There's kind of this unequaled thrill of playing a half-finished song, it's kind of sense of slight embarrassment; like you're blushing. I like doing that. I did that with "Eyeoneye" and it was almost a curse on the song for a while; I debuted it when it was half-finished in a very public way

Andrew Bird

Categorized in : Song Half Thrill

You travel with the hope that something unexpected will happen. It has to do with enjoying being lost and figuring it out and the satisfaction. I always get a little disappointed when I know too well where I’m going, or when I’ve lived in a place so long that there’s no chance I could possibly get lost.

Andrew Bird

satisfaction littles long

I think I'm still a little too intense for my own good sometimes.

Andrew Bird

littles sometimes thinking

Every time I get up in the morning, melodies occur to me and I start trying to shape lyrics to melodies.

Andrew Bird

shapes morning trying

With the words, a lot of things start with questions. Some word kind of piques my interest, and I love the way it sounds, but I really don't know what it means. And I honestly don't care for a while.

Andrew Bird

pique sound mean

Sometimes I think I don't have much choice in the matter. It's just what happens, and I'm following my instincts the whole time.

Andrew Bird

choices matter thinking

I guess I'm attracted to more archaic words because they can be imbued with more meaning, because their definition is elusive.

Andrew Bird

elusive definitions

When I start asking my friends, "What do you think this means?" And it leads to way more interesting conversations than what it actually ends up meaning in the dictionary. Like "apocryphal," for instance.

Andrew Bird

interesting-conversation mean thinking

Songwriting requires some sort of ceremony to even get the process started, and it can be somewhat arbitrary.

Andrew Bird

songwriting arbitrary process

My favorite literature to read is fairly dry history. I like the framework, and my imagination can do the rest.

Andrew Bird

dry imagination literature

I still kind of believe this absurd line that if you have to write it down, it's not worth remembering.

Andrew Bird

lines writing believe

There's a lot of interesting words, nomenclatures, in science.

Andrew Bird

nomenclature interesting

I have the barn, it's just kind of like a studio. Almost all artists have la studio to work in, and that's really what it is. A place to get away. I'll spend maybe four days out there if I can, just completely immersed - like where I don't bathe or brush my teeth for a few days, just get up and make coffee and experiment until the sun goes down.

Andrew Bird

teeth coffee artist

I've always felt that dark lyrics with dark music is pretty useless. Maybe that's a strong statement - not useless, but for me, it's just boring.

Andrew Bird

useless strong dark

All the folks I play with come from jazz backgrounds or at least appreciate spontaneity within the parameters of a pop song.

Andrew Bird

appreciate play song

Songwriters can sort of get away with murder. You can throw out crazy theories and not have to back it up with data or graphs or research.

Andrew Bird

motivation crazy inspiration

I finished touring the last record and I started recording new .I never really left the bubble, which is I think a good thing. I was just very focused. Maybe I should have taken a break or something, and not done such a long push.

Andrew Bird

taken should-have thinking

I am, in some sense, a writer. Even though I kinda downplay the word thing, I do enjoy writing sometimes.

Andrew Bird

enjoy writing sometimes

The first notes I still play when I start a sound check are classical. Those are my roots.

Andrew Bird

roots sound play

No, it's not dissatisfaction that inspires me to tinker with my songs, it's just restlessness.

Andrew Bird

dissatisfaction song inspire

I also don't believe that "everything happens for a reason," which is in a similar category of world-views.

Andrew Bird

everything-happens-for-a-reason views believe