I made a note in my head to be aware of things as they were happening, because they might not happen again. Up to that point, I was not really that appreciative of what was going on, or thinking about documenting life in a plainspoken manner. I was talking about my life and writing songs, but then I would go back and listen and they were about dreams, and legends, and metaphors and that was just not my life!

James Vincent McMorrow

Categorized in : Song Writing Dream

Sometimes my hands they don’t feel like my own; I need someone to love, I need someone to hold.

James Vincent McMorrow

sometimes hands needs

I like what I like, I don't like what I don't like, and I'm very bad at toning myself down.

James Vincent McMorrow

I write songs on a course of time that's comfortable for me. I would probably never write a song from start to finish in the course of a day, hell probably not even a week. My mind is always going to change and my emotional state will also change on a daily basis.

James Vincent McMorrow

emotional writing song

Life is short. I'm here to make music, I'm not here to sit on a beach. That sounds really boring to me.

James Vincent McMorrow

life-is-short sound beach

I never was the front man in any bands I played in when I was in college, and I always learned music by myself at home.

James Vincent McMorrow

college home men

I've traveled quite a lot and become a coffee nut.

James Vincent McMorrow

traveled coffee nuts

I was never a 'sit down with a notepad and write lyrics' kind of person.

James Vincent McMorrow

notepads kind writing

I want to talk about things that are tangible and real to me, but I also want to do them in a way that's poetic and artistic.

James Vincent McMorrow

real want way

I didn't start playing music really until I was 18/19, so it was a relatively new thing. I didn't play much music in school.

James Vincent McMorrow

new-things play school

I have some vivid memories of walking around as a child with a cassette tape.

James Vincent McMorrow

tape memories children

You play a couple of shows, and these label guys come - and they leave halfway through a show. Then the phone calls just stop. And your heart is broken.

James Vincent McMorrow

phones couple heart

I'm an introspective human being and someone who likes to be alone in a room. The idea of going out and talking to people...there's something appealing about it, but also there's something that feels alien to me, as a cynical Irish man.

James Vincent McMorrow

talking men ideas

I'm learning on the guitar all the time.

James Vincent McMorrow

guitar

My favorite records are not easy - they're not records that reveal everything to you the first time out.

James Vincent McMorrow

records my-favorite firsts

I'm mostly a keep-to-myself kind of guy, but you slowly find yourself getting folded into the musical tapestry.

James Vincent McMorrow

finding-yourself musical guy

The idea of trying to predict what people will or won't respond to is risky.

James Vincent McMorrow

trying people ideas

It's like half the campaign of selling a record is trying to convince people that you're an artist. Well, I am an artist. This is what I do.

James Vincent McMorrow

artist trying people

I'm very ambitious, musically - I want to create great things, not mediocre work.

James Vincent McMorrow

ambitious mediocre want

Hip-hop has been the guiding light of my life as a musician and a music fan. It's the one common thread through all of it from the time I bought my first record probably. It's always been there.

James Vincent McMorrow

common-threads hip-hop light

I moved to London with this really warped sense of expectation.

James Vincent McMorrow

moved london expectations