Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App

" When you're collaborating with somebody, there has to be a spirit of cooperation. There are a lot of times when you just can't persuade someone to write a certain type of song, either musically or lyrically. "

Related Quotes:

" I learned a lot from the various artists I produced. Either you see them doing something that you do want to do it, or you see them doing something the way you don't want to do it. "

Walter Becker

Doing

You

Way

" I think the audience for Limp Bizkit is probably not going to be particularly interested in what we're doing. I don't think they'll find much that satisfies them in what we do. "

" Cynicism, I contend, is the wailing of someone who believes that things are, or should be, or could be, much, much better than they are. "

" There's a great freedom in writing by yourself. You can write anything you want. "

" All our wives are experimental psychologists. "

" It's great fun to play with a really good band. "

" It was the 'Gaucho' album that finished us off. We had pursued an idea beyond the point where it was practical. That album took about two years, and we were working on it all of that time - all these endless tracking sessions involving different musicians. It took forever, and it was a very painful process. "

" Going out and looking for managers is like going out and looking for rattlesnakes. "

Walter Becker

Looking

Going

" When you start to work with someone, there's a negotiation that takes place involving what's going to happen when you have a difference of opinion. Most attempts at collaboration never survive the negotiation. Merely being agreeable is not enough. "

" ABC had all these schlocky, bubblegum acts, and we had to come up with suitable material for them. In which we were amazingly unsuccessful. "

Walter Becker

Unsuccessful

Material

" It's a mystery to me why everybody doesn't love jazz. I've never been able to figure that out. "

" With 'Aja,' there was a sort of happy conjunction between our tastes and the backgrounds and styles of studio musicians at the time. "

" There are some things that I write that I know are personal in a way, or the gag is so obscure that it's just for me, and there's other things that could basically be for anybody or be anything, at least until the lyrics start to get written. "

Walter Becker

Personal

Obscure

" It's good - it's great when somebody who is 20 years younger than you comes up and says, 'Wow, we just got turned on to you guys, and you're really great,' or something like that. I like that. "

" There was a film called 'FM,' and we were asked to do the title song. And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.' It took a day or two to write. "

" I listen to a mixture of old jazz, contemporary, pop, some world beat stuff and various odds and ends. "

" Most of the time when people say something sounds like Steely Dan, and I listen to it, it doesn't. And I'm not even sure what they're talking about. "

" With any relationship that goes on and is productive over a long period, there have to be some sort of interlocking qualities in those personalities that make it possible to survive. "

" We try to write things that work on a variety of levels at the same time: A sleek exterior with a turbulent lyric. "

" What gets people into trouble with records now is that they want to build something up without substantial musical ideas. Without that as a foundation, you can add all the layers of sound you want - it's still going to sound like a mess. "

" I spent a couple of years not doing any music or anything, just here in Hawaii trying to get healthy and adjust to the new regimen I was setting up for myself. "

" I have a feeling there were many, many successful rock duos that just didn't get attention. That's the fault of the rock press. They are always playing up controversy, scandal, aggravation, and irritation. "

" I thought Twitter was a joke. I really thought it was a gag. I thought it was like National Lampoon or the Onion. "

Walter Becker

Gag

Onion

" I think what television and video games do is reminiscent of drug addiction. There's a measure of reinforcement and a behavioural loop. "

" I don't think that the Grammys are in any way a just way of grading music. "

" I love guys like Charlie Parker. "

Walter Becker

Charlie

Love

" We are constantly competing with the monsters from the id. "

Walter Becker

Constantly

Competing

" I'm glad we turned into a big-time touring band later in life. In fact, it's almost like we planned it out that way. "

" When the first album came out and I heard 'Do It Again' on the radio, that was the greatest thing that had ever happened. After that, it was all downhill. "

" What about that Dave Brubeck live album, with a version of 'Like Someone in Love' on it, and long sax solos by Paul Desmond? That's what got me hooked on jazz. "

Walter Becker

Love

Someone