“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture — it's a really stupid thing to want to do.”
This has commonly been paraphrased "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." More info at "Alan P. Scott : Talking about music..." http://home.pacifier.com/~ascott/they/tamildaa.htm Also, Costello has denied http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/ having coined this, in an interview in Q magazine, tentatively attributing the quote instead to Martin Mull.
Misattributed
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Elvis Costello 47
English singer-songwriter 1954Related quotes
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
(on or before 1979), attributed in print in the magazine Time Barrier Express in the September-October 1979 issue in an article by Gary Sperrazza. Writing About Music is Like Dancing About Architecture: Laurie Anderson? Steve Martin? Frank Zappa? Martin Mull? Elvis Costello? Thelonius Monk?, Quote Investigator (blog), November 9, 2010 http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/11/08/writing-about-music/,
Attributed
“Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.”
Interview http://niralimagazine.com/2004/10/not-so-missing-in-action/ with Nirali magazine (October 2004)
Sourced quotes
July 19: A Day in the Life of a Writer (Who Has No Friends) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXbGFyNXLwA
YouTube
Ibid.
Essays and reviews, Snakecharmers in Texas (1988)
As quoted in "Reality bites" by Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,784535,00.html (2 September 2002)
Preface to Lear (1972; London: Methuen, 1983) p. lvii