Singer Songwriters From Canada

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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!"

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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"

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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 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."

"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."

"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"

"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"

"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."

"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’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."

"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 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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"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."

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

"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."

"I sing my sorrow and paint my joy."

"(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."