Cass McCombs famous quotes

It's hard to make out the difference between insults and bad advice.
-- Cass McCombs

#Differences #Advice #Insult

Try to keep your mind. Try not to eat bad, try not to wake up with too bad of a hangover.
-- Cass McCombs

#Hangover #Mind #Trying

I'm making music with my friends. It's fun. It should be fun. You shouldn't make music if it isn't fun.
-- Cass McCombs

#Fun #Should #My Friends

Elvis Presley wore a Star of David and a cross around his neck and, when someone asked him about it, he said, "It makes me think." I love that quote. It's simple. It's beautiful. It's true.
-- Cass McCombs

#Beautiful #Simple #Thinking

I just like writing lyrics. I find a little satisfaction in performing live, making records. But primarily, I just try to write every day.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #Trying #Records

I project love, music and love, and I pray for peace. A good song cuts straight to the heart; sometimes it doesn't need to be too many lines - of course, I do love a good story.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Heart #Cutting

Everyone wants to be well-loved and appreciated but, at the same time, there are some people that just don't want to be your friend, and there's nothing you can do or say to change that.
-- Cass McCombs

#People #Want #Appreciated

I couldn't write a political song. There's just opinion; it's all arbitrary anyway. It's all subjective.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Writing #Political

I want to make something that's useful to someone, somewhere.
-- Cass McCombs

#Want

I think I like singing when I'm singing live. It's just in the studio when it's a drag.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Singing #Drag

It doesn't mean that I'm overly enthusiastic about much music. Except the people that really touch me. It has to touch me, it has to grab a hold of me, I'm not looking for anything in particular.
-- Cass McCombs

#Mean #People #Enthusiastic

I don't really write for an album. I just write songs whenever I feel like it, whenever they come to me. It's all a complete accident.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Writing

I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people; we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life, and I don't have a problem with that. This is a transitory world; we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it and holding on.
-- Cass McCombs

#Meaningful #Heart #Thinking

I grew up in the suburbs and was raised on rap radio, so it took me a long time to stumble upon the acoustic guitar as a resource for anything.
-- Cass McCombs

#Rap #Guitar #Long

I think it's worthwhile to expand your comfort level and just do something awful. I wasn't trying to make music for money.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Trying #Comfort

I do like the word timeless. That's a great word.
-- Cass McCombs

#Timeless

I was just a folk singer. I cut my teeth on the streets, you know.
-- Cass McCombs

#Cutting #Teeth #Singers

I wouldn't go into the studio if I didn't have a band who's ready, willing, and able.
-- Cass McCombs

#Band #Able #Ready

I love songs because by nature they are concise; they sum up. I try to use as few words as possible. It's usually funnier that way, anyway.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Trying #Use

The writing of the record didn't take long, because I just have a huge stack of papers and I just pluck from the stack. It took a long time because it's very expensive to make records; in fact, I think it's a complete rip-off.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #Thinking #Long

I've always littered my songs with jokes. You might need to dig a little deeper to find the humor, but I would totally object to being some kind of distraught personality. I've never tried to attach myself to that.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Personality #Needs

Folk art has never been much about politics; it's about action and utility.
-- Cass McCombs

#Art #Action #Folks

Even if I'm writing music, it's with a lyric in mind, to communicate some kind of feeling.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #Feelings #Mind

Lyrics are my racket; music is play - the fluff stuff.
-- Cass McCombs

#Play #Stuff #Racket

Musicians wake up and create a more loving community by creating heavier music.
-- Cass McCombs

#Creating #Community #Musician

Music is the marriage of the feelings of the living to the wisdom of the dead.
-- Cass McCombs

#Feelings #Music Is

I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.
-- Cass McCombs

#Jobs #Thinking #Way

Opinions only carry weight in the second or third person.
-- Cass McCombs

#Weight #Opinion #Third Person

It's the stupidest thing of all time, going on tour. It deteriorates the soul, but it's fun.
-- Cass McCombs

#Fun #Soul #Stupidest

I write for myself, and I write for my friends and people who I have a connection with. I try to give some dignity to peoples' lifestyles that tend to be ignored.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #People #Giving

I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.
-- Cass McCombs

#Needs #Partnership

I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.
-- Cass McCombs

#People #Care #Kind

I don't live anywhere, so that's what's fun about tours.
-- Cass McCombs

#Fun

I don't think I'm a particularly somber human being.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Somber #Humans

A baseball team is like a band. Because, conceptually, there are no heroes in baseball - there's just the team.
-- Cass McCombs

#Baseball #Team #Hero

When you're playing festivals, you only get a half-hour. It's like a meat market. You don't get to be artistic. You don't get to play music. It's called a showcase for a reason.
-- Cass McCombs

#Play #Meat #Half

I don't like going to the studio. It just seems too cold. There's no crowd to react to, or share anything with; it's just talking into a microphone that's going into a computer.
-- Cass McCombs

#Talking #Crowds #Cold

If you've ever sang in falsetto, you know that your throat is between your voice and your mouth. In a standard voice, you sing from your belly. And when you sing in a falsetto, you're blocking that. It gives it a filter. It gives it a character. It's less revealing.
-- Cass McCombs

#Block #Character #Voice

I think I prefer singing in falsetto. I like the way it sounds. It doesn't sound like my natural voice. It sounds like a character.
-- Cass McCombs

#Character #Thinking #Voice

I have been singing as long as I can remember. I used to be in choir; I used to do musical theater. I'd prefer not to sing my own songs, but there you have it.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Long #Musical

It's not like that when you're a songwriter - songwriters aren't like pulp writers or journalists, even. You just follow the muse. It's called muse-ic. Whenever the muse decides to bestow her inspiration on the songwriter, then the song is born.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Inspiration #Muse

I don't have a problem doing interviews. It's not punishment. There's things about it that I don't like. No one else is really saying these kinds of things, so someone has to. I don't think that it's the most humbled thing to talk about yourself for hours and hours and hours.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Kind #Problem

I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's not paycheck at the end; it's more of a "whatever is left over" kind of situation. Also, it keeps me from thinking about my creativity as a business, which it is not. It should remain pure; that's one of the reasons I made music in the first place.
-- Cass McCombs

#Creativity #Thinking #Kind

I don't know about timeless. I actually think most of what I do is completely modern, but universally modern. Who decides what timeless even means? Are the things that we consider timeless now going to, in fact, be considered timeless in 300 years? Probably not.
-- Cass McCombs

#Mean #Thinking #Modern

With death comes a choice. And death is a choice.
-- Cass McCombs

#Choices

Thank god we don't know a lot about William Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautréamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious. Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.
-- Cass McCombs

#Art #Powerful #Guy

All these biopics and biographies and people gossiping about so-and-so's drug abuse or who's sleeping with who, it's just a bunch of nonsense.
-- Cass McCombs

#Sleep #People #Drug

Bringing the individual into it music only distracts from the universal and makes it trivial. And then it's easy to wash your hands of it because you might not be from their background, or you might disagree with their personal perspective. So you discount it and go back into your corner instead of coming out and engaging with everything.
-- Cass McCombs

#Perspective #Easy #Individual

Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best. To make it about the artist and to dwell upon biographical information can only make it singular, and I am really, really disgusted by that.
-- Cass McCombs

#Art #Artist #Disgusted

Beggars can't be choosers. We don't have all the money in the world. So anyone who wants to be in the band and be broke - that's their own death wish.
-- Cass McCombs

#Wish #World #Broke

I don't like the word "happy." I wouldn't want to use it that context. I enjoy writing songs, it's a really good challenge, it tickles me. It's a wonderful way to engage with your surroundings, through poetry and songs.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Writing #Challenges

I took piano lessons when I was a little kid, but even before that, you're singing in the classroom and wherever. Gosh, children are always singing. But I took music lessons, some choir and things like that at school. I learned how to play the guitar when I was about 13... ancient history.
-- Cass McCombs

#Children #School #Kids

I miss working. It's real, you know? But I don't know anything but songwriting, and I don't even know that. I didn't go to school; the only thing I know how to do is this. The only thing that I know is that I know nothing.
-- Cass McCombs

#Real #School #Missing

I hate my voice. I've never been comfortable singing.
-- Cass McCombs

#Hate #Voice #Singing

That's what I mean by "Western morality," is the lack of morality. There is none. People are out for themselves, and they'll stab you in the back.
-- Cass McCombs

#Mean #People #Morality

People take things a little too personal. I write these songs, and they're experiments with thoughts. That's it. I'm not a teacher.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Teacher #Writing

If it's possible to have an enemy without making it personal or moral, then that's what I'm trying to do.
-- Cass McCombs

#Enemy #Trying #Moral

Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.
-- Cass McCombs

#Looks #Information #Way

Dead men always have the last laugh. They win. They're dead. You can't hurt their feelings anymore.
-- Cass McCombs

#Hurt #Winning #Men

I've always been interested in an idea of boundless love - an impersonal, big love.
-- Cass McCombs

#Ideas #Bigs #Boundless

Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best.
-- Cass McCombs

#Art #Art Is #Humans

It's not my way to talk about my feelings. They're impudent to myself, so it wouldn't make any sense if I tried to explain them to anyone else. I've never been to therapy - not interested in it.
-- Cass McCombs

#Feelings #Way #Not Interested

People expect not just songwriters but all personalities to pontificate about their egos.
-- Cass McCombs

#People #Personality #Ego

You can't just explain a joke. Either it isn't funny, or the person just totally missed the punchline.
-- Cass McCombs

#Persons #Punchlines #Jokes

People just wanna see someone talking about themselves constantly. I'm not interested in that.
-- Cass McCombs

#Talking #People #Not Interested

As long as there are a few people there, I can lose myself, which is the ultimate goal. And that's happening more and more; the non-musical world is becoming less and less interesting to me.
-- Cass McCombs

#Interesting #Long #People

This is rock'n'roll, not classical music. It's about people working together.
-- Cass McCombs

#Rocks #People #Working Together

It's just a joy to be able to work with a lot of different musicians. When you play with great musicians, whether they're schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes.
-- Cass McCombs

#Self #Play #Joy

A lot of religious texts make for good reading. That's why they hold up.
-- Cass McCombs

#Religious #Reading #Good Reading

I don't think I'm even a musician. I don't play a lot of instruments, not really a soloist or anything.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Play #Musician

Usually there's no specific reason for loneliness - it's a broad feeling.
-- Cass McCombs

#Loneliness #Feelings #Reason

Loneliness is the most compelling force in the universe.
-- Cass McCombs

#Loneliness #Force #Compelling

I wouldn't claim to know what another person is thinking. I can imagine it, but it's my interpretation, and I try to make that clear. It's my vision of what I think their life is. I don't think there are empirical truths in that regard.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Vision #Trying

When I'm trying to write a song for someone else, you can only see anything through your own eyes.
-- Cass McCombs

#Song #Writing #Eye

I've always thought about myself as somewhat of a folk musician. I just write words.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #Musician #Folks

I'm not trying to write for the masses. I don't care.
-- Cass McCombs

#Writing #Trying #Care

I think I try to do a lot of things to weed out casual fans.
-- Cass McCombs

#Weed #Thinking #Trying

When I was young, I used to go to Baha'i camp, and they taught me a lot about the equality of religions.
-- Cass McCombs

#Baha #Taught #Used

As it turns out, it's really expensive to make movies, much more than records.
-- Cass McCombs

#Records #Turns #Expensive

To me, craft work is the ultimate. Maybe I got this idea from the autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini, who was employed as a sculptor to the state and church, making coins and things. While he admired Michelangelo, he also made fun of his spiritual angst with art.
-- Cass McCombs

#Spiritual #Art #Fun

That's the thing about inspiration, it just smacks you upside the head, you can't plan for it. It comes like a stranger in the night; you never know when it's going to come or leave, and you just have to deal with the in-between moments because there's nothing you can really do about it.
-- Cass McCombs

#Inspiration #Night #Stranger

I love being lost! I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone. I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people, we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life and I don't have a problem with that.
-- Cass McCombs

#Meaningful #Heart #Love Is

This is a transitory world, we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it, and holding on. Even if it's a moment it's true love, true love doesn't mean that it goes on for eternity. Eternity is a terrible concept.
-- Cass McCombs

#Mean #Looking For Love #World

I don't think anyone knows anything and I don't trust people who say that they do. Don't give me a plan, give me action.
-- Cass McCombs

#Thinking #Giving #People

I think a master craftsman is someone who is unpretentious. He has a physical object in front of him and, while he works with a higher aim, he doesn't let his personality get in the way of his art. It's simply about the task at hand and to make it as functional and necessary to the world as he can.
-- Cass McCombs

#Art #Thinking #Personality