Wagner manages to convey emotion with music better than anyone, before or since.

When ‚Paul’s Boutique‘ came out, I was one of the fans that didn’t get it.

It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.

Speaking purely from a musical standpoint, I think I am a great performer.

If people take anything from my music, it should be motivation to know that anything is possible as long as you keep working at it and don’t back down.

Music is like film to me.

Writing for other artists helped me figure out that magic you have to capture to make everyone connect with a song.

I love music, and after my first experience with movies, I can’t wait to do more.

I don’t have time to stand around and listen to an 11-minute song.

You listen to the radio and all the songs sound the same, from 8 in the morning to 12.

You can have the platinum album. But, you know, when you still feel like you haven’t quite found your place in the world, it kind of gives a crazy offset.

The great music for so many artists – the Beatles, the Rolling Stones – was always at the moment when they were closest to pop. It would be easy for U2 to go off and have a concept album, but I want us to stay in the pop fray.

I cannot with any real integrity perform songs I’ve done for 25 years. I don’t need the money. What I need is to feel that I am not letting myself down as an artist and that I still have something to contribute.

When I listen to the radio, I just hear so much music that doesn’t even sound like people. The vocals are all tuned, and the drums are all fake.

I can dance to just about anything.

The instrument that I never learned how to play was my fans. You know, they are the part of the story that nobody teaches you. I just want to do the right thing; I want to be a voice with them, among them.

I decided to pursue music, so I dropped out of school and I told my parents I didn’t want any money from them. I got three jobs and I just hit the ground running.

They say you can rap about anything except for Jesus, that means guns, sex, lies, video tapes, but if I talk about God my record won’t get played Huh?

If you want to find the source of much of the music of modern day Russia, you will find it in the incredible compositions of that crazed lunatic Berlioz.

In 7th grade, I believe, I wrote my first rap song. It was about everything I was seeing, everything that was going on around me.

At 57, to have a No. 1 album, I wasn’t expecting it.

I really like hip-hop and rap; that’s my main influence. I really wanna be more of a hip-hop artist.

It’s so sweet, I feel like my teeth are rotting when I listen to the radio.

There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.

The thing about hip-hop today is it’s smart, it’s insightful. The way they can communicate a complex message in a very short space is remarkable.

It’s terrifying to play your favorite band’s song in front of your favorite band.

I would love to study guitar or trumpet.

In a budget, how important is art versus music versus athletics versus computer programming? At the end of the day, some of those trade-offs will be made politically.

I have a very eclectic iPod. So I’ve got my cardio people – so it’s anything from Beyonce to some Jay-Z to Janelle Monae, her song ‚Tightrope,‘ that’s a good cardio song. And then I’ve got Sting. I’ve got Mary J. Blige. I’ve got The Beatles. I’ve got Michael Jackson. I try to pick the songs that I personally love.

I always had music growing up, but music was also like a journal. It was like my personal diary or personal journal. A lot of the things I couldn’t express to an individual, I would express them in my music.

Music has to be sort of ignorable sometimes.

I’ve been a huge fan of Chris Martin forever; it’d be awesome to work with him. He’s really kind, and he’s been really encouraging when we’ve met.

I’ve always been a singer. I never really decided I was gonna be a singer. It just kind of – I just sung a lot.

Honestly, I never really put the mic down.

No, I can’t do rap music!

I look out at the stadiums full of people and see them all knowing the words to songs I wrote. And curling their hair! I remember straightening my hair because I wanted to be like everybody else, and now the fact that anybody would emulate what I do? It’s just funny. And wonderful.

There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It’s always been my way of expressing what, for me, is inexpressible by any other means.

The fame isn’t important to me. It’s a blessing to have. Having so many people that support me, that love me and listen to my music, is beautiful.

A letdown is worth a few songs. A heartbreak is worth a few albums.

Neil Young is my hero, and such a great example. You know what that guy has been doing for the past 40 years? Making music. That’s what that guy does. Sometimes you pay attention, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes he hands it to you, sometimes he keeps it to himself. He’s a good man with a beautiful family and wonderful life.

Red is such an interesting color to correlate with emotion, because it’s on both ends of the spectrum. On one end you have happiness, falling in love, infatuation with someone, passion, all that. On the other end, you’ve got obsession, jealousy, danger, fear, anger and frustration.

I was ready to quit music. It felt to me like music equalled death.

I was always singing but didn’t plan on pursuing it seriously. When I got to New York City when I was 18, I started playing in clubs in Brooklyn – I have good friends and devoted fans on the underground scene, but we were playing for each other at that point – and that was it.

My music seems to have a bigger mission than I have, which is very soothing but also very strange because people see more in me than I see, which can be terrifying.

Punk is musical freedom. It’s saying, doing and playing what you want. In Webster’s terms, ‚nirvana‘ means freedom from pain, suffering and the external world, and that’s pretty close to my definition of Punk Rock.

Confidence, as a teenager? Because I knew what I loved. I loved to read; I loved to listen to music; and I loved cats. Those three things. So, even though I was an only kid, I could be happy because I knew what I loved.

Chicago gave me more music than any other city in America.

In case you’re wondering whether I lip synch, the answer is no… people think so because I sound so good.

I’ve never thought about songwriting as a weapon. I’ve only thought about it as a way to help me get through love and loss and sadness and loneliness and growing up.

As a songwriter, you respect and appreciate the writings of other people, and I often get asked, are there songs out there I wish I’d written? Yes. There’s many of them!

The darkness, the loop of negative thoughts on repeat, clamours and interferes with the music I hear in my head.

How to play music may be known. At the commencement of the piece, all the parts should sound together. As it proceeds, they should be in harmony while severally distinct and flowing without break, and thus on to the conclusion.

I don’t think a song should be put in a category.

I’ve written all my songs on every single one of my records, and that’s what’s been fun about looking back.

Your personal history is a part of what happens with your hands and your head as you play music.

I tell my fellow reggaetoneros, keep giving it your all and bring more creativity.

It’s a privilege to serve the poor, to be servants of noble Africans, but I better belong in the rehearsal room or in the studio with my band. That’s where I want to be and I still wake up in the morning with melodies in my head.

As soon go kindle fire with snow, as seek to quench the fire of love with words.

Rap music is the only vital form of music introduced since punk rock.

At the end of the day, who I really and truly am is a little girl who loved to play the piano.

Without music, life would be a mistake.