
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
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
“Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.”
“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