Harmony has always come very natural to us because we started singing harmony at an early age. We heard a lot of different music growing up. Petra Haden More Quotes by Petra Haden More Quotes From Petra Haden I like things that start depressing and dark and end up romantic, and thats what I really loved about King Kong. Petra Haden depressing kings dark I always related my favorite music to the movies. Petra Haden favorite-music related my-favorite I remember watching Looney Tunes cartoons and having the music stuck in my head. Petra Haden tunes cartoon remember The Conversation was a movie I saw probably for the first time in the early 2000s. I immediately loved the piano and just how simple it is. Petra Haden piano saws simple I played violin from when I was about eight to thirteen, so I could read a little bit, but if you put a piece of music in front of me now, I would probably know the notes, but not the timing, how they're supposed to be played, and I just don't know how to read chords. If I'd stuck with it, I'd probably have more jobs. Petra Haden eight pieces jobs I got a new 4-track cassette recorder a year or so after high school. For a while I would just stare at it thinking, how am I going to do this if I don't play guitar or keyboards? How am I going to write and record a song if I don't know how to play any instruments? I mean, I played the violin, but I didn't know anything about how to work a 4-track. Petra Haden writing song school I didn't know who Meredith Monk was, and I knew about Laurie Anderson but I didn't know her music that well. Petra Haden wells monk knows I put out Imaginaryland, I heard a lot of, "Oh she's copying Laurie Anderson," and I was like, wait... but I don't know her music! Maybe - didn't she have a song called "Superman"? Petra Haden copying waiting song Everyone knows about The Who, but I didn't. I knew the popular songs like "I Can See For Miles." So that was the first song I worked on because it was the catchiest and easiest. Petra Haden miles song firsts People want to hear clean sounds; they don't want to hear coughing in the background, pages turning. Petra Haden pages-turning sound people My grandparents on my mom's side played in a mandolin orchestra. So when I hear mandolins, I automatically think of them. Petra Haden grandparent mom thinking I've already done two cover albums. I don't know, maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to do another, but I just did the Led Zeppelin song for fun, and I thought I could do it kind of quick since songs that I love a lot I can do fast. Petra Haden song fun ideas Our dad played us a lot of old country songs by The Carter Family and he would sing along to it. I loved listening to him sing. Petra Haden dad song country My forte is playing along and singing along to music I love. I mean, who knows, maybe I could develop that knack or develop that ability to write, and I do actually co-write with people and friends, which is fun, too, because then I don't have to worry about writing lyrics, because for me writing lyrics is impossible. Petra Haden writing fun mean You have to be a poet to know how to write a song with lyrics. Petra Haden poet writing song I just recorded in studios, you know, people pressed the buttons for me. So I just started recording the bass lines and guitar parts with my voice, covering classical pieces, or just making up melodies so I could learn how to use it. Petra Haden guitar voice people The first song I wrote was "Look Both Ways Before You Cross" from Imaginaryland. I started the song by singing a bass line, "hoo hoo hoo hoo." Petra Haden singing song looks Eventually I had so many little melodies and ideas that, you know, that they were all songs to me and I threw in a few cover songs like Enya's "Watermark," Bach, and my dad's song, "Song for the Whales." Petra Haden whales dad song I love the Bach Prelude No. 2 in C Minor and had that stuck in my head: why don't I put this on Imaginaryland? So I brought it to my friend Tom Grimley who recorded That Dog's first record. I played him all my a cappella pieces, and he said, "P, you should really make a record, it would be great! You can record it at my studio and I'll put it out!" Petra Haden pieces would-be dog I never punched in anything when I recorded Imaginaryland. Where the title came from is a whole other story. Petra Haden titles whole stories
