Time to go inward would you believe that I'm afraid to stare down the barrel of choices I have made. Rodney Crowell More Quotes by Rodney Crowell More Quotes From Rodney Crowell My father took me to see Hank Williams on December 14th, 1952. I was two years and four months of age. And I remember a little cool eddy of hair hitting my cheek, and I remember the smell of his hair oil, and I remember the mingling tonality of the small talk before the show started. Those are my memories. Rodney Crowell coolmeagememories Certainly, writing a book was challenging. It took me a long time to learn how to do it. It took me seven years to get a sense of how to wean myself off the process and trickery of songwriting. You realize that giant metaphors work in songs because you have so few words. Standing alone on a page, they threaten to be overblown in a hurry. Rodney Crowell alonemyselfmework My mother was apt to fall out on the floor and start speaking in tongues. Actually, it was a great performance... It was great theater. As a 5-year-old, I understood that, although it scared me and there was a little part of me going, 'I don't know about this. This seems over-the-top to me,' at the same time, I did understand that this was passion. Rodney Crowell mepassionmothertime There are certain choices you make as a songwriter, based on vowel sounds and melody and chord changes. Rodney Crowell changesyoumelodychoices When you're younger, love is this magic thing where the heavens open up. You live 40 years past that, you realize sometimes the heavens close down. Rodney Crowell youlove-islovepast I grew up poor in East Houston. I used to be ashamed of it, but I'm not anymore. It's kind of a badge of courage now. Rodney Crowell nowashamedpoorcourage The beautiful despair is never fruitless. It keeps you going. Like when I first heard Bob Dylan do 'Things Have Changed,' or any time I see any work of art really beautifully done, like Michelangelo's 'The David' or that movie 'Lost in Translation' - it inspires me to try and find my own version of that. Rodney Crowell meworkbeautifulart I will say this: I've always sort of had maybe an inflated sense of my ability to sequence songs in a narrative flow. Rodney Crowell saywillalwaysability Singing duets is instinctive, intuitive. Rodney Crowell instinctiveintuitivesinging Violence was very much a part of my mother's upbringing - a little less so with my father's, but my father was an angry man when he was young. He was angry and frustrated and had no idea how to channel anger. Rodney Crowell manangermotherfather I never allowed writer's block to be a reality. I framed it up for myself early on. I said, 'OK, if I'm not writing, the well is just filling up. I'm going to be patient with this.' Rodney Crowell nevermyselfwritingreality The way I made 'Diamonds and Dirt,' which had all those hits in a row, was that I was just making a record. It was just the one that rolled up in my natural process, and it happened to be commercial. Rodney Crowell diamondsjustprocessway You start creating art through the people that are looking at you, trying to route it through their sensibilities or their eyes, and then it's not you anymore. Rodney Crowell eyesyoupeopleart I admired Mary's work very much. From the time someone gave me 'The Liars' Club,' I immediately went into a world where I grew up. And I remember, when I finished the book, I actually thought, 'You know what, I need to write songs with her.' Rodney Crowell meyouworktime I was an only child. Rodney Crowell onlychildonly-child My family was very poor. Strangely, though, my father was an enigma in that he was always working. He was not a ne'er-do-well. He wasn't lazy. He just couldn't hold on to money. It just, it was an enigma for him. He just, his pockets were always empty. Rodney Crowell familypoormoneyfather In the 74 years and nearly four months marking her time on what she called this crooked old Earth, my mother rarely drew a healthy breath. Still, to say that life wasn't fair for this awkwardly glib, yet deeply religious woman, would fail to take into account her towering instinct for survival. Rodney Crowell womanmothertimelife My mother's a very spiritual woman, and I think Pentecostal religion, Bible religion, was very important to her because it gave her a context for a very spiritual approach to life. Rodney Crowell womanmotherbiblelife My father had a perfectly good drummer who he had an argument with. So one day, on a Tuesday, my father came in with a cheap pawn shop set of drums and said, 'Put your foot here, and you kick there, and you play this, and this is the high hat.' And Friday night, I was playing in a honky-tonk. Rodney Crowell daygoodyoufather Because of my methodology and my sensibilities to write songs, I'm not very comfortable with the notion to rush in any creative endeavor. Rodney Crowell songsbecausecomfortablecreative
