Guitarists From England

"[When I wrote], I'd be expanding on an idea and then I'd go back and I'd review it. So a lot of it you can hear train wrecks as you're playing through the song -- I'm just working and trying stuff. Then I'd come back, as you say, and extract what appeared to be the shining bits, if you like, as opposed to the bits, and then I'd lace them together. That's how the sequence of the song would arrive."

"My vocation is more in composition, really, than anything else. Building up harmonies, orchestrating the guitar like an army – I think that’s where it’s at, really, for me. I’m talking about actual orchestration in the same way you’d orchestrate a classical piece of music. Instead of using brass and violins, you treat the guitars with synthesizers or other devices; give them different treatments, so that they have enough frequency range and scope and everything to keep the listener as totally committed to it as the player is."

"A riff will come out of.. this whole thing of do you practice at home and all that. Well, I play at home and before I knew where I was, things would be coming out and that's those little sections or riffs or whatever. At that stage it's selection and rejection. It's whether you continue with something or you go, 'No that's too much like something else,' and then you move into something else. If you've got an idea and you think that's quite interesting, then I'd work and build on it at home. "Rock and Roll" was something that came purely out of the ether."

"It’s almost unfair that one of the greatest electric warriors of all time, a riffmeister of repute and a rocker almost without parallel, also happened to be a brilliant and thoughtful acoustic player as well. Jimmy Page’s musical magpie act and boundless virtuosity meant he was able to take almost any genre or style and bend it to his will. Much like his electric side, Page’s acoustic playing was unconventional, full of strange angles and unexpected shapes and changes. And yet it somehow always rocked. Simply exceptional."

"Are you home from the sea, my soul balladeer You've been away roaming far away from here weathered a storm, your heart unafraid crossed every ocean in the boat that you made.... You're a light in the dark, a beacon of hope and strong as a sea boat, strong as a rope. And the vagabond wind, whispers over the bay and the songs and the laughter, are carried away in the sky."

"When it's pop goes the weasel Let go of the easel You don't want This rickety rackety life It's seat of the trousers It's all sink or swim, son..."

"These are not my decisions Flaming visions Ringing expressions The clamouring voice It's volcanic desire The unquenchable fire It isn't a question Of having the choice Anyway, now I'm old But if you won't be told If you've been created To answer the call All passion and lust Is going to end in the dust But you'll hang on some Government gallery wall"

"And it's one, two, three, two, two we're all a disgrace McIntyre tore us apart And we dance with ourselves when we'd all found a space Waltzing with fear in our hearts"

"I worked the rowdies and daytrippers Now and then I think of you Any which way we're all shufflin' Forward in the queue They'd like to move my operation They'd like to get me off the pier And I dream I'm on a steamer Pullin' out of here"

"MacIntyre's teaching us waltzing Out on the gymnasium floor McIntyre's out of the army You'll be slippered if you get him wrong McIntyre's din booms loud in the gym And we've only got a little short song We've only got a little short song"

"I wonder if there's no forever No walking hand in hand Down a yellow brick road To never never land These days I get to where I'm going Make it there eventually Follow the trail of breadcrumbs To where I'm meant to be ... When I think about us I see the picture that we made The picture to remind us True love will never fade."

"You must go, forget it Let it all go, let it all go Go, forget it, let it all go"

"Sometimes you're the windshield Sometimes you're the bug Sometimes it all come together baby Sometimes you're a fool in love Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger baby Sometimes you're the ball Sometimes it all come together Sometimes you're gonna lose it all"

"Last time I was sober, man I felt bad Worst hangover that I ever had. It took six hamburgers and scotch all night Nicotine for breakfast just to put me right. ’Cause if you wanna run cool, If you wanna run cool, If you wanna run cool, you got to run On heavy, heavy fuel."

"If we can't get along we oughta be apart And I'm wondering where'd you get that cold, cold heart Set me free - sign my release I'm tired of being the villain of the peace"

"But it's written in the starlight And every line in your palm We're fools to make war On our brothers in arms."

"A three-chord symphony crashes into space The moon is hanging upside down I don't know why it is I'm still on the case It's a ravenous town And you still refuse to be traced Seems to me such a waste And every victory has a taste that's bittersweet"

"Through these fields of destruction Baptisms of fire I've witnessed your suffering As the battles raged higher And though they hurt me so bad In the fear and alarm You did not desert me My brothers in arms."

"Oh the iron will and the iron hand In England's green and pleasant land No music for the shameful scene That night they said it had even shocked the queen"

"Here comes Johnny singing oldies, goldies Be-Bop-A-Lula, Baby What I Say Here comes Johnny singing I Gotta Woman Down in the tunnels, trying to make it pay. He got the action, he got the motion Oh yeah the boy can play. Dedication, devotion Turning all the night time into the day."

"All the late night bargains have been struck Between the satin beaus and their belles. Prehistoric garbage trucks Have the city to themselves Echoes and roars, dinosaurs They're all doing the monster mash. And most of the taxis, most of the whores Are only taking calls for cash.I don't know how it happened It all took place so quick. But all I can do is hand it to you And your latest trick."

"Now look at them yo-yo's, that's the way you do it You play the guitar on the MTV. That ain't workin', that's the way you do it. Money for nothin' and chicks for free. Now that ain't workin', that's the way you do it Lemme tell ya them guys ain't dumb. Maybe get a blister on your little finger; Maybe get a blister on your thumb."

"I can see what you're looking to find In the smile on my face In my peace of mind In my state of grace I send what I can To the man from the ministry He's a part of heaven's plan And he talks to me Now I send what I can to the man With the diamond ring"

"It takes love over gold And mind over matter To do what you do that you must When the things that you hold Can fall and be shattered Or run through your fingers like dust"

"I'm tired of being in love and being all alone When you're so far away from me. I'm tired of making out on the telephone Because you're so far away from me."

"Two men say they’re Jesus, one of them must be wrong."

"Why worry? There should be laughter after pain. There should be sunshine after rain. These things have always been the same. So why worry now?"

"She gets the sun in the daytime Perfume in the dusk And she comes out in the night time With the honeysuckle musk Because she smells just like a rose And she tastes just like a peach She got me walking where the wildlife goes I'd do anything to reach her And she was made in heaven Heaven's in the world"

"A long time ago came a man on a track Walking thirty miles with a sack on his back And he put down his load Where he thought it was the best He made a home in the wilderness He built a cabin and a winter store And he plowed up the ground by the cold lake shore And the other travelers came walking down the track And they never went further, no They never went back Yes, and they say we're gonna have to pay what's owed We're gonna have to reap from some seed that's been sowed"

"She gets rock n roll, a rock n roll station And a rock n roll dream. She's making movies on location. She don't know what it means. But the music make her wanna be the story. And the story was whatever was the song, what it was. Rollergirl don't worry. D.J. plays the movies all night long."

"I seen a girl on a one way corridor Stealing down a wrong way street For all the world like an urban toreador She had wheels on her feet Well the cars do the usual dances Same old cruise and the curbside crawl But the roller girl she's taking chances They just love to see her take them all No fears alone at night she's sailing through the crowd In her ears the phones are tight and the music's playing loud"

"Hallelujah here she comes queen rollerball Om Shanti what can I say don't care at all You know she used to have to wait around She used to be the lonely one But now that she can skate around town She's the only one"

"When you can fall for chains of silver, you can fall for chains of gold You can fall for pretty strangers and the promises they hold You promised me everything, you promised me thick and thin, yeah. Now you just say, "Oh, Romeo, yeah. You know, I used to have a scene with him.""

"Well, I'd sooner forget, but I remember those nights Yeah, life was just a bet on a race between the lights You had your head on my shoulder Your hand in my hair Now you act a little colder Like you don't seem to care"

"A love struck Romeo, sings a street-suss serenade; Laying everybody low, with a love song that he made. Finds a convenient street light, steps out of the shade He says something like, "You and me babe, how about it?""

"Juliet says, "Hey, it's Romeo. You nearly give me a heart attack." He's underneath the window; she's singing, "Hey, la, my boyfriend's back. You shouldn't come around here singing up at people like that. Anyway what you gonna do about it?""

"Getting crazy on the Waltzers, but it's the life that I choose. Sing about the sixblade, sing about the switchback and a torture tattoo. And I been riding on a ghost train where the cars they scream and slam, And I don't know where I'll be tonight but I'd always tell you where I am."

"You get to meet all sorts in this line of work Treachery and treason, there's always an excuse for it And when I find the reason, I still can't get used to it And what have you got at the end of the day? What have you got to take away? A bottle of whisky and a new set of lies"

"Stepping out to Angellucci's for my coffee beans Checking out the movies and the magazines Waitress she watches me crossing from the Barocco Bar I'm getting a pickup for my steel guitar I saw you walking out Shaftesbury Avenue Excuse me for talking I wanna marry you This is the seventh heaven street to me Don't be so proud You're just another angel in the crowd And I'm walking in the wild west end Walking with your wild best friend And my conductress on the number nineteen She was a honey Pink toenails and hands all dirty with money Greasy hair, easy smile Made me feel nineteen for a while"

"Lady writer on the TV She had all the brains and the beauty. The picture does not fit You talked to me when you felt like it. Just the way that her hair fell down around her face Then I recall my fall from grace Another time, another place."

"And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make the scene He's got a daytime job, he's doing alright. He can play the honky tonk like anything, Saving it up for Friday night. With the Sultans... with the Sultans of Swing."

"Juliet, the dice was loaded from the start And I bet, then you exploded in my heart And I forget, I forget the movie song When you gonna realize it was just that the time was wrong? Juliet. We come up on different streets, they both were streets of shame Both dirty, both mean, yes, and the dream was just the same And I dreamed your dream for you and now your dream is real How can you look at me as if I was just another one of your deals?"

"You say I'm the greatest, bound for glory. Well the word is out and I learned. I got the latest side of the story: You're pulling out before you get burned."

"The caretaker was crucified for sleeping at his post They're refusing to be pacified, it's him they blame the most. The watchdog's got rabies, the foreman's got the fleas. And everyone's concerned about Industrial Disease. There's panic on the switchboard, tongues are tied in knots. Some come out in sympathy, some come out in spots. Some blame the management, some blame the employees. And everybody knows it's the Industrial Disease."

"Chris is proof of how wonderful humans can be when they really put their minds to it."

"Jacob Collier: Chris is one of the most brilliantly-minded musicians I think I’ve ever encountered, and so, so joyous. To be completely honest with you, I think there are very few musicians nowadays who are making music from the perspective of just being open and joyful. source"

"Wayne Coyne: Chris Martin is such a sweet, thoughtful guy, and he gave me a cool book and all this stuff. But part of it was that we thought, “Well, we’ll meet them, and then we’ll stay for a couple songs, and then we’ll go get something to eat, and it’ll be a great night, who cares?” And we stayed the whole show. The show was phenomenal. And when it ended, we stood there like, “It can’t be over!” It was like two hours of just sheer joy. And then when it stopped, we didn’t want it to stop. How many times are you at a concert where that happens? source"

"Guy Berryman: Chris is always working, I think he is the biggest workaholic that I know. His capacity for making music and writing songs is boundless, almost. source"

"I can't remember a time when he (Chris) wasn't making music, he'd write songs about anything. Spaghetti. My gerbils. It didn't matter. Everybody believed in his talent and drive, but we were from a village in Devon and that sort of thing doesn't happen from places like that."

"Elton John: He is the kindest and most gracious friend, along with being a fantastic musical force of nature. source"