Writing ‚We Are Never Getting Back Together‘ was one of the most hilarious experiences I have ever had in the studio because it just happened so naturally.

You know, Nirvana used to start rehearsals with the three of us just jamming. For, like, a half an hour, just noise and freeform crap – and usually it was crap. But sometimes things would come from it, and some songs on Nevermind came from that, and ‚Heart Shaped Box‘ and stuff on ‚In Utero‘ just happened that way.

People have so much going on in their heads. I’m like, If you could write a song, you’d feel so much better!

I was probably 7 years old when I started playing the guitar and writing some serious songs.

If you pour your life into songs, you want them to be heard. It’s a desire to communicate. A deep desire to communicate inspires songwriting.

I say, ‚Yeah, Taylor Swift.‘ I think she is a smart, beautiful girl. I think she’s making all the right moves. She’s got a good head on her shoulders. She’s surrounded with wonderful people. Her songs are great. She keeps herself anchored. She knows who she is, and she’s living and standing by that.

I just try to write songs that people are going to have a dialogue about.

All of my songs are autobiographical.

Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.

I usually write lyrics first, and then when I get home or close to any kind of instrument, I usually make a melody for those lyrics.

When we’re falling in love or out of it, that’s when we most need a song that says how we feel. Yeah, I write a lot of songs about boys. And I’m very happy to do that.

I think sometimes – not always – I write songs that are accessible.

A lot of people don’t realise I came out of the Smoky Mountains with a load of songs.

The most miraculous process is watching a song go from a tiny idea in the middle of the night to something that 55,000 people are singing back to you.

For some reason, I’m really comfortable talking about my personal life in songs.

I’m wallowing in the whole idea of just being a guy out there with a band, with songs. It’s a real enjoyment.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

‚House of Balloons‘ was special because I had no deadlines, and nobody knew me, so there were no expectations. Spent a year making it perfect. Every song had at least, like, 7 different versions to them before picking the right one.

I think when people make a record with a goal in mind – like taking it to the next level or making them seem more mature – that gets in the way of writing great songs.

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

I never wanted to write the sort of song that said, ‚Look at how abnormal and crazy and out there I am, man!‘

I’m the kind of person who needs to feel like everything happens for a reason. When you date a guy and it goes badly, that’s horrible. But if you can write a song about it, then it was worth it.

My songwriting is like extending a hand to the listener.

I just want to keep writing music.

I have to practice to be good at guitar. I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.

My songs have always been frustrating themes, relationships that I’ve had. And now that I’m in love, I expect it to be really happy, or at least there won’t be half as much anger as there was.

I write songs about stuff that I can’t really get past personally – and then I write a song about it and I feel better.

I wish myself to be a prop, if anything, for my songs. I want to be the vehicle for my songs. I would like to colour the material with as much visual expression as is necessary for that song.

Writing a song is so personal. You have to have trust in someone you’re working with; otherwise, you’re not gonna come out with something that’s really you.

I’ve always written songs the same way. You learn different tricks – you learn craft, you learn structure, all that – as you go.

I’ve always tended to write songs prolifically.

I often get ideas for songs on the tour bus at odd times. Like at 6am when no one is around, I’d just write.

I can write a song in about an hour if it’s a simple country song.

It doesn’t bother me when people try to deconstruct my songs – because at least they’re looking at the lyrics, and paying attention to the way the story is told.

U2 is sort of song writing by accident really. We don’t really know what we’re doing and when we do, it doesn’t seem to help.

I know a lot of artists say this, but it’s hard to put myself in a box. I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming form a special place. There’s no tricks.

I wrote a song with Ed Sheeran that was kind of spontaneous.

One of my big fears is people saying my songs are all starting to sound the same.

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.

I just write songs that I strongly believe in and that are coming from inside. There’s no tricks. It’s honesty with big melodies.

You can write a song about being in love with someone, but you don’t have to be in love with anyone.

Songwriting is my way of channeling my feelings and my thoughts. Not just mine, but the things I see, the people I care about. My head would explode if I didn’t get some of that stuff out.

I really started writing music to challenge myself, to see what I could write.

For me, writing a song, I sit down and the process doesn’t really involve me thinking about the demographic of people I’m trying to hit or who I want to be able to relate to the song or what genre of music it falls under.

I have to write 100 songs before you write the first good one.

My experience with songwriting is usually so confessional, it’s so drawn from my own life and my own stories.

I’m not afraid to write my feelings in songs.

You just don’t wake up one day and decide that you need to write songs.

These are all personal crises, I’m sure, that I manifest in a song format and project into physical situations. You make little stories up about how you feel. It’s as simple as that.

I enjoy singing my songs in front of people.

We’re making the music that the people are asking us for.

If I’m gonna write songs about my exes, they can write songs about me. That’s how it works.

I write songs that are like diary entries. I have to do it in order to feel sane.

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.

I can operate in half-a-song format.

I tend to overthink things. I’m not the guy who screams ‚This is a world smash!‘ when I finish a song.

Literally wrote ‚Starboy‘ in 30 minutes.

It’s insane that, since the Beatles and Dylan, it’s assumed that all musicians should do everything themselves. It’s that ridiculous, teenage idea that when Mick Jagger sings, he’s telling you something about his own life. It’s so arrogant to think that people would want to know about it anyway!

I’d like to do a completely off-the-wall collaboration. I would like one of my songs to be the hook to a rap song. That would be so much fun!

When I’m 40 and nobody wants to see me in a sparkly dress anymore, I’ll be like: ‚Cool, I’ll just go in the studio and write songs for kids.‘

I’m a serious aficionada of country music – Reba McEntire, Toby Keith, Montgomery Gentry. I’ve even written some songs. They haven’t done anything of mine yet. But it’s only a matter of time.