the stage the whole time. This is much more difficult. It's the difference between racing and sprinting. This is sprinting. And I have to learn to pace myself.

Micky Dolenz

#17. I'm looking forward to some more solo acoustic dates. That's a lot of fun for me, because I get to be alone with the song. And I get to hear every little nuance; if my instrument does something that I wasn't expecting, I get to chase that. Chase that down a little bit.

Bob Weir

#18. What is so important is that you play for the artist and for the record and for the song ... everything else falls into place ... my solo has to be a complement to the singer and the song ...

James Burton

#19. What playing solo has reminded me is how much I love electronic music and how much I love dance music. I'd like to move towards something more hypnotic and rhythmic rather than song-based.

Gwenno

#20. Something that distinguishes my solo work from normal rap production is that it has a lot of melody - it's not just cutting up a song and having someone rap over it.

Girl Talk

#21. Sometimes I feel like I'm taking on a role when I'm writing a song, and it doesn't always have to be true. I'm not sitting in my room crying with my guitar, writing a slow solo about a depressing breakup; that's not me.

Mitchel Musso

#22. Seeing that the 97's are a democracy through and through, inevitably, some of these tons of songs I write will get vetoed. The first time that happened (and every time thereafter), I consoled myself with the thought that sooner or later I'd make a solo record

Rhett Miller

#23. I dont separate my work with the band from this solo project-Im sure the group could have recorded any of these, and they would have if the Fleetwood Mac project had come up at this time. I dont have any finished songs lying around.

Christine McVie

#24. Sometimes I do 'So Desperate' solo in the middle of the set. I really love to sing that song.

John Darnielle

#25. I like lots of songs, and I find it quite interesting to do [cover songs] from time to time. My first solo hit was in 1973, the [Bob] Dylan song "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall."

Bryan Ferry

#26. Paul McCartney is a genius ... Paul married Rock & Roll
to beauty, and forever raised the bar for composers,
musicians, and fans ... an incredible solo performer ...
the creator of our favorite songs ...

Alec Baldwin

#27. I was petrified of making a mistake - head-banging to the wrong song or not hard enough, or thinking a guitar solo was over when it wasn't. A rule of thumb is that if the guitar solo is by Led Zep or Lynyrd Skynyrd then it's not over. Ever.

Mark Barrowcliffe

#28. I really enjoy playing solo acoustic. I think it's good for me as a songwriter to stay in touch with what it takes to make a song work by yourself.

Jeff Tweedy

#29. Most people don't really need to hear a six-minute guitar solo that modulates between five keys and time signatures. What they want is a good song.

Rivers Cuomo

#30. I figured she wanted to get into it with me, some he's-my-man-so-step-off song and dance. If so, she would have to dance solo.
I don't do drama.

Dia Reeves

#31. I feel like the songs that I write are best when they are performed by an ensemble, rather than by one solo instrument.

Thalia Zedek

#32. When I'm sick of myself, and when I don't know what to say as a solo artist, I can write a song for a movie. When I don't know where to turn musically, being in a band - Rilo Kiley or Jenny & Johnny - the collaborative nature is really exciting.

Jenny Lewis