When I lived in Los Angeles, I used to live in the Hollywood Hills, behind Grauman’s Theater, and I’d always hit the matinees. J. D. Souther Read Quote
I think I’ve been influenced by everything I’ve ever heard. The first thing I ever heard was my grandma, who was an opera singer. The first song I ever learned was the ‘Nessun Dorma’ from Puccini’s ‘Turandot.’ My father was a big band singer, so I used to hear him walking around the house singing standards all the time. J. D. Souther Read Quote
I have a wonderful piano that I really love: a handmade Yamaha grand. Sometimes I’m sitting there, and it sounds so good that I find some little melody or a phrase that leads me into a song, but probably more often than not, I actually grab a notebook. J. D. Souther Read Quote
I love Massachusetts for a number of reasons. I once loved a magical girl who lived in a magnificently converted barn, a half-hour or so from Boston. I love your winters. I love the snow. J. D. Souther Read Quote
I never even held a guitar until I was 23 and living in California, but then loved it. I’m really not an accomplished instrumentalist. Maybe that has something to do with why I write and sing. J. D. Souther Read Quote
There’s no musical landscape to poetry. It has somewhat of a higher standard than songs, I think. J. D. Souther Read Quote
In the ’80s, I got tired of the rat race. It was a terrible time for music. I wasn’t part of that whole MTV craze. I did ‘Go Ahead and Rain,’ which was Madeleine Stowe’s first bit, but felt no connection to it. I went many years where I didn’t have to work. J. D. Souther Read Quote
My dad was a huge big band and jazz fan, and we both sort of enjoyed be-bop, but man, it required so much skill to play it. And then there was cool jazz, the era that Miles, Coltrane, and Ornette ushered in, and that found a home in me. It turns out that that music was just really where I breathed. J. D. Souther Read Quote
Stand-up comedians say that anyone in the audience can be funny, but people paid to see us because we’re just a little bit funnier. In the same way, I think anybody can play music – in fact, I think everyone has music in them, but some of us can do it a little better. J. D. Souther Read Quote
