Singer-songwriters from Canada

"Oh, to live on Sugar Mountain With the barkers and the colored balloons, You can't be twenty on Sugar Mountain Though you're thinking that You're leaving there too soon, You're leaving there too soon."

"Did you see them in the river? They were there to wave to you. Could you tell that the empty quiver, Brown skinned Indian on the banks That were crowded and narrow, Held a broken arrow?"

"There you stood on the edge of your feather Expecting to fly. While I laughed, I wondered whether I could wave goodbye Knowin' that you'd gone."

"I gave to you, now, you give to me I'd like to know what you learned. The sky is blue and so is the sea What is the color, when black is burned?"

"There is a town in north Ontario, With dream comfort memory to spare, And in my mind I still need a place to go, All my changes were there."

"Tin soldiers and Nixon's comin'. We're finally on our own. This summer I hear the drummin'. Four dead in Ohio."

"If you guarantee the postage, I'll mail you back the key."

"I've been looking for a woman to save my life Not to beg or to borrow A woman with the feeling of losing once or twice."

"A dreamer of pictures I run in the night. You see us together, Chasing the moonlight, My cinnamon girl."

"You take my hand, I'll take your hand Together we may get away This much madness is too much sorrow It's impossible to make it today."

"Look at Mother Nature on the run In the nineteen seventies."

"I was lying in a burned out basement With the full moon in my eyes. I was hoping for replacement When the sun burst through the sky. There was a band playing in my head And I felt like getting high. I was thinking about what a Friend had said I was hoping it was a lie."

"But only love can break your heart Try to be sure right from the start Yes only love can break your heart What if your world should fall apart?"

"Southern man better keep your head. Don't forget what your good book said. Southern change gonna come at last Now your crosses are burning fast. Southern man."

"Don't let it bring you down It's only castles burning, Just find someone who's turning And you will come around."

"When you dance, Do your senses tingle? Then take a chance? In a trance, While the lonely mingle With circumstance?"

"See the lonely boy, out on the weekend, Tryin' to make it pay. Can't relate to joy, he tries to speak and Can't begin to say."

"Will I see you give More than I can take? Will I only harvest some? As the days fly past Will we lose our grasp Or fuse it in the sun?"

"I've been to Hollywood I've been to Redwood I crossed the ocean For a heart of gold. I've been in my mind, It's such a fine line That keeps me searching For a heart of gold. And I'm getting old."

"Old man look at my life, Twenty four And there's so much more Live alone in a paradise That makes me think of two."

"Old man take a look at my life I'm a lot like you. I need someone to love me The whole day through. Ah, one look in my eyes And you can tell that's true."

"I've seen the needle and the damage done. A little part of it in everyone. But every junkie's like a settin' sun."

"If I was a junkman selling you cars, Washing your windows and shining your stars, Thinking your mind was my own in a dream What would you wonder and how would it seem? Living in castles a bit at a time The King started laughing and talking in rhyme. Singing words, words between the lines of age. Words, words between the lines of age."

"A while ago somewhere I don't know when I was watching a movie with a friend I fell in love with the actress She was playing a part that I could understand A maid"

"Oh, baby, that's hard to change, I can't tell them how to feel, Some get stoned, some get strange, But sooner or later, it all gets real. Walk on. Walk on."

"Well, I hear that Laurel Canyon is full of famous stars, But I hate them worse than lepers and I'll kill them in their cars."

"You can really learn a lot that way, It will change you in the middle of the day, Though your confidence may be shattered, It doesn't matter."

"The world is turning, I hope it don't turn away."

"Well, all those people, they think they've got it made, But I wouldn't buy, sell, borrow or trade Anything I have to be like one of them. I'd rather start all over again."

"I guess I'll call it sickness gone, It's hard to say the meaning of this song."

"You're all just pissin' in the wind, You don't know it but you are."

"I have seen you in the movies, And in those magazines at night. I saw you on the barstool, When you held that glass so tight."

"He came dancing across the water with his galleons and guns Looking for the new world in that palace in the sun"

"On the shore lay Montezuma with his coca leaves and pearls In his halls he often wondered of the secrets of the worlds.... The women all were beautiful, the men stood straight and strong They offered life in sacrifice so that others could go on Hate was just a legend, war was never known The people worked together and they lifted many stones."

"A sparkle was in his eye, but his life was in his hand."

"Well, people let me tell you, it sent a chill up and down my spine, When I picked up the telephone and heard that he'd died out on the mainline."

"Oh tell me where the answer lies, Is it in the notebook behind your eyes?"

"And the world on a string doesn't mean a thing."

"I'm singin' this borrowed tune I took from the Rolling Stones, Alone in this empty room, too wasted to write my own."

"Think I'll roll another number for the road, I feel able to get under any load, Though my feet aren't on the ground, I've been standing on the sound Of some open-hearted people going down."

"I'm not going back to Woodstock for a while, Though I long to hear that lonesome hippie smile, I'm a million miles away from that helicopter day, No, I don't think I'll be goin' back that way."

"I've been flyin' down the road, And I've been starvin' to be alone, Independent from the scene that I've known."

"He tried to do his best but he could not."

"Please take my advice, please take my advice, Open up the tired eyes, Open up the tired eyes."

"You are like a hurricane There's calm in your eye. And I'm gettin' blown away To somewhere safer Where the feeling stays. I want to love you but I'm getting blown away."

"It's a cold bowl of chili when love lets you down."

"It's gonna take a lotta love To change the way things are It's gonna take a lotta love Or we won't get too far."

"It's gonna take a lotta love To get us through the night It's gonna take a lotta love To make things work out right."

"My my, hey hey Rock and roll is here to stay. It's better to burn out Than to fade away. My my, hey hey."

"Where the eagle glides ascending There's an ancient river bending Through the timeless gorge of changes Where sleeplessness awaits."

"The king is gone But he's not forgotten. This is the story Of a Johnny Rotten It's better to burn out Than it is to rust. The king is gone But he's not forgotten."

"In my little box At the top of the stair With my Indian rug And a pipe to share."

"Shelter me from the powder And the finger Cover me with the thought That pulled the trigger Think of me As one you'd never figured Would fade away so young With so much left undone."

"Live music is better! Bumper stickers should be issued!"

"When I was a younger man, Got lucky with a rock 'n' roll band, Struck gold in Hollywood, All the time I knew I would Get back to the country, Back where it all began. Get back to the country, Back in the barn again."

"The economy was getting so bad, I had to lay myself off."

"There's colors on the street Red, white and blue People shufflin' their feet People sleepin' in their shoes But there's a warnin' sign On the road ahead There's a lot of people sayin' We'd be better off dead. Don't feel like Satan, But I am to them. So I try to forget it, Any way I can."

"We got a thousand points of light For the homeless man. We got a kinder, gentler, Machine gun hand. We got department stores And toilet paper Got styrofoam boxes For the ozone layer. Got a man of the people, Says keep hope alive Got fuel to burn, Got roads to drive."

"Welfare mothers make better lovers."

"I never believed in much, But I believed in you."

"Need distraction Need romance and candlelight Need random violence Need entertainment tonight Need the evidence Want the testimony of Expert witnesses On the brutal crimes of love."

"And we'll be watching you No matter what you do And you can do your part By watchin' others too."

"Neil, you know, was this rock & roller who was coming around to folk music through Bob Dylan. Of course. Anyway, Neil came out to the club, and we liked him immediately. He was the same way he is now – this offhanded, dry wit. And you know what his ambition was at the time? He wanted a hearse, and a chicken farm. And when you think of it, what he’s done with his dream is not that far off. He just added a few buffalo. And a fleet of antique cars. He’s always been pretty true to his vision."

"Neil Young is not a singer, nor is he a guitarist. Neil Young is a force of nature, like the wind or the sea or the sun, and his blazing talent is never better showcased than when he sits and strums his old Martin. He is able to achieve more with one note than most guitarists can with a hundred, and while his playing is sparse and song-orientated, you won’t find a finer example of music’s power to move anywhere else in the known universe. A living, breathing musical genius."

"And you kissed me shy as though I'd never been your lover"

"Rust rust rust in the engines of love and time"

"Although only one man may be receiving the favors of a woman, all men in her presence are warmed. That's the great Generosity of women and the great generosity of the Creator who worked it out is that there are no unilateral agreements on sexuality."

"What is a saint? A saint is someone who has achieved a remote human possibility. It is impossible to say what that possibility is. I think it has something to do with the energy of love. Contact with this energy results in the exercise of a kind of balance in the chaos of existence. A saint does not dissolve the chaos; if he did the world would have changed long ago. I do not think that a saint dissolves the chaos even for himself, for there is something arrogant and warlike in the notion of a man setting the universe in order. It is a kind of balance that is his glory. He rides the drifts like an escaped ski. His course is the caress of the hill. His track is a drawing of the snow in a moment of its particular arrangement with wind and rock. Something in him so loves the world that he gives himself to the laws of gravity and chance. Far from flying with the angels, he traces with the fidelity of a seismograph needle the state of the solid bloody landscape. His house is dangerous and finite, but he is at home in the world. He can love the shape of human beings, the fine and twisted shapes of the heart. It is good to have among us such men, such balancing monsters of love."

"God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is alive. Magic is afoot. God is afoot. Magic is alive. Alive is afoot. Magic never died. God never sickened. Many poor men lied. Many sick men lied. Magic never weakened. Magic never hid. Magic always ruled. God is afoot. God was ruler though his funeral lengthened. Though his mourners thickened Magic never fled..."

"It was only when you walked away I saw you had the perfect ass. Forgive me for not falling in love with your face or your conversation."

"Only in Canada could somebody with a voice like mine win 'Vocalist of the Year'."

"I am so often accused of gloominess and melancholy. And I think I'm probably the most cheerful man around. I don't consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel completely soaked to the skin. … I think those descriptions of me are quite inappropriate to the gravity of the predicament that faces us all. I've always been free from hope. It's never been one of my great solaces. I feel that more and more we're invited to make ourselves strong and cheerful. .... I think that it was Ben Jonson who said, I have studied all the theologies and all the philosophies, but cheerfulness keeps breaking through."

"And if one is to express the great inevitable defeat that awaits us all, it must be done within the strict confines of dignity and beauty."

"Now, I don't want to give you the impression that I'm a great musicologist, but I'm a lot better than what I was described as for a long, long time; you know, people said I only knew three chords when I knew five."

"I feel that, you know, the enormous luck I've had in being able to make a living, and to never have had to have written one word that I didn't want to write, to be able to have satisfied that dictum I set for myself, which was not to work for pay, but to be paid for my work — just to be able to satisfy those standards that I set for myself has been an enormous privilege."

"People used to say my music was too difficult or too obscure, and I never set out to be difficult or obscure. I just set out to write what I felt as honestly as I could, and I am delighted when other people feel a part of themselves in the music."

"This is the very contrary of dropping out. Most people can't wait to get home to their house or apartment and shut that door and turn on the TV. To me, that's dropping out."

""You have loved enough, now let me be the lover." You could say that God is speaking to you or the cosmos, or your lover. It just means, like, Forget it. Lean back and be loved by all that is already loving you. It is your effort at love that is preventing you from experiencing it. It is like if you ever taught kids how to swim. The most difficult thing is Goddam to understand that they will float, if they relax, if they hold their breath and relax, they will actually float. For most kids it is difficult to swim. They feel they are going to sink like a stone to the bottom of the lake."

"Well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. … And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don't need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road."

"Courage is what others can't see, what is never affirmed. It is made of what you have thrown away and then come back for."

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river. You can hear the boats go by, You can spend the night beside her, And you know that she's half crazy But that's why you want to be there, And she feeds you tea and oranges That come all the way from China. And just when you mean to tell her That you have no love to give her Then she gets you on her wavelength And she lets the river answer That you've always been her lover. And you want to travel with her, And you want to travel blind, And you know that she will trust you, For you've touched her perfect body with your mind."

"And she shows you where to look Among the garbage and the flowers. There are heroes in the seaweed, There are children in the morning, They are leaning out for love, And they will lean that way forever, While Suzanne holds the mirror."

"And Jesus was a sailor When he walked upon the water And he spent a long time watching From his lonely wooden tower And when he knew for certain Only drowning men could see him He said "All men will be sailors then Until the sea shall free them" But he himself was broken Long before the sky would open Forsaken, almost human He sank beneath your wisdom like a stone"

"It's true that all the men you knew were dealers who said they were through with dealing Every time you gave them shelter. I know that kind of man It's hard to hold the hand of anyone who is reaching for the sky just to surrender."

"Like any dealer he was watching for the card that is so high and wild he'll never need to deal another. He was just some Joseph looking for a manger."

"O you've seen that man before his golden arm dispatching cards but now it's rusted from the elbow to the finger And he wants to trade the game he plays for shelter"

"I told you when I came I was a stranger."

"It's you my love, you who are the stranger."

"Please understand, I never had a secret chart to get me to the heart of this or any other matter. When he talks like this you don't know what he's after."

"Oh the sisters of mercy, they are not departed or gone. They were waiting for me when I thought that I just can't go on. And they brought me their comfort and later they brought me this song. Oh I hope you run into them, you who've been travelling so long."

"Yes, you who must leave everything that you cannot control, It begins with your family, and soon it comes round to your soul. Well I've been where you're hanging, I think I can see how you're pinned: When you're not feeling holy your loneliness says that you've sinned."

"When they lay down beside me I made my confession to them. They touched both my eyes and I touched the dew on their hem. If your life is a leaf that the seasons tear off and condemn, They will bind you with love that is graceful and green as a stem."

"When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. Don't turn on the lights, you can read their address by the moon. And you won't make me jealous if I hear that they sweetened your night: We weren't lovers like that and besides it would still be all right."

"Come over to the window, my little darling I'd like to try to read your palm I used to think I was some kind of Gypsy boy Before I let you take me home Now so long, Marianne, it's time that we began To laugh and cry and cry and laugh about it all again Well you know that I love to live with you But you make me forget so very much I forget to pray for the angels And then the angels forget to pray for us"

"I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm, Your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm, Yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new, In city and in forest they smiled like me and you, But let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie, your eyes are soft with sorrow, Hey, that's no way to say goodbye."

"Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir I have tried in my way to be free."

"You who build these altars now to sacrifice these children, you must not do it anymore. A scheme is not a vision and you never have been tempted by a demon or a god."

"When it all comes down to dust I will kill you if I must, I will help you if I can. When it all comes down to dust I will help you if I must, I will kill you if I can."

"I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows"

"It's four in the morning, the end of December I'm writing you now just to see if you're better New York is cold, but I like where I'm living There's music on Clinton Street all through the evening"

"Yes, and thanks, for the trouble you took from her eyes I thought it was there for good so I never tried And Jane came by with a lock of your hair She said that you gave it to her That night that you planned to go clear Did you ever go clear?"

"Now I've heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don't really care for music, do you? It goes like this the fourth, the fifth The minor fall, the major lift The baffled king composing Hallelujah"

"You say I took the name in vain I don't even know the name But if I did, well really, what's it to you? There's a blaze of light in every word It doesn't matter which you heard The holy or the broken Hallelujah"

"I remember when I moved in you And the holy dove she was moving too, And every single breath that we drew was Hallelujah."

"I did my best, it wasn't much I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you. And even though it all went wrong I'll stand before the Lord of Song With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah."

"The captain called me to his bed and fumbled for my hand "Take these silver bars," he said, "I'm giving you command." Command of what? There's no on here. There's only you and me. The rest are dead or in retreat or with the enemy. "Complain, complain, that's all you've done ever since we lost, If it's not the crucifixion then it's the holocaust.""

"And I sing this for the captain Whose ship has not been built For the mother in confusion Her cradle still unfilled For the heart with no companion For the soul without a king For the prima ballerina Who cannot dance to anything"

"I come from a country where we do not have the same struggles as you have. I respect your struggles. And it may surprise you, but I respect both sides of this struggle. It seems to be that in Europe there needs to be a left foot and a right foot to move forward. I wish that both feet move forward and the body moves towards its proper destiny. This is an intense country; the people are heroic, the spirit is independent. It is a difficult country to govern, it needs a strong government and a strong union. … I would like to say to you, to the leaders of the left, and the leaders of the right, I sing... I sing for everyone. My song has no flag, my song has no party. And I say the prayer, that we said in our synagogue, I say it for the leader of your union and the leader of your party. May the Lord put a spirit, a wisdom and understanding into the hearts of your leaders and into the hearts of all their counsellors."

"I have no program, I have no five-year plan. … It doesn’t mean that you shouldn't have one! I just move from hotel to hotel, and from bar to bar, and by the grace of the One above occasionally a song comes, and I remember sitting at this particularly obnoxious Polynesian restaurant where they served a kind of coconut drink that was particularly lethal and sinister which contained no alcohol but a certain chemical that demoralized you entirely. And I remember writing on one of their very badly designed napkins, "I remember you well at the Chelsea Hotel..." so I dedicate this song to one of the great singers, Janis Joplin."

"I know there is an eye that watches all of us. There is a judgment that weighs everything we do. And before this great force, which is greater than any government I stand in awe and I kneel in respect and it is to this great judgment that I dedicate this next song, "Hallelujah"."

"I don't know which side is anybody on any more. I don't really care. There is a moment when we have to transcend the side we're on and understand that we are creatures of a higher order. That doesn't mean that I don't wish you courage in your struggle. There is on both sides of the struggle men of good will. That is important to remember. On both sides of the struggle, some struggling for freedom, some struggling for safety and solemn testimony of that unbroken faith which binds generations one to another I sing this song, "If It Be Your Will""

"They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom For trying to change the system from within I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin."

"I'm guided by a signal in the heavens I'm guided by this birthmark on my skin I'm guided by the beauty of our weapons First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin."

"Ah, you loved me as a loser, but now you're worried that I just might win You know the way to stop me, but you don't have the discipline How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin."

"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed Everybody knows that the war is over Everybody knows the good guys lost Everybody knows the fight was fixed The poor stay poor, the rich get rich That's how it goes Everybody knows."

"Everybody knows that you love me baby Everybody knows that you really do Everybody knows that you've been faithful Ah give or take a night or two Everybody knows you've been discreet But there were so many people you just had to meet without your clothes And everybody knows"

"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking. Everybody knows that the captain lied... And everybody knows that you're in trouble... Everybody knows it's coming apart. Take one last look...Before it blows. Everybody knows"

"If you want a lover I'll do anything you ask me to. And if you want another kind of love I'll wear a mask for you."

"Here I stand, I'm your man."

"My friends are gone and My hair is grey. I ache in the places where I used to play. And I'm crazy for love but I'm not coming on. I'm just paying my rent everyday In the Tower Of Song."

"You can say that I've grown bitter but of this you can be sure. The rich have got their channels in the bedrooms of the poor. And there's a mighty Judgement coming but I may be wrong…"

"I see you standing on the other side. I don't know how the river got so wide. I loved you, baby, way back when. And all the bridges are burning that We might have crossed and I feel so close to everything that we've lost. We'll never, we'll never have to lose it again.Now I bid You farewell, I don't when I'll be back. They're moving us tomorrow to that tower down the track. But you'll be hearing from me, baby, long after I'm gone. I'll be speaking to you sweetly From a window in the Tower Of Song"

"I've seen the future, brother: it is murder."

"Waiting for the miracle There's nothing left to do. I haven't been this happy since the end of World War II."

"If you're squeezed for information, that's when you've got to play it dumb: You just say you're out there waiting for the miracle to come."

"We're drinking and we're dancing but there's nothing really happening. The place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night."

"Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

"Every heart to love will come But like a refugee."

"It's coming through a hole in the air From those nights in Tiananmen Square It's coming from the feel That it ain't exactly real Or it's real, but it ain't exactly there From the war against disorder From the sirens night and day From the fires of the homeless From the ashes of the gay Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."

"It's coming to America first The cradle of the best and of the worst It's here they got the range And the machinery for change And it's here they got the spiritual thirst It's here the family's broken And it's here the lonely say That the heart has got to open In a fundamental way Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."

"I'm sentimental, if you know what I mean I love the country but I can't stand the scene And I'm neither left or right I'm just staying home tonight Getting lost in that hopeless little screen But I’m stubborn as those garbage bags that time cannot decay, I’m junk but I’m still holding up this little wild bouquet: Democracy is coming to the U.S.A."

"I smile when I'm angry, I cheat and I lie. I do what I have to do to get by. But I know what is wrong and I know what is right, and I'd die for the truth in my secret life."

"And here you are hurried, And here you are gone; And here is the love, That it's all built upon."

"Here is your cross, Your nails and your hill; And here is your love, That lists where it will"

"May everyone live, And may everyone die. Hello, my love, And my love, Goodbye."

"The light came through the window, Straight from the sun above, And so inside my little room There plunged the rays of Love.In streams of light I clearly saw The dust you seldom see, Out of which the Nameless makes A Name for one like me."

"All busy in the sunlight The flecks did float and dance, And I was tumbled up with them In formless circumstance."

"I'll try to say a little more: Love went on and on Until it reached an open door — Then Love Itself Love Itself was gone."

"You whisper, "You have loved enough, Now let me be the Lover.""

"I swept the marble chambers, But you sent me down below. You kept me from believing Until you let me know: That I am not the one who loves — It's love that chooses me. When hatred with his package comes, You forbid delivery."

"If you are the dealer, I'm out of the game If you are the healer, it means I'm broken and lame If thine is the glory then mine must be the shame You want it darker We kill the flame Magnified, sanctified, be thy holy name Vilified, crucified, in the human frame A million candles burning for the help that never came You want it darkerHineni, hineni I'm ready, my Lord"

"They're lining up the prisoners And the guards are taking aim I struggled with some demons They were middle-class and tame I didn't know I had permission to murder and to maim."

"Children show scars like medals. Lovers use them as secrets to reveal. A scar is what happens when the word is made flesh. It is easy to display a wound, the proud scars of combat. It is hard to show a pimple."

"I fought against the bottle but I had to do it drunk"

"So the great affair is over but whoever would have guessed it would leave us all so vacant and so deeply unimpressed. It's like our visit to the moon or to that other star I guess you go for nothing if you really want to go that far."

"And sometimes when the night is slow The wretched and the meek We gather up our hearts and go A Thousand Kisses Deep."

"The candles burned The moon went down The polished hill The milky town Transparent, weightless, luminous Uncovering the two of us On that fundamental ground Where love's unwilled, unleashed, unbound And half the perfect world is found."

"And clenching your fist for the ones like us who are oppressed by the figures of beauty, you fixed yourself, you said, "Well never mind, we are ugly but we have the music.""

"What if I had to Live here without you Oh, I don't really want to know Where you goin', Lenny Cohen?"

"This was a man where, within a Pop Song, there were some big ideas"

"He's got your young idealism, he's got You when You can't face the world. He's got You at all stages"

"He's of almost Biblical importance. I don't think there’s going to be another Leonard Cohen."

"You're a Leonard Cohen song"

"I tell you who I also think is wonderful is a chap called Leonard Cohen … do you know him? … He's remarkable. I mean, the orchestration is fantastic and the words, the lyrics and everything, he's a remarkable man, and has this incredibly sort of laid back gravelly voice, it's terrific stuff I think."

"In the Canadian film Hardcore Logo, a Canadian punk rocker suggests "Faster, Leonard Cohen! Die! Die!" as a possible band name. This also refers to the film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!."

"I finally broke into the prison I found my place in the chain Even damnation is poisoned with rainbows Leonard Cohen is one of the few songwriters who has words that you can just chew on for months and months and yet there’s still flavor left in there to taste. That third line is such a positive one, even though it sounds bleak at first. He saying that there is still hope even in the darkest situations, even in the terrible situations that have thrown yourself into, the times where you crawl into a hole and wait for suffering to be piled on top of you. Even in those moments, the clouds pull away and beams of light shine through. That’s the kind of music that I hope never stops being played, even after the writers of such songs are very very far away, or resting deep in the ground."

"Give me a Leonard Cohen afterworld So I can sigh eternally"

"But I was caught, like a fleeting thought Stuck inside Leonard Cohen's mind"

"It is their desire to honor L. Cohen, songwriter, that has prompted a delegation of our brightest artists to climb, one by one, joss sticks smoldering, the steep and salty staircase in the Tower of Song. There is evidence that the honoree might be privy to the secret of the universe, which, in case you’re wondering, is simply this: everything is connected. Everything. Many, if not most, of the links are difficult to determine. The instrument, the apparatus, the focused ray that can uncover and illuminate those connections is language. And just as a sudden infatuation often will light up a person’s biochemical sky more pyrotechnically than any deep, abiding attachment, so an unlikely, unexpected burst of linguistic imagination will usually reveal greater truths than the most exacting scholarship. In fact, the poetic image may be the only device remotely capable of dissecting romantic desire, let alone disclosing the hidden mystical essence of the material world. Cohen is a master of the quasi-surrealistic phrase, of the “illogical” line that speaks so directly to the unconscious that surface ambiguity is transformed into ultimate, if fleeting, comprehension: comprehension of the bewitching nuances of sex and the bewildering assaults of culture."

"It is his singing voice as well as his writing pen that has breathed life into these songs. It is a voice raked by the claws of Cupid, a voice rubbed raw by the philosopher’s stone. … It is a penitent’s voice, a rabbinical voice, a crust of unleavened vocal toast—spread with smoke and subversive wit. He has a voice like a carpet in an old hotel, like a bad itch on the hunchback of love. It is a voice meant for pronouncing the names of women—and cataloging their sometimes hazardous charms. Nobody can say the word “naked” as nakedly as Cohen. He makes us see the markings where the pantyhose have been."

"I don't want, no I really don't want To be John Lennon or Leonard Cohen I just want to be my Dad."

"No one ever listens to me. I might as well be a Leonard Cohen record."

"A nation comes to freedom in thousands of steps — some of them huge leaps, the others little. And the evening with Leonard Cohen more than twenty years ago was an evening of hope. Difficult as much to him as it was to us. Not necessarily political but intimate. And I learned to appreciate the power of intimacy. There are moments when nothing can get between you and the other person. And when this person is Leonard Cohen himself you feel blessed. And you feel free."

"Once I got the open tunings for some reason, I began to get the harmonic sophistication that I heard that my musical fountain inside was excited by. [...] Once I got some interesting chords to play with, my writing began to come.”"

"You're twiddling and you find the tuning. Now the left hand has to learn where the chords are, because it's a whole new ballpark, right? So you're groping around, looking for where the chords are, using very simple shapes. Put it in a tuning and you've got four chords immediately— open, barre five, barre seven, and your higher octave, like half fingering on the 12th. Then you've got to find where your minors are and where the interesting colors are — that's the exciting part."

"“That's one thing that's always, like, uh, the major difference between the performing arts to me, and being a painter, you know. Like, a painter does a painting, and he does a painting — and that's it, you know. He’s had the joy of creating it, and he hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it, and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he’s never, you know, nobody ever says to him, you know, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' You know? He painted it, and that was it.”"

"I need to explore and discover and so that has given me, really, to some what seems like courage, but really it's just in my stars, there's nothing I can do about it . . . . I guess I'll just take my award and run now."

"I don't like being too looked up at or too looked down on. I prefer meeting in the middle to being worshipped or spat out."

"…This is a period of relaxation for me, but there are still some weeds that need pulling. I kind of go with Thumper, you know, from Bambi. “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all.” That was my philosophy for a long time as a young person. However, I lost Thumper’s guidance as I grew older…He returns from time to time."

"…It’s, you know, the words to the song are your script. You have to bring the correct emotion to every word. You know, if you sing it pretty – a lot of people that cover my songs will sing it pretty – it’s going to fall flat. You have to bring more to it than that."

"…I liked playing the coffeehouses, where I could step off the stage and go sit in the audience and be comfortable, or where there wasn’t a barrier between me and my audience in the clubs. The big stage had no appeal for me; it was too great a distance between me and the audience, and I never really liked it. I didn’t have a lot of fame in the beginning, and that’s probably good because it made it more enjoyable."

"…The later work is much richer and deeper and smarter, and the arrangements are interesting too. Musically I grow, and I grow as a lyricist, so there’s a lot of growth taking place. The early stuff – I shouldn’t be such a snob against it. A lot of these songs, I just lost them. They fell away. They only exist in these recordings. For so long I rebelled against the term: “I was never a folk singer.” I would get pissed off if they put that label on me. I didn’t think it was a good description of what I was. And then I listened, and – it was beautiful. It made me forgive my beginnings…"

"(Do you ever make yourself cry when you write?) No, never. I’m not a weeper. I’m a snarler. I just put all the weeping in the words. The words are the weeping."

"Truth and beauty. That’s what I hope to deliver."

"(Would you like to shatter any preconceptions?) I do have this reputation for being a serious person. I’m a very analytical person, a somewhat introspective person; that’s the nature of the work I do. But this is only one side of the coin, you know. I love to dance. I’m a rowdy. I’m a good-timer...But as far as shattering preconceptions, forget it. I feel that the art is there for people to bring to it whatever they choose."

"All I knew was, whatever it was that I felt was the weak link in the previous project gave me my inspiration for the next one. I wrote poetry and I painted all my life. I always wanted to play music and dabbled with it, but I never thought of putting them all together. It never occurred to me. It wasn’t until Dylan began to write poetic songs that it occurred to me you could actually sing those poems."

"The way I saw the educational system from an early age was that it taught you what to think, not how to think. There was no liberty, really, for free thinking. You were being trained to fit into a society where free thinking was a nuisance."

"Art. They think it’s a pretentious word from the giddyap. To me, words are only symbols, and the word art has never lost its vitality. It still has meaning to me. Love lost its meaning to me. God lost its meaning to me. But art never lost its meaning. I always knew what I meant by art."

"I thought, “You don’t even know who I am. You want to worship me?” That’s why I became a confessional poet. I thought, “You better know who you’re applauding up here.” It was a compulsion to be honest with my audience."

"I remember being at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and having this sensation. It was like falling to earth. It was about the time of my second album. It felt almost as if I’d had my head in the clouds long enough. And then there was a plummeting into the earth, tinged with a little bit of apprehension and fear. Shortly after that, everything began to change. There were fewer adjectives to my poetry. Fewer curlicues to my drawing. Everything began to get more bold. And solid in a way."

"Many, many times as a writer, I’ve come to a day where I say, “None of this has any meaning.” If you maintain that point of view, if you hold onto it and possess it, that’s it for you. There’s a possibility that you can come firmly to that conclusion, as Rimbaud did, and give it up."

"If I experience any frustration, it’s the frustration of being misunderstood. But that’s what stardom is – a glamorous misunderstanding. All the way along, I know that some of these projects are eccentric. I know that there are parts that are experimental, and some of them are half-baked. I certainly have been pushing the limits and – even for myself – not all of my experiments are completely successful. But they lay the groundwork for further developments. Sooner or later, some of those experiments will come to fruition. So I have to lay out a certain amount of my growing pains in public."

"I feel frustrated sometimes. I feel bitterness, but I’m not embittered. Feelings pass. A lot of the humor in the music is missed. They insist on painting me as this tragic . . . well not even a tragic, because in this town people don’t understand tragedy. All they understand is drama. You have to be moral to understand tragedy [laughs]."

"Hejira was an obscure word, but it said exactly what I wanted. Running away, honorably. It dealt with the leaving of a relationship, but without the sense of failure that accompanied the breakup of my previous relationships. I felt that it was not necessarily anybody’s fault. It was a new attitude."

"as an artist I say to myself, “If you’re that good, how come you can’t be yourself?”"

"I can put my dukes up now if I have to in life, but out of appreciation for honesty. I won’t settle for anything less in the studio. So much of music is politics. It’s going for the big vote. It amounts to a lot of baby kissing."

"I’m still obsessed with pushing the perimeters of what entails a pop song. I can’t really let go of that impulse yet. I don’t know where I’m going. I never really do. My songs could come out any shape at this point."

"Misery knows no rent bracket"

"it’s a funny time for women. We demand a certain sensitivity. We’ve made our outward attacks at machoism, right, in favor of the new sensitive male. But we’re just at the fledgling state of our liberty where we can’t handle it. I think we ask men to be sensitive and equal, but deep down think it’s unnatural. And we really want them to be stronger than us. So you get into this paradoxical thing."

"I think if you’re healthy, aging can be quite a beautiful process, and I think we’ve created an artificial problem for ourselves."

"I like to work myself up to a state of enthusiasm about anything I do, otherwise, what’s the point?"

"any acts of frustration or concern or anxiety in my life are all peripheral to a very solid core. A very strong, continuing course I’ve been following. All this other stuff is just the flak that you get for engaging in the analytical process in the first place. Even Freud knew that; to me it was the hippest thing he ever said: “Dissection of personality is no way to self-knowledge.” All you get out of that is literature, not necessarily peace of mind. It’s a satisfying, but dangerous, way to learn about yourself."

"It’s a funny thing about happiness. You can strive and strive and strive to be happy, but happiness will sneak up on you in the most peculiar ways. I feel happy suddenly. I don’t know why. Some days, the way the light strikes things. Or for some beautifully immature reason like finding myself running to the kitchen to make myself some toast. Happiness comes to me even on a bad day. In very, very strange ways. I’m very happy in my life right now."

"(about the label "female songwriter") It implies limitations...They tend to lump me always with groups of women. I always thought, “They don’t put Dylan with the Men of Rock; why do they do that to me with women?”"

"I was kind of a media dropout. I was lucky if I could name the president. I was much more inner-world oriented."

"I don’t think of myself as confessional. That’s a name that was put on me. The confessional poets like [Sylvia] Plath, whom I read later when they started calling me confessional, most of their stuff seemed contrived to me and not as greatly honest as it was touted to be. I never wanted to act the part of the poet, with pearls of language and wisdom falling from my lips...I’ve always used the songwriting process as a self-analysis of sorts. Like the Blue album – people were kind of shocked at the intimacy. It was peculiar in the pop arena at that time, because you were supposed to portray yourself as bigger than life. I remember thinking, “Well, if they’re going to worship me, they should know who they’re worshiping.”"

"I don’t think of myself as an intellectual...It’s a nice place to visit; I wouldn’t want to live there. I spend as little time there as possible."

"I feel more ambidextrous: I suffer, I enjoy; I suffer, I enjoy."

"I've always been a painter. I didn't come to it late. I was always the school artist. I came to music late, you know, relatively. I mean, I picked up — I tried it at 8. I took a year of piano lessons and wrote my first song when I was 8, wrote it out in notes."

"I've got nervous energy like a kid, still."

"at that point, that's when I forged my identity as an artist. At 8, I, you know, rebelled against the church and I rebelled against the educational system. I stepped outside the box and forged my identity as an artist."

"(about her experience as a student in school) All they did was, she said something and you said something back. From here on in, I'm not even going to try unless they ask us a question that nobody knows the answer to."

"(about "River.") We needed a sad Christmas song, didn't we?"

"(about "Both Sides Now") I wrote it when I was 21. I took a lot of ridicule, too. "What do you know about life? You're only 21." You know, but I really think it took me to — that was done in my 50s — to, you know, it took a mature woman to bring it to life...I grew into that song."

"I sing my sorrow and paint my joy."

"Like Van Gogh's paintings were a diary of his life, my paintings are kind of a diary of my life. And they're all good moments that I've preserved, and I've got them around me."

"Any time I make a record it's followed by a painting period. It's good crop rotation."

"I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own."

"There's been a tremendous amount of growth. An actress is not expected to continue to play her ingenue roles, you know, I've written myself roles to grow into gracefully, but there is no growing into gracefully in the pop world. Basically the reason I'm so unruly in this business is because I never wanted to be a human jukebox."

"In our possessive coupling So much could not be expressed So now I'm returning to myself These things that you and I suppressed."

"You go down to the pick up station Craving warmth and beauty You settle for less than fascination A few drinks later you're not so choosy When the closing lights strip off the shadows On this strange new flesh you've found Clutching the night to you like a fig leaf You hurry To the blackness And the blankets To lay down an impression And your loneliness."

"Oh, you're in my blood like holy wine, You taste so bitter and so sweet Oh I could drink a case of you, darling And I would still be on my feet I would still be on my feet."

"Rows and flows of angel hair, And ice cream castles in the air, And feather canyons ev’rywhere, I’ve looked at clouds that way. But now they only block the sun, They rain and snow on ev’ryone, So many things I would have done But clouds got in my way."

"I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now, From up and down, and still somehow It’s cloud illusions I recall, I really don’t know clouds at all."

"Tears and fears and feeling proud, To say "I love you" right out loud, Dreams and schemes and circus crowds, I’ve looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I’ve changed Well something’s lost, but something’s gained In living ev’ry day."

"I’ve looked at love from both sides now From give and take, and still somehow, It’s love’s illusions I recall I really don’t know love at all."

"And the seasons they go round and round, And the painted ponies go up and down, We’re all captive on the carousel of time We can’t return we can only look behind From where we came And go 'round and 'round and 'round In the circle game."

"I came upon a child of god, He was walking along the road And I asked him, where are you going And this he told me: "I’m going on down to Yasgur’s farm I’m going to join in a rock ’n’ roll band I’m going to camp out on the land, I’m going to try an’ get my soul free."

"I don't know who I am / but you know, life is for learning."

"We are stardust, We are golden, And we’ve got to get ourselves Back to the garden."

"By the time we got to Woodstock We were half a million strong And everywhere there was song and celebration. And I dreamed I saw the bombers Riding shotgun in the sky And they were turning into butterflies Above our nation."

"They paved paradise And put up a parking lot With a pink hotel, a boutique and a swinging hot spot."

"Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you've got Till it's gone. They paved paradise, And put up a parking lot."

"They took all the trees And put them in a tree museum And they charged all the people A dollar and a half just to see 'em."

"Hey farmer, farmer, Put away that DDT now Give me spots on my apples But leave me the birds and the bees Please!"

"I remember the time you told me, you said "Love is touching souls," Surely you've touched mine, cause Part of you pours out of me In these lines from time to time."

"I wanna be strong, I wanna laugh along, I wanna belong to the living. Alive, alive, I wanna get up and jive, Wanna wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive."

"Secrets and sharing soda, That's how our time began. Love is a story told to a friend It's second hand."

"Some are friendly Some are cutting Some are watching it from the wings Some are standing in the centre giving to get something."

"Laughing and crying, you know it's the same release."

"Friends have told her "Not so proud" Neighbors trying to sleep are yelling "Not so loud" Lovers in anger, "Block of ice" Harder and harder just to be nice."

"It's coming on Christmas, They're cutting down trees. They're putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace. I wish I had a river I could skate away on"

"Joni, you have more class than Richard Nixon, Mick Jagger, and Gomer Pyle combined!"

"She is of course well past the stage of having to prove herself artistically. She is in possession of one of the most extraordinary song catalogs of the past half-century. Her chords break harmonic rules, have no technical names and defy Western musical theory. Her voice is an instrument that has grown sublimely heavier and huskier over the decades. . . .Once you get past the security gates, Ms. Mitchell's house feels like a pocket of middle-class comfort in the midst of zillionaire Beverly Hills. In some ways life is still as it was in 1974, when she bought the house: She has no computer, no voice mail, no cellphone and no e-mail. At one point, when we tried to remember one of her lyrics, we scrolled through my iPod. She said it was the first time she had listened to one."

"Joni Mitchell said in an interview, Everything I am,/I'm not."

"That's the music that I play at home all the time, Joni Mitchell. Court and Spark I love because I'd always hoped that she'd work with a band. But the main thing with Joni is that she's able to look at something that's happened to her, draw back and crystallize the whole situation, then write about it. She brings tears to my eyes, what more can I say? It's bloody eerie. I can relate so much to what she says. "Now old friends are acting strange/They shake their heads/They say I've changed"."

"If you're looking to wade into Joni [Mitchell's] musical waters, open D is an essential first step. Often, you see the same Joni songs transcribed in open E, as it's the same tuning one step down, and just requires different capo placement."

"Joni, what fucking chords were you playing on Court and Spark? I could never figure them out."

"To be a catalyst is one of my life’s objectives. I’ve been inspired by many people who in turn have been catalysts. It’s very interesting to see the waves of interest come and go in Celtic territory. If I can be a catalyst for other people, that’s wonderful."

"May, 1993 - Stratford... have been reading through the poetry of 15th century Spain, and I find myself drawn to one by the mystic writer and visionary St. John of the Cross; the untitled work is an exquisite, richly metaphoric love poem between himself and his god. It could pass as a love poem between any two at any time ... His approach seems more akin to early Islamic or Judaic works in its more direct route to communication to his god... I have gone over three different translations of the poem, and am struck by how much a translation can alter our interpretation. I am reminded that most holy scriptures come to us in translation, resulting in a diversity of views."

"I have come to use the pan-Celtic history, which spans from 500 BC to the present, as a creative springboard. The music I am creating is a result of traveling down that road and picking up all manner of themes and influences, which may or may not be overtly Celtic in nature."

"I can see lights in the distance Trembling in the dark cloak of night Candles and lanterns are dancing, dancing A waltz on All Souls Night."

"Bonfires dot the rolling hillsides Figures dance around and around To drums that pulse out echoes of darkness And moving to the pagan sound."

"Standing on the bridge that crosses The river that goes out to the sea The wind is full of a thousand voices They pass by the bridge and me."

"The thundering waves are calling me home to you The pounding sea is calling me home to you"

"Suddenly I knew that you'd have to go Your world was not mine, your eyes told me so Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time And I wondered why."

"As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea A vision came o'er me Of thundering hooves and beating wings In clouds above."

"As you turned to go I heard you call my name, You were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly "The old ways are lost," you sang as you flew And I wondered why."

"A clouded dream on an earthly night Hangs upon the crescent moon A voiceless song in an ageless light Sings at the coming dawn Birds in flight are calling there Where the heart moves the stones It's there that my heart is calling All for the love of you"

"A painting hangs on an ivy wall Nestled in the emerald moss The eyes declare a truce of trust And then it draws me far away Where deep in the desert twilight Sand melts in pools of the sky When darkness lays her crimson cloak Your lamps will call me home"

"And so it's there my homage's due Clutched by the still of the night And now I feel you move Every breath is full So it's there my homage's due Clutched by the still of the night Even the distance feels so near All for the love of you."

"Upon a darkened night the flame of love was burning in my breast And by a lantern bright I fled my house while all in quiet rest. Shrouded by the night and by the secret stair I quickly fled. The veil concealed my eyes while all within lay quiet as the dead."

"Oh night thou was my guide Oh night more loving than the rising sun Oh night that joined the lover to the beloved one transforming each of them into the other."

"Upon that misty night in secrecy, beyond such mortal sight Without a guide or light than that which burned so deeply in my heart That fire t'was led me on and shone more bright than of the midday sun To where he waited still it was a place where no one else could come."

"Within my pounding heart which kept itself entirely for him He fell into his sleep beneath the cedars all my love I gave From o'er the fortress walls the wind would his hair against his brow And with its smoothest hand caressed my every sense it would allow."

"I lost myself to him and laid my face upon my lover's breast And care and grief grew dim as in the morning's mist became the light There they dimmed amongst the lilies fair."

"There is a wonderful old Chinese proverb that I love, "A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving". I think about my personal approach to musical projects much like a travel writer might approach the preparation for a book. You latch on to a certain theme or historical event and follow that into the unknown, while, at the same time, expanding on those themes."

"Until the early nineties, I was under the impression that the Celts were this mad collection of anarchists from Ireland, Scotland and Wales. When I saw an exhibition in Venice, I discovered they were a vast collection of tribes originating from Middle and Eastern Europe as far back as 500 BC, and that over the centuries they migrated and integrated with people all over the world. So I've used this cultural history as a creative muse. With The Book Of Secrets in particular, I was interested in beginning with their earlier and more Eastern history"

"One of the most wonderful and engaging things I've learned is that we are the culmination and extension of each other's histories and there is more that binds us together than separates us, and in discovering this, perhaps our needs are timeless and universal. I have a very deep interest in religion and spirituality. I like the Sufi perspective, which suggests that it is better to participate in the world than to become detached from the world."

"I think acting is something that I want to make sure that, if I do make that transition, I want to make sure that it's really dramatic, and put my energy into acting, you know, fully instead of trying to balance a whole lot of things at once, 'cause I really don't want to become one of those singer-trying-to-be-actor-but-didn't-really-work kind of thing."

"I don't know, it's not like I was thinking about it being my trademark or whatever it is. I mean I don't think I'll get it removed or anything. But, I don't know - it's part of me, I'm used to it."

"We caught a lot of people off guard, which is cool. And I think we made things more enjoyable for the boyfriends who had been dragged to the concert."

"Our bios are sort of similar, but guys in rock bands all wear T-shirts and jeans and nobody ever says they're all the same."

"If things blow up then that's awesome and if things don't, I still can live a normal life and be able to go to the grocery store without people following me."

"I like being very loud and noisy, as the title of my album says."

"I co-wrote all the songs on my album, and co-produced a lot of them as well, So being involved in the creative aspect and not just singing is so important to me because, above everything, I love to create and I love to express myself.""

"To me, song writing is so therapeutic, it's just part of my life and I can't go through the day without having some kind of song idea pop into my head where I have to write Sharpie all over my arm trying to remember the song idea.""

"Performing, for me, is like oxygen. Performing, for me, is like the only thing that is a constant in my life, because you're in all different places doing all different things, but when I get up on stage, that's where I know exactly what to do, that's where I own it."

"Was Ashlee Simpson nice to me? Yes. She said "hi" very clearly in a nice voice!"

"My motto has always been “If you love animals, don’t eat them”. ... the moment I began to understand what was going on with the treatment of animals, it led me more and more in the way of the path I am [on] now, which is a complete vegan."

"I bring out an engineer, everything fits into a suitcase and we just record. I have so much spare time during that day that it makes sense to utilize it to do something creative like that, as opposed to just sitting around the hotel and sightseeing or something."

"Give it to me straight from the heart. Tell me we can make one more start. You know I'll never go - as long as I know It's comin' straight from the heart."

"Now it cuts like a knife, But it feels so right."

"I'm ready - to love you. I'm ready - to hold you. I'm ready - I'm ready. Ready as I'm gonna be."

"I'm gonna run to you. Yeah - I'm gonna run to you. Cause when the feelin's right, I'm gonna stay all night."

"When your heart has been broken, Hard words have been spoken. It ain't easy - but it's only love."

"Oh this heart's on fire. Right from the start it's been burnin' for you. Oh this heart's on fire. One thing honey - this heart's true."

"You might stop a hurricane, Might even stop the drivin' rain. You might have a dozen other guys, But if you wanna stop me baby - don't even try. I'm goin' one way - your way. It's such a strong way - let's make it our way."

"Baby - thought I'd died and gone to heaven; Such a night I never had before. Thought I'd died and gone to heaven, Cause what I got there ain't no cure for."

"Do I have to say the words? Do I have to tell the truth? Do I have to shout it out? Do I have to say a prayer? Must I prove to you how good we are together? Do I have to say the words?"

"The only thing I want, The only thing I need, The only thing I choose, The only thing that looks good on me...is you."

"I love the way you look tonight With your hair hangin' down on your shoulders. N' I love the way you dance your slow sweet tango, The way you wanna do everything but talk. And how you stare at me with those undress me eyes, Your breath on my body makes me warm inside."

"There's a road, long and winding. The lights are blindin', but it gets there. Don't give up, don't look back. There's a silver linin', it's out there somewhere. Everybody wants an answer, everybody needs a friend. We all need a shinin' star on which we can depend."

"To really love a woman, To understand her, you gotta know her deep inside. Hear every thought, see every dream. And give her wings, when she wants to fly. Then when you find yourself lyin' helpless in her arms, You know you really love a woman."

"Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees. Success to failure, Just a matter of degrees. Working at Perfekt, Got me down on my knees..."

"Cinderella man, Doing what you can, They can't understand what it means Cinderella man, Hang on to your plans, Try as they might, they cannot steal your dreams"

"For me, how I feel about what I wrote down turns into a song."

"I love to write. It's my first love."

"Music is all about wanting to be better at it."

"Once I have lyrics, being able to shape them around a song is nothing new for me, I've been doing that for 25 years. The soul searching part of it, the spontaneous part of it, that was, and remains, a really terrific process."

"Regardless of what you want to say about KISS, musically or otherwise, there was no harder-working band than KISS. And there was no band more determined to put on a spectacular show and give people their money's worth than KISS. That was a great thing to see as an opening act. We were so impressionable, and we were so green...they were very good to us. Those guys liked to have a good time!"

"There is nothing he can’t do, with his bass playing veering from the subtle, via the atmospheric, to an all-out riff storm. That doesn’t mean that he shows off, though: his playing is often a masterclass in economy and restraint. Even his bass gear is relatively reductive these days, with a signature Fender Jazz and a Tech21 SansAmp with this name on it going into an Orange amp."

"Rush's greatness was always the sum of its individually talented three parts. Yet, Lee seemed to be the consistent face of the band. In fact, many pray to the altar of Rush, specifically Lee. While best known for his signature countertenor vocals, Lee always mastered the strings on his bass and continues to do so in life after Rush. He was exceptional in incorporating high treble to counter Alex Lifeson’s guitar, making a more fluid unity between the two instruments. Bass gods Cliff Burton and Steve Harris are just two of the countless musicians who consider Lee a major influence on their successful careers."

"You know that episode where I said I'd stopped drinking? Well, I lied. Ted is so militant in his views. I lived with him for 12 days and it's hard to imagine ever doing anything that would truly look good in his eyes. Also he said some stuff online about Dimebag which I thought was really not cool. I'm not going to repeat it but you can check it out online."

"I'm not this crazy drunk guy you see on 'SuperGroup'. I like to be mellow sometimes. I like to read a lot, and I'm actually starting to write my first book. I have read so many books and now I'm trying to document this specific tour, because it is fascinating!"

"I don’t really have any stress over Stevie Rachelle’s website. If you care what the lead singer of Tuff has to say, then good for you. I was never a big Tuff fan, you know? Wow, the lead singer of Tuff has a website about being jealous of the lead singer of Skid Row. Stevie Rachelle is jealous, and wants to rip on Sebastian Bach."

"We people don't like to be told what to do, am I right!? But something I learnt is that you just gotta walk up to this fucking asshole and say "well, EXCUSE ME! I didn't mean to offend you by listening to rock N roll! but, hey man... FUCK YOU!!!" That's right, because we are the youth gone wild!!"

""These are the ugliest people I have ever seen in my life. I have to buy this!" When looking at the back of Metallica's Kill 'Em All."

"On tour I'm so invisible to myself, it's just one task after another. In a way as much as I love reading autobiographies, I'm fascinated with them partially because I would have no sense of how to talk about my own life with any perspective. Like half of what I like about autobiographies isn't what happen in their lives, it's ... I'm so curious on how they remember things that happened. Then I think, oh maybe it's not accurate, maybe it's just the way they need to couch an event, they need to remember something that happened 30 years ago as a certain way in the present to make it, you know bearable, and so then half the adventure of reading an autobiography is thinking like, "oh, what does it say about them in the present that they need to think about the past like that," if they sound really altruistic or if they sound really benevolent and kind. Very seldom do you see someone say, "yeah, I was a real asshole," or if they do it's a charming asshole, it's not the mean spirited person, you know?"

"Because there's just so much in a day now, I keep writing in much more abstract terms, like I don't try to write about what happened anymore. It would be impossible."

"By nature of me being the one singing it and writing it there is always an innate bit of autobiography there ... but I think I learned years ago that you don't get songs that have that long stride and that pivot-hinge ability if it's too much diary entry."

"Bring all the spaces together And all the silences ever Bring all the spaces together Come close again Be my pause before the end I miss you, oh, like a fading dream And I have a feeling you know what I mean"

"I know I'm sane I don't give a care for the crown or the shield I will not protect you or happily yield To the one who makes me come undone"

"Helping the kids out of their coats But wait the babies haven't been born I'm unpacking the bags and setting up And planting lilacs and buttercups But in the meantime I've got it hard Second floor living without a yard."

"It may be years until the day My dreams will match up with my pay."

"Old dirt road (Mushaboom) Knee deep snow (Mushaboom) Watching the fire as we grow (Mushaboom)"

"I got a man to stick it out And make a home from a rented house And we'll collect the moments one by one I guess that's how the future's done."

"Don't you wish that we could forget that kiss And see this for what it is That we're not in love"

"The tragedy starts from the very first spark Losing your mind for the sake of your heart The saddest part of a broken heart Isn't the ending so much as the start."

"Ooh, I'll be the one who'll break my heart I'll be the one to hold the gun."

"I know more than I knew before I didn't rest I didn't stop Did we fight or did we talk."

"No one likes to take a test Sometimes you know more is less."

"The truth lied And lies divide Lies divide"

"One Two Three Four Tell me that you love me more Sleepless, long nights That was what my youth was for Old teenage hopes are alive at your door Left you with nothing But they want some more."

"Oh, oh, oh You're changing your heart Oh, oh, oh You know who you are."

"Sweet heart, bitter heart Now I can't tell you apart Cozy and cold Put the horse before the cartThose teenage hopes Who have tears in their eyes Too scared to own up To one little lie."

"One, two, three, four, five, six, nine, and ten Money can't buy you back the love that you had then."

"The cold heart will burst If mistrusted first And a calm heart will break When given a shake"

"I'm a stem now Pushing the drought aside Opening up Fanning my yellow eye On the ferry That's making the waves wave Illumination This is how my heart behaves."

"She really poured it on. She always pours it on. That's Feist."

"Feist comes from an indie-rock world, where it's sacrilege to admit any kind of ambition. But I had 100 percent in my mind the idea that we should have as much material as possible that could be played on the radio or resonate with a huge bunch of people. We already have the built-in reflex not to get behind anything that's going to be hollow. And when you have an artist with this kind of credibility, the idea is to communicate to as many people as possible without doing something ridiculous."

"Apple has really done its job. I thought it was a cute but harmless song (I first heard the song when she performed it on Letterman this past summer, and thought the chorus part was fun. That was about it). But now? I'm at the point where I'm thinking, "the next time I'm on iTunes I should download that song." And there's a reason for that. If I don't hear the entire song, the thirty-second snippet Apple gave us in the ad will rattle around in my cranium for months. So it's either download the song or go out and yell at the college kid who's going to serve me my latte tomorrow morning. You can see that I have no choice."

"Feist's third album of new material, "The Reminder" is ... the album that should transform her from the darling of the indie-rock circuit to a full-fledged star, and do it without compromises. "The Reminder" is a modestly scaled but quietly profound pop gem: sometimes intimate, sometimes exuberant, filled with love songs and hints of mystery. ... In her new love songs Feist apologizes, confesses to longing, hints at betrayals and misunderstandings and wonders what might have been. Her voice is self-possessed yet unguarded, and it hovers in arrangements that are often modest — just a handful of musicians playing together in a room — but can also proffer gleaming instrumental hooks and nonsense syllables that invite singalongs. The songs find equipoise within heartache."

"I’d love to know the future. Even if it’s just the past all dressed up to make whatever comes next look good."

"It's like luggage their language."

"It is not unlike men to leave."

"I told him to smother Linda with a pillow while she was sleeping. All he said was “Can’t live with ’em, can’t smother ’em with a pillow." I disagreed."

"You will definitely not survive this next bit."

"I bought a garden hose the other day. I have no idea why. I do things like that from time to time. For example, I’ll go out intending to buy cereal and come home with two Filipino hookers and an application for the Entertainment Card."

"...there is something larger that’s looming out there. A force that remains patient and silent. An entity that waits to teach a lesson that we have yet to grasp. It is much better to just lie there and let it roll over you like some immense army of unquestionable wonder."

""What made you think of Valium anyway?" I said. "I don't know. Maybe it was all that Valium that I took?" she said."

"Good morning, sunshine, time to go."

"Only killers call killing progress"

"Alert Status Red, but the sun comes up instead"

"Mother told me to be something so I'm afraid enough to stay wide awake"

"Searching for those defects, talking like it's a reflex."

"This Karma machine only takes quarters."

"Somewhere around the world someone would love to have my first world problems"

"Don't ever forget the moment you began to doubt, transitioning from fitting in to standing out."

"Can't even find the perfect brush to paint what is going through my mind."

"I'm doin classic shit in all my sessions."

"I'm just doing me and you can never understand it. Chicks get hammered, big dick bandit. Money flowing like a slit wrist no bandage."

"Young Money man this shit so timeless and I'm in the mood to get faded so please bring yo finest and what are all yo names again we drunk remind us? Are any of yall into girls like I am, let's be honest (lesbian(est))."

"My brother P-Rain knows we fuck with the same hoes, plus he taught me how to spot a officer in plain clothes, staring at you pussy niggas all I see is rainbows, hopping on a jet to every single Lil Wayne show. Me and little jazzy, please do not harass me just holla if you got me and fuck you if you had me."

"Last name Ever, first name Greatest"

"In your city, faded off the brown: Nino She insist she got more class, we know Swimmin' in the money, come and find me: Nemo If I was at the club, you know I balled: chemo"

"I'm a rapper turned singer and you can tell that he smoke, but I don't need my vocal cords all I hit are C notes."

"I am the topic of conversation this a celebration lets toast to the fact that I moved out my mama basement to a condo downtown cause it's all about location I sit and drink wine and watch Californication of life."

"I'm on my Disney shit, goofy flow/ on records I'm Captain Hook, and my new car is Rufio/ Damn, where my roof just go?"

"We walk the same path but got on different shoes Live in the same building but we got different views"

"Life ain't a rehearsal, the camera's always rollin'"

"When writing the story of your life, don’t let anyone else hold the pen."

"You underestimated greatly Most number ones ever, how long did it really take me?"

"Sinatra lifestyle, I'm just bein' frank with ya"

"Only holdin' up I do is my end of the bargain Only beggin' that I do is me beggin' your pardon Only tryin' that I do is me tryin' the hardest Only problems I do are math problems with profit Only lyin' I do is lyin' out in the tropics Only cryin' I do is cryin' from laughin' 'bout it Only lackin' I can do is my lack of responses Only rest that I do is "Where the rest of my commas?""

"Houston women I wine-and-dine and take to the house My moral compass is janky, it breaks in the South"

"Yeah, say that you a lesbian, girl, me too."

"I can’t hear the critics talking over the applause."

"Sorry Mrs. Drizzy, for so much art talk. Silly me, rapping about shit that I really bought."

"I'm about to go to Canada, I can't wait. Tell bitches I know Drake and get my asshole ate."

"I don't like anything about Drake. I don’t like his fucking voice. I don’t like what he talks about. I don’t like his face. I don’t like the way he walks. Like, nothing. I don’t like his haircut."

"It just shows what I've said. [He's a] fucking piece of shit. Like, motherfucker you ain't even know this woman. You didn't even know her. You were in middle school. Before, I just spoke on what I didn't like about him. I didn't know him so I couldn't say 'I didn't like him. I didn’t like this.' But now it's like, 'you fucking piece of shit. You piece of shit. Who the fuck is you to fucking write…to….to…I mean. Allow her music to live on and not include people she's always worked with? Not include her recipe? That’s like saying, 'you know what? I'ma make KFC but I'm not using the colonel's recipe!' That ain't KFC, nigga! That’s YOUR FC. Your fuckin chicken. [laughs] That’s some bullshit and it ain't the same shit. No let;s talk about this a little longer. That’s some bullshit. That’s some fucking bullshit! Fuck that! Fuck that! I don't give a fuck! What, nigga?! It is what it is man! It's wrong. Honor her legacy. Honor what she did. You have no right to make it yours! If you're going to allow her to live on, do it in a manner that honors what she did. That's all you can do! Respectfully. Rightfully. 'Oh I'm going to make this and re-' Who the fuck are you?! Who the fuck are you to change..?!"

"I'm a grounded person. I don't need security when I'm home as they know who I am. I live with my mum and tour with my dad... I'm just a regular 16-year-old kid. I make good grilled cheese and I like girls."

"to all the haters out there i wish u the best. U cant bring me down. I wake up everyday grateful 4 the opportunity and grateful to the fans"

"I don't like girls who wear lots of make-up and you can't see their face. Some girls are beautiful but insecure and look much better without the make-up, but decide to put loads on. I like girls with nice eyes and a nice smile."

"I want my world to be fun. No parents, no rules, no nothing. Like, no one can stop me. No one can stop me."

"Anything above 40 is a little too old for me. I just look for a girl who is funny and has nice eyes and a smile."

"I try to read all of my fan mail. A lot of them send me candy, which I'm not allowed to eat 'cause my mom says it might be poisonous."

"I don't really have an allowance. When I want to get something I just have to ask my mom."

"I usually have to be home by 10 o'clock and my mom takes my computer away at 10.30pm every night."

"Yeah, I’m a great kisser."

"I have dumped a girl over the phone - it's terrible isn't it? We got into an argument during a phone call so I basically said, I don't wanna be with you any more,' and she cried... I saw her after that and it was a bit awkward, but we're not enemies now, so that's cool...But I wouldn't recommend it, it's very mean!"

"My favorite thing is being able to travel around the world and perform for my fans. I think I’ve lost 80 percent of my hearing. I definitely have very loud fans."

"Without the Internet I would have no fans and I wouldn’t be in this business. I owe everything to the Internet and my fans."

"The girls show up wearing nothing. I can’t lie, I’m 16, I don’t hate it. I don’t have a girlfriend."

"My mom is my biggest fan. She’s been a fan since I was a baby."

"I think the obsession with my hair is funny. People copy my hair. At meet and greets, people touch my hair. I don’t have any product in it."

"I mean, girlfriends are trouble at this age."

"My first date has been sort of mythologized as ‘Bieber’s Dating Disaster.’ I took her to King’s a buffet restaurant. Yes, I wore a white shirt. Yes, I got spaghetti. No, this was not the brightest idea. But it wasn’t a big trauma, though."

"If I can do just one-tenth of the good Michael Jackson did for others, I can really make a difference in this world."

"On my Youtube page there are so many haters. They just say crazy stuff. Like, I'm not mad. I'm 16 years old and I don't have chest hair and I'm not angry about it at the moment. That will come. People are like, "Look at him he puts helium in his voice before he sings." You just have to laugh at yourself. It's funny."

"I don't think you should have sex with anyone unless you love them... I think you should just wait for the person you're...in love with."

"[when asked about abortion in cases of rape] Um. Well, I think that's really sad, but everything happens for a reason. I don't know how that would be a reason. I guess I haven't been in that position, so I wouldn't be able to judge that."

"I don't want to start singing about things like sex, drugs and swearing. I'm into love, and maybe I'll get more into making love when I'm older. But I want to be someone who is respected by everybody."

"When I was coming up, trying to get to where I am now, people were so happy for me. They were rooting for me. Now that I'm on top, everyone wants to bring me down. Everyone's trying to tug at me and take my spot... A lot of people say they hate Justin Bieber who haven't even listened to my music. They just hate the idea of me."

"there is time to play...and then there are times to work hard and get my fans an album."

"I feel like I carry myself in a more manly way. I don’t carry myself as a boy."

"i see all of u. i hear all of u. i never want to let any of you down. i love u. and..thank u."

"If you really don’t enjoy the type of music I make and that’s not you, OK. But don’t say I’m not talented. If you haven’t noticed, I wasn’t made — I was found."

"I also heard he got busted for smoking weed and he’s really sorry about it and people make mistakes and he’s never gonna do it again."

"I'll fucking beat the fuck out of you."

"After the new album, I'm actually retiring man. I'm retiring."

"I want to grow as an artist and I'm taking a step out, I want my music to mature."

"My beloved beliebers I'm officially retiring"

"I was discovered on YouTube and I think I was detrimental to my own career."

"And girl you're my one love, my one heart My one life for sure Let me tell you one time (Girl, I love, girl I love you) I'ma tell you one time"

"You know you love me I know you care Just shout whenever, And I'll be there You want my love You want my heart And we will never, ever, ever be apart"

"And I was like Baby, baby, baby ooh baby baby no like baby baby ooh thought you always be mine mine oh for you l would have doen whenever and l just can't believe we ain't together l want to play cool to u"

"Look, when you realize how fake it all is; the football, the basketball, the Lady Gaga, the Justin Bieber—you know, who gives you these carbon tax messages... They tell your kids they gotta love Justin Biebler [sic], and then Biebler [sic] says "hand in your guns", "pass the Cyber Security Act", and "the police state is good", and then your children are turned into mindless vassals—who now, they look up to some twit, instead of looking up to Thomas Jefferson, or looking up to Nikola Tesla, or looking up to Magellan; I mean, kids, Magellan is a lot COOLER than Justin Bieber! He circumnavigated with one ship the entire planet! He was killed by wild natives before they got back to Portugal! And when they got back there was only like eleven people alive of the two hundred and something crew and the entire ship was rotting down to the waterline! That's destiny! That's will! That's striving! That's being a trailblazer! An explorer! Going into space! Mathematics! Quantum mechanics! The secrets of the universe! It's all there! Life is fiery with its beauty! Its incredible detail! Tuning into it! They wanna shatter your mind, TALKING ABOUT JUSTIN BIEBER!!! IT'S PURE EVIL!!! They're taking your intellect, your soul, and giving you Michael Jordan and Bieber. Unlock your human potential! Defeat the globalists who wanna shatter your mind!—Your doorways to perception!—I wanna see you truly live! I wanna see you truly be who you are!!!"

"Justin Bieber is just the latest giant leap forward in the pussification of the American male. If he went to my school looking like this, we wouldn't have called him JB, we would've called him PB – for Punching Bag!"

"Justin Bieber posted a photo of bombed houses with the caption “praying for Israel”. When it was pointed out the picture was of Gaza, he deleted it and apparently stopped praying."

"Who the fuck is Justin Bieber?"

"[Justin is] a really great little guy... But that's his problem - he's a little guy... His fans are growing up, they're 18, 19-year-olds now... they're young women. And he still looks like that little boy!... He needs some hair, or something - I just don't think, from my gut - maybe my gut's wrong because it's not 100% - but I don't think he's going to stand the test of time... But you know what, I don't feel sorry for him, because he's made oodles and he's a fabulously nice person and he'll go on to do something else."

"He's a great guy. He's doing great out there right now."

"I remember when you visited me in my dressing room on tour and your beautiful little mamma walked in and said ‘do you know where a tanning bed is? You were 15 and you were adorable! Thank you for your music … you’re a little devil now 😈😈😈 I know because I have boys … but you’re a timeless genius and I will always dance to your music!!!"

"All the diamonds in this world That mean anything to me Are conjured up by wind and sunlight sparkling on the sea I ran aground in a harbor town Lost the taste for being free Thank God he sent some gull chased ship To carry me to sea..."

"Catching the light and falling into dark And the world fades out like an overheard remark... In the falling dark"

"Had another dream about the lions at the door They were not half as frightening as they were before But I'm thinking about eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me Walls, windows, trees, waves coming through You be in me I'll be in you Together in eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me Up among the firs where it smells so sweet Or down in the valley were the river used to be I got my mind on eternity Some kind'a ecstasy's got a hold on me, and I'm Wondering where the lions are and I'm Wondering where the lions are..."

"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by?"

"These fragile bodies of touch and taste This vibrant skin, this hair like lace Spirits open to the thrust of grace Never a breath you can afford to waste, when you're Lovers in a dangerous time Lovers in a dangerous time..."

"Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight you got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight"

"I want to raise every voice At least I got to try Every time I think about it Water rises to my eyes Situation desperate Echoes of the victims cry If I had a rocket launcher If I had a rocket launcher If I had a rocket launcher Some son of a bitch would die"

"If this were the last night of the world What would I do What would I do that was different Unless it was champagne with you..."

"Last Night of the World"

"Hail hero, hail hero, child of the sun All covered with flowers still having your fun"

"Hail hero, hail hero, child of your fate Come into the kitchen don't stand by the gate And show us your wisdom before it's too late"

"Hail hero, hail hero, let me see you smile You been gone for so damn long, I wish you'd stay awhile"

"The liquor tasted good and here the women all were fast... You can't jump a jet plane Like you can a freight train So I'll best be on my way In the early morning rain"

"But now the seeds are planted and the gates are opened wide The old ways are forgotten there is no place left to hide And the legacy I'm leaving you is not very hard to find You'll see it all around you at this crossroads of time In the sweet soil its a growing at the crossroads of time"

"If I could only have you near To breathe a sigh or two I would be happy just to hold the hands I love On this winters night with you"

"There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run And the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun Long before the white man and long before the wheel When the green dark forest was too silent to be real... Oh! The song of the future has been sung All the battles have been won On the mountain tops we stand All the world at our command We have opened up the soil with our teardrops and our toil"

"And the body of a dead youth Lies stretched upon the ground Upon the filthy pavements No reason can be found Black day in July"

"Satin rays and coloured days Stark blue horizons Naked limbs and wheat bins, hazy afternoons Voicing, rejoicing the wine cups do bring Pussywillows, cat-tails, soft winds and roses"

"Some say he was a sailor who died away at sea Some say he was a prisoner who never was set free Lost upon the ocean he died there in the mist Dreaming of a kiss Bitter Green they called her walking in the sun Loving everyone that she met Bitter Green they called her waiting in the sun Waiting for someone to take her home"

"If you could read my mind, love, What a tale my thoughts could tell. Just like an old time movie, 'Bout a ghost from a wishing well. In a castle dark or a fortress strong, With chains upon my feet."

"If I could read your mind, love, What a tale your thoughts could tell. Just like a paperback novel, The kind the drugstores sell. Then you reached the part where the heartaches come, The hero would be me. But heroes often fail, And you won't read that book again Because the ending's just too hard to take!"

"I never thought I could feel this way And I've got to say that I just don't get it. I don't know where we went wrong, But the feeling's gone And I just can't get it back."

"I can see her lookin fast in her faded jeans She's a hard lovin woman got me feelin mean Sometimes I think its a shame when I get feelin better when I'm feelin no pain Sundown you better take care if I find you been creepin round my back stairs Sundown you better take care if I find you been creepin round my back stairs"

"Searching through the fragments of my dream shattered sleep I wonder if the years have closed her mind I guess it must be wanderlust or trying to get free From the good old faithful feeling we once knew Carefree highway, let me slip away on you Carefree highway you seen better days.."

"When supper time came the old cook came on deck saying "Fellas its too rough to feed ya" When at 7:00 pm the main hatch way caved in he said "Fellas its been good to know ya" The captain wired in, he had water coming in and the big ship and crew was in peril When latter that night when her lights went outta sight came the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald Does anyone know where the love of God goes when the waves turn the minutes to hours?... And all that remains is the faces and names of the wives and the sons and the daughters..."

"Mowing your lawn is against nature."

"When I was very young I was Judy. On good days I was Dorothy, on bad days I was the Wicked Witch. The interesting thing about it, too, is that I’ve always related to it mainly because I don’t relate much to Frank Sinatra. I appreciate Frank, but there are so many Frank Sinatra imitators, whether it’s Harry Connick Jr. or Michael Bublé—the kind of guys who [Snaps his fingers in quick succession] basically want to get laid. And there’s nobody being the flip side of that, which is the hungry, lonely, desperate, crazy-person singer [Laughs]. So I wanted to pick up that mantle and try to be a little less cool."

"Yes, I'm a homosexual and I like to shock people with glamour."

"When I first came up with the lines, I don't know what it is, but you got to do it/ I don't know where to go but you got to be there, I was at this party for The Strokes in New York. There was this prevailing sense of, 'We're not quite sure what's happening or what is cool, but we know that it's somewhere around here, in this room.' It was this vague confusion, with everybody kind of sniffing for blood. It wasn't that it was a bad party, or that I don't like The Strokes; I just think there's a lot of confusion right now in the music business. Then, later on, I realized the song was really personal. I didn't know where I was, and I didn't know I was actually lost. It wasn't about the party at all; it's about searching but not knowing what you're searching for. There's the train motif, being on this train heading for either oblivion or salvation – and just holding on for dear life. That song came down from some mountain somewhere, because it was right after I wrote it that I sort of packed it in."

"The song is about knowing the end result of every situation you're in, and being able to play it out in your mind and see it before it happens. It's about addiction, really, about knowing how it's all going to end up. In that sense, you're watching a movie of yourself all the time – and then you want out of that movie."

"'Evil Angel' is an interesting song. It's actually to do with a journalist who, uh... I was in France at the time and quite delicate... and this guy basically seduced me in Strasbourg... he gave me a tour of the town and it was very romantic, and we did actually make out in the middle of this town square... and then I went and did the show and I never heard from him again. And I just felt incredibly used. I think a lot of it has to do with, once you get into this business, you do have to become some kind of a machine. You do have to be heartless at times and be able to plough through certain situations. I don't want to totally become that person, but it's good that I'm thinking about it."

"Nothing eviscerates the ego like becoming a parent. For a pop star, that’s not the easiest thing. But it’s led to a complete realignment of priorities for me. Now what happens to my daughter is far more important than what happens to me. And these days it’s not even just my child who is more important than me – it’s all children."

"I’ve always been an old soul. I started drinking when I was very young. I got into opera when I was 13. I sought out older musicians. It’s as if I have always been trying to accelerate my life. It’s not that I found people my own age unstimulating. There was just something about always being the youngest kid in the room when I was growing up."

"Grief is unexplainable. My mother has now been dead for 10 years. I only put my grief for her on the shelf when about five years had gone by. I felt as if I’d passed my exams. I had grieved enough, it was time to live again. And it felt like that for the next five years. But this Christmas I got the worst whiplash. It all came back out. I’m doing better now, but it was horrific. Leonard Cohen warned me it would be hard. He told me that, despite his mother having passed away many years previously, in his late 70s she was almost more present than ever."

"I don't want to hold you and feel so helpless I don't want to smell you and lose my senses And smile in slow motion With eyes in love."

"You broke my heart, Danny boy Not your fault, Danny boy I was had at the doorstep Played, like a two to a four-set Had, like poor Job in the bible by God."

"And you will believe in love And all that it's supposed to be But just until the fish start to smell And you're struck down by a hammer."

"Cigarettes and chocolate milk These are just a couple of my cravings Everything it seems I like's a little bit stronger A little bit thicker A little bit harmful for me."

"I really do fear that I'm dying I really do fear that I'm dead I saw it in your eyes what I'm looking for I saw it in your eyes what will make me live."

"I did go from wanting to be someone now I'm drunk and wearing flip-flops on Fifth Avenue."

"Why am I always on a plane or a fast train? Oh what a world my parents gave me Always Travelin' but not in love.Still I think I'm doin' fine Wouldn't it be a lovely headline? Life is Beautiful on a New York Times."

"Putting all of my time In learning to care And a bucket of rhymes I threw up somewhere Want a locket of who Made me lose my perfunctory view Of all that is around And of all that I do."

"The mind has so many pictures Why can't I sleep with my eyes open? The mind has so many memories Can you remember what it looks like when I cry?I'm trying, trying to tell you All that I can in a sweet and velvet tongue But no words ever could sell you Sell you on me after all that I have done."

"I really need to know I may just never see you again, or might as well You took advantage of a world that loved you well I'm going to a town that has already been burnt down I'm so tired of you, America."

"Even if the sun, it is blazing Even if the snow, it is raging All the elements, we must conquer To get to the other side of town."

"These are just the rules and regulations Of the birds, and the bees The earth, and the trees, Not to mention the gods, not to mention the gods."

"Who will be at Sanssouci tonight? It's only when you're outside that you notice Only through the window you can see them Once the door is open, all will vanish."

"Guess the world needs both sun And the moon too Sad with what I have except for you."

"And I am left behind Corrupted crushed and blind All for a dream That in truth was never really mine."

"I believe in freedom Freedom's apparently all I need But who's ever been free in this world? Who has never had to bleed in this world?"

"But I don’t even think you hear me at all Under your medieval ceiling behind your biblical wall"

"One day you will come to Montauk and see your dad playing the piano And see your other dad wearing glasses Hope that you will want to stay for a while Don’t worry I know you’ll have to go"

"Somebody curse the light And take me far away from myself"

"Rufus seemed to come out of the womb completely musical. I'm convinced that when the doctor bashed him on the bum he sang a few bars of Nessun Dorma."

"Rufus might sing with that beautiful voice, and the entire world seems to melt and stop; but it's his hair, after all, that I'm jealous of."

"Rufus is one of those singular musical talents who both transcends and makes a mockery of fashion. It would not matter in which musical era he chose to materialise, but that his voice and his sensibility would be recognised as unique, timeless and without peer."

"His songs are obviously drawn from his own experience, but he's mastered the art of making them emotionally universal."

"The Greatest songwriter on the planet."

"Rufus Wainwright has as true a voice as you can hear and as sweet and acute a sensibility as you can imagine. His musicianship combined with his poetic, intelligent and humane outlook on life make for one of the great performers of our day. I adore his singing, his song-writing, everything about him…"

"He's got a phenomenal voice."

"Rufus is extraordinary, so musically gifted in many diverse fields. He is a prince in shining armour, a true star in these days of dull and boring, pissy little pop stars."

"Ah, for just one time I would take the Northwest Passage To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage And make a northwest passage to the sea."

"Seeking gold and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones."

"Race the roaring Fraser to the sea."

"To seek a Northwest Passage at the call of many men To find there but the road back home again."

"Oh, the year was seventeen seventy-eight (how I wish I was in Sherbrooke now!)"

"God damn them all! I was told we'd cruise the seas for American gold we'd fire no guns -- shed no tears! Now I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier The last of Barrett's Privateers."

"Rise again Rise again That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men."

"No matter what you've lost Be it a home, a love, a friend Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again."

"And you to whom adversity has dealt the final blow With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go"

"I would never preach vegetarianism. It’s such a personal choice. It’s got to suit you, and be right for you: emotionally, spiritually and physically. If it’s working for you, that’s really great. … I definitely think there are some benefits. I know a lot of people that have had cancer, for example, and they’ll make a point of telling me, ‘The first thing my doctor told me to do was stop eating meat during this process.’ I think it’s interesting a doctor would suggest a vegetarian diet when you’re already sick. … I stick to a mixture of real raw, whole-food items every day. I make sure I’m eating greens every day, and nuts, and food that’s not processed. I do that every day."

"Being part of a rock band takes a lot of energy. That is one reason I became a vegetarian. I feel better physically, I have a lot more energy and I feel better emotionally knowing that I am not contributing to the suffering of animals worldwide. Remember, every time you sit down to eat you have a choice to make. I hope you choose to make a difference."

"Comfort zones, after all, are the enemy of growth."

"Unhappiness is simply when the picture in your head doesn’t match the picture in front of you."

"I`ve been called just about everything, but I`ve always thought of myself as just a singer."

"[Glen Campbell] was a wonderful man and he was so good to me. Every time that I ever asked him to do anything, he was here for me always."

"The climate in Sweden is rather the same as in Canada. It makes me feel at home."

"I was sitting in my suite one night after the show, and I looked out at the [Las Vegas] Strip and saw the huge neon billboard with my name on it, spelled out in those giant letters they use. Then I looked across the street at Caesars Palace and saw Frank Sinatra's name, in the same giant letters. And I said to myself, 'Face it, Anne; you're in the business.'"

"I hated my life when I was going through those early days and having to deal with drunken musicians and drugged musicians. I hated it."

"I guess that singing is probably a very selfish thing. I guess it doesn't matter what you do. It's selfish in a way 'cause there's satisfaction involved and so. As a singer, you sometimes have to justify your reason for existence in a sort of a way because: what really are you doing for people, they say?"

"What you saw was what you got. There was no difference from me on stage and me sitting here talking to you."

"You know what? When someone does that for me, it makes me feel really good. It's like you're important."

"That's something that I regret – that I allowed them to browbeat me into doing an album every year. Because when I took time out to have children I got behind in my albums. One year I had to do three in a row. The same year! Just to keep up with my contract with them. What a pile of bullshit that is."

"If you have a dream, a passion and have the opportunity to make it happen, great. BUT, if you can’t get to it right away, which is quite often the case, give the job you’re doing 100 per cent and keep your eyes open. You never know what opportunity might arise … something you never thought of could become your life’s work. Success of any kind is the result of hard work … there’s no shortcut."

"If you think asking for help betrays weakness, get over it. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s a sign that you’re confident enough to admit that other people may know more than you know or can do things better than you can."

"[Anne Murray] embodies the Canadian popular music industry. She's been so successful within Canada and internationally. She's really identified with Canada, even one of her songs Snowbird, that's so Canada."

"I've always had a crush on Anne Murray, since I was like 9 years old. But no, [Ingenue]'s not about her."

"Yeah, I am! It sounds so stupid – to be a nice person is the best thing in the world – but, yeah, I’m 20 and I just want to have fun. What I don’t want to do is live the rest of my life thinking, ‘I wouldn’t do that because I’m known as Prince Charming.’ The second that someone corners you into a personality, you don’t want to be that person any more."

"For me it’s hurtful. I get mad when people assume things about me because I imagine the people who don’t have the support system I have and how that must affect them."

"There is a house built out of stone Wooden floors, walls and window sills Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust This is a place where I don't feel alone This is a place where I feel at home"

"Out in the garden where we planted the seeds There is a tree as old as me Branches were sewn by the color of green Ground had arose and passed it's knees By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top I climbed the tree to see the world When the gusts came around to blow me down I held on as tightly as you held onto me"

"And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust"

"[A] paper sailboat: They seem so frail, but when you put them on water they float. It's a reminder that even though I'm small and seem weak, I'm not."

"Success is when you see something, and you say, 'I want to do that,' and then you do it. It's being happy with what you do and doing what you love every day."

"To me "where the wild things are" is a place that exists in our minds; it's a place of liberty and shamelessness. It can take a split second or a lifetime to find it, but once you do, you'll be free."

"There's a wild thing that exists in all of us. It lives in our passions, in the people we love, in our subconscious thoughts, our beliefs. It's even made a home in the darkest parts of us, but we can't be scared of it, we have to become it."

"I didn't think that working hard and wanting something that's out of your control would be that bothersome to people. It was just really disappointing for me."

"I want to be remembered as a person who, or as an artist who provided comfort for people."

"I think music is like my only talent, unfortunately. I just utilized it as much as possible."

"I think if you're meant to do something, no matter what, you'll always get there and I think you'll find your path, no matter what."

"It was the first time I’d been introduced to so many people in one place. If anything it solidified my belief that this is what I want to do with my life."

"My daddy says that life comes at you fast, we are like blades of grass: We come to prime and in time we wither away."

"We will leave the empty chairs to those who say we can't sit there; we're fine all by ourselves."

"You belong here."

"I really, really fuck with Alessia Cara. She’s beautiful as fuck, her voice is like water, it’s like milk, I think it’s gorgeous. It has so much dimension, and she deserves every accolade that she gets. And people can’t be mad. I don’t give a fuck when her album came out! She sounds great right now! So, like, it’s over. You have to just move over and be grateful for the shit that did happen in your favor."

"For me it's important to make great dance songs, growing up as a dancer. You know, not only just getting lost in the beat but getting lost in the lyrics whether it’s about having a great time or having lyrics with more of a purposeful meaning."

"Take advantage of every opportunity that you get. I was always one to go into any singing competition and taking advantage of offers for any performances. Just get as much experience as you can. Don’t listen when people say "Oh you can’t do that." If you want it keep going for it."

"Having power means a lot of things: getting closer to the truth and, therefore, to danger... having to make sacrifices... having to accept that difficult decisions you make will be misunderstood."

"We’re not talking about creeping fascism here. This is full on police state tyranny from the gangster President Donald Trump."

"I’ve received hundreds of messages of concern and outrage from Canadians that a convicted felon, sexual predator, and a man who threatened our nation’s sovereignty, is being allowed into our country."

"Donald Trump poses a clear threat to American democracy, to Canadian sovereignty, and to the international rule of law."

"Canada can no longer view the United States as an ally. We know that Donald Trump doesn’t believe in liberal democracy."

"Canada must be focused on containing this clear and present danger to our nation and the rule of law."

"The most rewarding part is the feeling I get when I am performing on stage. Yes, before I go on stage I get nervous, but when I'm on stage it's the most magical, surreal feeling."

"My only way to actually know what I’m feeling is if I take an instrument and just start splatting out words. It’s so random. It’s very much like my subconscious speaks; otherwise I have no idea what I’m really thinking and I’m like, ‘what is going on in my brain right now.’"

"Since I was 13 years old, I've been writing songs about how I feel and mental health. So many of my songs are genuinely just my diary entries."

"I've just always been that child that spent a lot of time around adults when I was younger...I feel like I am super observant of everything everything around me, and I think that makes me a little wise beyond my years. People say I'm like a 40-year-old in a 17-year-old's body."

"I don't really know what the switch is. Any time I'm in a studio, step on stage, or get onto a music video set, there's a five-second reset where I black out and turn into this confident, fearless person."