Cass McCombs Quotations

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

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.

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.

When you play with great musicians, whether they're schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes. It comes down to people's personalities and individual energies.

Music is the marriage of the feelings of the living to the wisdom of the dead.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Thank God we don't know a lot about Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautreamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious.

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.

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.

I just write songs whenever I feel like it, whenever they come to me.

A lot of people don't know what it's like to actually be hungry. I do. I've also slept on the streets.

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

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

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

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

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.

Sometimes I feel like I finish a song, and there's another song that I have to write in response to that song. Each is like its own separate feeling, its own separate universe.

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

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

Opinions only carry weight in the second or third person.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

I hate my voice. I've never been comfortable 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.

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

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

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

Loneliness is the most compelling force in the universe.

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

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.

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.

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

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

I have no idea what will become of my work in the future, the future folk will not be aware of our influence over them, as we are unaware of how our dead influence us.