Adam Schlesinger Quotes

Author Image

Adam Schlesinger

Profession : Musician

Birth : October 31, 1967

I think people sometimes confuse 'catchy' with something that should automatically be a hit in today's world. I mean, obviously we write a lot of stuff that's catchy, that sticks in your head. But that doesn't necessarily mean that middle-school kids are going to want to listen to a song about a lawyer or a Subaru or whatever.

Adam Schlesinger

I think I initially started inventing characters in my songs because I didn't want to write directly about myself. Also, as a kid, I loved all the character names in Beatles songs, like Eleanor Rigby and Lovely Rita and Mean Mr. Mustard and Maxwell and Rocky Raccoon.

Adam Schlesinger

I am not very regimented unless I have to be. I wish I was someone that could just write every day, but I tend to work on specific projects for a specific period of time and then stop.

Adam Schlesinger

I'm just like anybody else: I have stuff to do in the day, whether that's writing a song or recording a song. I try to treat everything I do as just work.

Adam Schlesinger

As a writer, I find it very satisfying when a lyric suddenly ties together more neatly than you expected it to. But for the listener, hearing a good lyric is not generally as exciting as hearing a great beat or a great riff or a great melody or even a distinctive singing voice for the first time.

Adam Schlesinger

Most of your day is spent working, and being in a band is no different. We're just business travelers in a way.

Adam Schlesinger

A song sometimes ends up with its own internal logic.

Adam Schlesinger

I usually start with a lyric and see where that takes me.

Adam Schlesinger

I had a job transcribing a biotechnology-litigation seminar. You put headphones on and fast-forward and stop with your feet. There were a lot of 'um's.'

Adam Schlesinger

Coachella is a magnet for music-biz luminaries such as Tara Reid, Paris Hilton, and Cameron Diaz.

Adam Schlesinger

The Cleveland Cavaliers are forced to play in something called the 'Quicken Loans Arena.' This is a terrible name for a sports venue.

Adam Schlesinger

One of the more surreal days I've ever had in the recording studio was Martin Fry teaching Hugh Grant his old dance moves. Showing him how to do the hair-flip and the point, and all these sort of trademark moves of his.

Adam Schlesinger

With Fountains Of Wayne, I almost always start with lyrics - maybe not the entire lyric, but I almost always need a couplet or something, and then I work from there. With Ivy, it's much more about the atmosphere and the vibe.

Adam Schlesinger

I've never really had the desire to be a front person or a solo artist. I don't really create that much of a hierarchy in my mind.

Adam Schlesinger

In promotional mode, every day is a series of decisions. You can easily fill up your day with checklist stuff.

Adam Schlesinger

Really, music is what I'm interested in, and the lyric part of it came from just having to have something to sing.

Adam Schlesinger

If you're sitting in a place like Martha's Vineyard, I don't think you're going to write a song about a ski resort.

Adam Schlesinger

It's always been my philosophy to keep a lot of balls in the air. With music, most things don't pan out, so you try to increase your odds by being involved with a million things at once.

Adam Schlesinger

I always have to be thinking about who's going to be singing this song, what the context is. I don't sit around just writing in a vacuum, ever.

Adam Schlesinger

A band can define their own success.

Adam Schlesinger