When I'm writing a lyric, I totally forget about the music. I'm just looking at the lyric and thinking about it almost as a separate entity. And then I'll go to my keyboard with all the lyrics printed out and try to think of how to make this a complete musical thing. I've got a very basic keyboard with some presets.

Scott Walker

Categorized in : Thinking Writing Musical

The unions say 'last hired - first fired,', we say hire and fire based on merit. We want the best and brightest in the classroom.

unions fire want

I promised to empower the taxpayer - instead of a handful of big... by Scott Walker

I promised to empower the taxpayer - instead of a handful of big government union bosses.

boss empowering government

When we win, it will tell every politician in America that if you are bold, if you do the right thing, if you tackle the tough issues, there will be people standing there right with you.

issues winning america

I don't want to be a slave to history or facts. As long as I'm getting a good cursory understanding of what it is and I'm not drifting too far away at certain points, then I can play with the idea and take it anywhere I want to.

play long ideas

I hate big government, but I really hate a government that doesn't work. So when 'they say we either have to raise taxes or cut core services,' it's actually a 'false choice.

cutting government hate

Looking at America's history, ordinary people did something extraordinary. Leaders risked their lives for freedoms that we take for granted today.That's what instills confidence. That's us. We will move forward and prosper because that's who we are as Americans.

america people moving

There could not be a more stark contrast between Wisconsin and Il... by Scott Walker

There could not be a more stark contrast between Wisconsin and Illinois.

starks wisconsin illinois

I still remember, as a kid, tying a yellow ribbon around a tree in front of my house during the 444 days that Iran held 52 Americans hostage. Iran is not a place we should be doing business with.

iran yellow kids

Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill. The first step is we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer.

unions couple use

Collective bargaining isn't a right, it is an expensive entitlement. Once and for all, we are giving the taxpayers a voice in this debate. We put the power back in the hands of the people.

voice hands people

But I don't want massive layoffs of anyone - public or private. We are planning on shrinking government through attrition and reform, not through random pink slips.

shrinking reform government

The harder part of doing a real story is that there are real people and you have a responsibility to not just go crazy with their lives and have them do things which are not their character, that they then have to live with.

crazy real character

So why am I facing a recall election? Simple: the big government union bosses from Washington want their money. They don't like the fact that I did something fundamentally pro-worker; something that's truly about freedom.

boss government simple

The people who are making you feel under attack is your union leadership, and they're doing it for politically intense reasons.

intense unions people

I've often heard the complaint from both Democrat and Republican voters alike that they hate the fact that politicians get into office and they - and they're fearful, they're fearful to make tough decisions because they think more about the next election than they do about the next-generation.

hate office thinking

I'm not so in with the prescriptive avant-garde agenda. I can do that sort of thing, but I feel that I'm still interested enough in song structure. When I look at a lyric on the page, the lyric is alive to me, looking like soldiers in a field. I can move it around, and it's very black-and-white.

black-and-white song moving

More people on unemployment benefits is not success in America, fewer people on not because we kicked them off but because they have been able to get a job in the private sector, because government got out of the way.

government jobs america

I just think this is people who are chronically looking for ways... by Scott Walker

I just think this is people who are chronically looking for ways to be upset about things.

upset people thinking

A wise governor told me a long time ago, political capital you don't get more of by keeping it. You get it by using it.

political wise long

The music has to be as interesting. It has to keep taking you into places that you're at least not used to.

used interesting