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" What should a song be about? It's a trick question for songwriters because lots of amazing songs aren't 'about' anything. Or, at least, they're not about anything that's obvious or logical. "

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" 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

Point

Old

" Making your own records is really satisfying in the sense that you more or less get to do what you want. It may not sell or whatever, but on an artistic level, the only people that you really have to fight with are the people in your own band. "

" Andy Chase and I were keyboard players originally, and we became guitarists later. But it's fun for us to focus more on the keyboard stuff sometimes. "

" A song sometimes ends up with its own internal logic. "

" Every year, there's some band that plays guitar-oriented pop music that has a single, but for the most part, it's kind of relegated to the sidelines. "

" With Fountains of Wayne, after 'Stacy's Mom' happened, we started making a little bit more money and getting a little bit more known. "

" I just like to stay busy, and I like to work with interesting people. "

Adam Schlesinger

Interesting

Work

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

Adam Schlesinger

See

Lyric

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

" For me, it's just more satisfying when you follow the rules rather than just make a bunch of sounds. The magic of just making noise in the studio goes away after a while. "

Adam Schlesinger

Rules

You

" 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. "

" 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

Need

Always

" I think in most cases, when you're writing a song, you're just making up a little story, and you're not really thinking about making a point one way or another about it. You're just coming up with a little scenario and seeing it through, and that's it. "

" 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.' "

" 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. "

" I like switching gears. I'm kind of a chameleon. "

" 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. "

" A band can define their own success. "

" I don't ever feel like I'm being an actor. "

Adam Schlesinger

Being

Actor

" Either I need an assignment with a strict deadline - like something for a movie or a TV show or whatever - or else I need to create a made-up deadline for myself for my own records. Otherwise, I don't write anything. "

" 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. "

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

" Bands like R.E.M. and even The Replacements, during that initial wave of college rock, would sell 40, 50, 100,000 copies of a record, and that would be seen as extremely successful - and definitely enough to keep doing more. "

" I just try to tell a story rather than present an open diary to the world. "