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John Darnielle Quotes
John Darnielle Quotes
John Darnielle
American
Musician
Born:
Mar 16
,
1967
About
Me
People
Think
Writing
You
Related authors:
Bob Dylan
Dolly Parton
Frank Sinatra
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Kanye West
Lil Peep
Nipsey Hussle
YoungBoy Never Broke Again
For me, moving is always a big opportunity. It's just a enough of a shift in outlook that every time I move, it seems to open something up.
John Darnielle
Time
Me
Opportunity
Big
Every
Enough
Every Time
Seems
Something
Outlook
Open
Always
Shift
Up
Big Opportunity
Move
Just
Moving
I think all writing is necessarily autobiographical to a greater or lesser extent, and the less it tries to be confessional, the more likely it is that you're somehow sneaking the things you need to say in there.
John Darnielle
You
Writing
Think
Say
Tries
Somehow
More
Likely
Greater
Sneaking
Autobiographical
Less
Lesser
Lesser Extent
Things
Necessarily
Extent
Need
Wrestling's a form of expression, and it expresses vastness.
John Darnielle
Wrestling
Vastness
Form
Expresses
Expression
I was writing poetry, and the Mountain Goats was an outgrowth of that.
John Darnielle
Writing
Outgrowth
Poetry
Goats
Mountain
Something I've learned being in this industry for so long is that if you want to work with somebody, call them up. Very few musicians have any illusions about genre boundaries. They are useful descriptive terms, but they don't really bind musicians.
John Darnielle
Work
You
Musicians
Somebody
Long
Few
About
Something
Boundaries
Terms
Genre
Call
Industry
Learned
Up
Very
Any
Being
Want
Them
Really
Useful
Descriptive
Bind
Illusions
That's what I used to enjoy so much: Bringing a record home, having it arrive in the mailbox. Having the whole experience of hearing it as you're holding it and looking at it and reading the liner notes, if they're anything.
John Darnielle
Home
You
Experience
Looking
Reading
Holding
Enjoy
Record
Having
Arrive
Hearing
Anything
Notes
Much
Used
Whole
Bringing
I think any real one-sheet for an album would say, 'Well, here's what I've been doing.' And that would be it.
John Darnielle
Think
Say
Would
Would-Be
Well
Real
Doing
Been
Any
Here
Album
I know the Bible pretty well. I'm not one of those guys who can immediately start quoting every book, but usually I know where to look to find certain themes.
John Darnielle
Bible
Book
Every
Immediately
Those
Find
Pretty
Guys
Know
Look
Well
Where
Quoting
Themes
Certain
Who
Start
I think there are some writers - like, if you read Kerouac, I think you probably need to take a little break before you sit down to the typewriter because he's the type of writer whose voice infects you.
John Darnielle
You
Before
Sit
Down
Think
Type
Typewriter
Some
Voice
Writer
Take
Writers
He
Like
Read
Because
Break
Little
Whose
Need
Once you start talking to people, you find out there's a lot more wrestling fans than you think there are.
John Darnielle
You
People
Fans
Think
Once
Out
Find
More
Wrestling
Talking
Lot
Than
Start
Songs are often character studies.
John Darnielle
Character
Songs
Studies
Often
The best ones - Hulk Hogan believes in Hulkamania. It's not a thing he's selling here. It's real. He knows it's real because he goes to the Mall Of America and everybody goes insane, right? Wrestling is real. Those characters are real.
John Darnielle
Best
Everybody
Those
Insane
Characters
Wrestling
He
Knows
Because
Real
Mall
Selling
America
Goes
Hulk
Believes
Right
Thing
Here
Wrestlers give their bodies to their work. I don't know if I like the word 'crazy' here. What I would say is there are people who have a different relationship to their bodies than most people.
John Darnielle
Work
Relationship
Crazy
People
Word
Say
Would
Give
Wrestlers
Like
Know
Most
Than
Different
Bodies
Who
Here
Sometimes I'll write without the guitar or the piano, but most of the time I'll be playing and just improvising some words. And when I get something that sounds good, a line with a story in it, I'll try and tease it out and figure out where the story is going.
John Darnielle
Time
Good
Words
Guitar
Sometimes
Try
Out
Some
Something
Write
Piano
Most
Without
Sounds
Line
Get
Going
Improvising
Just
Where
Story
Figure
Tease
Playing
I don't sit down and say I'm going to write a song about this or that. They are never mapped out.
John Darnielle
Song
Sit
Down
Say
Out
About
Write
Never
Going
Mapped
I wrote 'Lakeside View Apartment Suites' with Roman in my arms. He was about a month old. I was playing left-handed and finally handed him over. On the demo of it, you can hear him crying in the next room.
John Darnielle
You
Old
Finally
Month
About
He
Over
Demo
Crying
Wrote
Arms
Him
Hear
Handed
Left-Handed
Roman
Apartment
Room
Next
View
Playing
I write for a lot of places, so I'm on a lot of promo lists.
John Darnielle
Promo
Write
Lot
Lists
Places
Sometimes I do 'So Desperate' solo in the middle of the set. I really love to sing that song.
John Darnielle
Love
Song
Sometimes
Desperate
Solo
Sing
Middle
Really
Set
For years, I've written narrators who aren't gender-identified. When I do autobiographical stuff, that's different, obviously. But I've always tried to keep my songs as potentially not a man's thing.
John Darnielle
Man
Tried
Potentially
Songs
Written
Stuff
Obviously
Always
Years
Autobiographical
Different
Who
Keep
Thing
I write stuff down. I have a chalkboard in the kitchen where I will scrawl stuff down if I have a faint outline of an idea. And I'll go into my office or whatever. But that goes from format to format.
John Darnielle
Will
Whatever
Down
Outline
Kitchen
Write
Idea
Stuff
Faint
Go
Office
Goes
Where
Format
My favorite movies are gory horror films. I love Faulkner. I wanted to see the most painful things possible.
John Darnielle
Love
Films
Faulkner
Favorite
Favorite Movies
Possible
See
Horror
Horror Films
Most
Wanted
Movies
Painful
Things
I love Joan Didion, but I love her writing. I don't think meeting her could solve my problems or make me understand the world better.
John Darnielle
Love
Me
Writing
World
Better
Problems
Think
Meeting
Joan
Solve
Could
Make
Understand
Her
Touring is just not normal for me. My personality is to never ever talk to people if I can help it.
John Darnielle
Me
People
Personality
Never
Touring
Talk
Normal
Just
Help
Ever
A Cat Stevens record isn't just Cat Stevens' ideas. It's Cat Stevens and all the musicians who play with Cat Stevens, right?
John Darnielle
Musicians
Record
Cat
Cat Stevens
Ideas
Just
Who
Play
Right
Sometimes I feel very young, and other times I feel like the side of a ship that's got a bunch of layers of mussels and barnacles on it.
John Darnielle
Sometimes
Young
Other
Side
Layers
Feel
Like
Got
Ship
Very
Bunch
Times
The way the vocal folds work is that they can get inflamed and in pain, but actual tears in the folds are somewhat rare. I've never torn anything. Been too strained plenty of times.
John Darnielle
Work
Tears
Rare
Pain
Too
Way
Plenty
Torn
Vocal
Somewhat
Never
Been
Times
Get
Inflamed
Anything
Strained
Actual
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