Quotes about melody (268 quotes, page 3)

“For those of us who have been thrown into hell, mysterious melodies and the torturing images of a vanished beauty will always bring us, in the midst of crime and folly, the echo of that harmonious insurrection which bears witness, throughout the centuries, to the greatness of humanity.”

Albert Camus book The Rebel

The Rebel (1951)

Beauty , Hell

“I phoned Prince out of the blue, hummed a melody, and he listened," … "I hung up, and he came over within the hour. He listened again, and I said, 'Do you hate it?' He said, 'No,' and walked over to the synthesizers that were set up, was absolutely brilliant for about twenty five minutes, and then left. He was so uncanny, so wild, he spoiled me for every band I've ever had because nobody can exactly re-create—not even with two piano players-what Prince did all by his little self.”

Stevie Nicks (1948) American singer and songwriter, member of Fleetwood Mac

(on "Stand Back") Musician, issue 123-128 http://books.google.com/books?id=h5EJAQAAMAAJ (1989), p. 84.

Hate

“The soul of music slumbers in the shell
Till waked and kindled by the master's spell;
And feeling hearts, touch them but rightly, pour
A thousand melodies unheard before!”

Samuel Rogers (1763–1855) British poet

Human Life (1819)

Music , Feeling , Soul , Heart

“Music is made up of a large number of individual sounds, and is either a single melody or a part-song.”

Johannes Tinctoris (1435–1511) Flemish composer

Dictionary of Musical Terms (1475)

Music , Parting

“If my serenade of song and story should serve as a pillow for some composer's head, as yet perhaps unborn, to dream and build on our fond melodies in his tomorrow, I have not labored in vain.”

W. C. Handy (1873–1958) American blues composer and musician

Profiles In Black http://www.theblackmarket.com/ProfilesInBlack/WCHandy.htm

Dreams

“Christ's method is divine. His words have the charm of antiquity with the freshness of yesterday; the simplicity of a child with the wisdom of a God; the softness of kisses from the lip of love, and the force of the lightning rending the tower. His parables are like groups of matchless statuary; His prayers like an organ peal floating round the world and down the ages, echoed by the mountain-peaks and plains into rich and varied melody, in which all devout hearts find their noblest feelings at once expressed, sustained, refined. His truths are self-evidencing. They fall into the soul as seed into the ground, to rest and germinate. He speaks, and all nature and life become vocal with theology.”

Edward Thomson (1810–1870) American bishop

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 63.

Love , Life , Wisdom , God

“I am a composer first and foremost, and have always believed that being able to write memorable melodies is what sets musicians apart.”

Bradley Joseph (1965) Composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, producer, recording artist

“When entering the studio, I don't know what will happen. I do a so-called trip into myself: I sit down at the piano and the melody might start to evolve from my playing or then I might start to sing it. At that stage I do not yet have clear ideas about what kind of emotions I would like to express. Until I play the completed piece to Roma and Nicky and when I observe their reactions, the music gets its meaning…”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

Anna interview (2005)

Music , Idea , Singing

“The first was the classical line, which could be traced back to my early childhood and the Beethoven sonatas I heard my mother play. This line takes sometimes a neo-classical form (sonatas, concertos), sometimes imitates the 18th century classics (gavottes, the Classical symphony, partly the Sinfonietta). The second line, the modern trend, begins with that meeting with Taneyev when he reproached me for the “crudeness” of my harmonies. At first this took the form of a search for my own harmonic language, developing later into a search for a language in which to express powerful emotions (The Phantom, Despair, Diabolical Suggestion, Sarcasms, Scythian Suite, a few of the songs, op. 23, The Gambler, Seven, They Were Seven, the Quintet and the Second Symphony). Although this line covers harmonic language mainly, it also includes new departures in melody, orchestration and drama. The third line is toccata or the “motor” line traceable perhaps to Schumann’s Toccata which made such a powerful impression on me when I first heard it (Etudes, op. 2, Toccata, op. 11, Scherzo, op. 12, the Scherzo of the Second Concerto, the Toccata in the Fifth Concerto, and also the repetitive intensity of the melodic figures in the Scythian Suite, Pas d’acier[The Age of Steel], or passages in the Third Concerto). This line is perhaps the least important. The fourth line is lyrical; it appears first as a thoughtful and meditative mood, not always associated with the melody, or, at any rate, with the long melody (The Fairy-tale, op. 3, Dreams, Autumnal Sketch[Osenneye], Songs, op. 9, The Legend, op. 12), sometimes partly contained in the long melody (choruses on Balmont texts, beginning of the First Violin Concerto, songs to Akhmatova’s poems, Old Granny’s Tales[Tales of an Old Grandmother]). This line was not noticed until much later. For a long time I was given no credit for any lyrical gift whatsoever, and for want of encouragement it developed slowly. But as time went on I gave more and more attention to this aspect of my work. I should like to limit myself to these four “lines,” and to regard the fifth, “grotesque” line which some wish to ascribe to me, as simply a deviation from the other lines. In any case I strenuously object to the very word “grotesque” which has become hackneyed to the point of nausea. As a matter of fact the use of the French word “grotesque” in this sense is a distortion of the meaning. I would prefer my music to be described as “Scherzo-ish” in quality, or else by three words describing the various degrees of the Scherzo—whimsicality, laughter, mockery.”

Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) Ukrainian & Russian Soviet pianist and composer

Page 36-37; from his fragmentary Autobiography.
Sergei Prokofiev: Autobiography, Articles, Reminiscences (1960)

Age , Dreams , Music , Search

“The folksong collectors Bartok (Hungary) and Plicka (Czechoslovakia) notated the perceived interval deviations with a plus or minus sign (+,-). Older folksong collectors had notated all the intervals in the system of semitones, not observing the finer modifications of intervals. This first gained currency from the phongraph and tape recordings of folk music from various lands…. From folksong I learned to perceive melodic intervals a little smaller or greater than those of the semitone-system…. In my youth it often happened that the folk singers, who during the intermissions of dance festivals sang songs of "their kind," deviating from the semitone system, demanded that the first violinist of the Wisowitzer Kapelle play "their" melody just as they sang it. Once a tempermental singer threatened to strike the double-bass player with a beer mug if he didn't "play along" with the song, exactly as he sang it.”

Alois Hába (1893–1973) Czech music educator and composer

Mein Weg zur Viertel- und Sechsteltonmusik (1971) Düsseldorf: Verlag der Gesellschaft zur Förderung der systematische Musikwissenschaft, 12, 14; translated by and printed in Modernism and Music: An Anthology of Sources(2004) by Daniel Albright ISBN 0226012670 .

Youth , Music , Beer , Learning

“Morning View is I think collectively probably our favorite record that we have made as a band because it was the most effortless… um… in its conception… you know? It was a lot less slaving over parts and trying to just get together in this big beautiful room with a view of the ocean and parts and sounds and melodies and lyrics would just happen… they would just sort of spill out of us without us really trying… so to me that's sort of the most amazing way to write music or do any kind of art, which is by letting it happen… but one of the most important parts in any sort of.. uh… journey so to speak.. Is uh… the ride… and we've had a really good time riding to where ever it is we are going… and I don't even think any of us know particularly where it is going to take us… But it's been really fun sort of chasing it.”

Brandon Boyd (1976) American rock singer, writer and visual artist

Discussing Morning View on Boogie TV interview was done the day of their concert at Vega, Copenhagen

Beauty , Art , Music , Way

“It did something to me. I thought it was the most glorious melody.”

Elaine Paige (1948) English singer and actress

Regarding the song "Memory"; as quoted in "Cover Story; Broadway's 'Cats': Restaged for Eternity (And We Thought They Were Kidding!)" by Peter Marks in The New York Times http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A05EEDB133FF932A35752C1A96E958260 (1 November 1998)

“In Arcady there lies a crystal spring
Ring'd all about with green melodious reeds
Swaying seal'd music up and down the wind.
Here on its time-defaced pedestal
The image of a half-forgotten God
Crumbles to its complete oblivion.”

Eleanor Farjeon (1881–1965) English children's writer

Pan-Worship
Pan-Worship and Other Poems (1908)

God , Music , Spring , Time

“Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa
I keep singing them sad sad songs, y'all.
Sad songs is all I know.
I keep singing them sad sad songs, y'all.
Sad songs is all I know.
It has a sweet melody tonight
Anybody can sing it any old time.
What's in your heart puts you in a groove
And when you sing this song,
It'll make you're whole body move.”

Otis Redding (1941–1967) American singer, songwriter and record producer

Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song), co-written with Steve Cropper.
Song lyrics, Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (1966)

Sadness , Singing , Time , Heart

“There is a paradox at the heart of Chopin's style, in its unlikely combination of a rich chromatic web of polyphony, based on a profound experience of J. S. Bach, with a sense of melody and a way of sustaining the melodic line derived directly from Italian opera. The paradox is only apparent, and it is never felt as such when one hears the music. The two influences are perfectly synthesized, and they give each other a new kind of power.”

Charles Rosen (1927–2012) American pianist and writer on music

Source: The Romantic Generation (1995), Ch. 5 : Chopin: Counterpoint and the Narrative Forms

Music , Way , Sense , Heart

“Roger: It depends.. A song is melody and lyrics and the music, you know? For our band, Vinnie the drummer writes like 95% of the lyrics so he's the main songwriter if you want to look at it that way. But he doesn't write any chords or melodies or any of that kind of stuff. So, it's kind of hard to split up or dissect a song that way, you know? On this record.. it's pretty fair, you know, pretty even between myself and Chris.. Actually JR and I. JR's the first song writer outside of Chris, Vinnie or I to like actually sit down and reword a song for the record. So he's becoming like a bigger part of that sort of thing. I don't know. It just depends. I definitely write a bunch of them!”

Roger Manganelli (1973) American musician

laughs

Music , Way , Parting , Dependency

“There are two things you need for a jolly good hymn. The first is a set of words that expresses the mood or sentiment of the worshipper. The second—and perhaps even more important—is a good tune … with a simple popular melody.”

John Betjeman (1906–1984) English poet, writer and broadcaster

citation needed

Mood

“So, if you played a C major chord to pretty much any person on the planet, they'd say that it sounds "harmonious" (or pleasing, or happy, etc, etc). But now when you want to put chords and melodies in an ordering and make a larger piece called a "song", then that is a much more difficult process, and gets very subjective. At that point, it's not just the chords, it's the lyrics, rhythms, instrumentation, tempo, intensity, any number of other things that goes into a song… so many variables that it's almost impossible to predict how a song will affect a given person.”

Andrew Sega (1975) musician from America

Andrew Sega Shrine interview, 2011

Personality , Happiness

“When I found somebody who I fell in love with, it made me feel different than I felt the rest of the day. It was electrifying. That's what inspired the 'Off to the Races' melodies. That's one of the times when you're feeling electrified by someone else and they make you happy to be alive.”

Lana Del Rey (1985) American singer-songwriter

Daily Mail http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2091372/Lana-Del-Rey-interview-Singer-opens-love-poses-sheer-trenchcoat.html (25 January 2012)

Love , Feeling , Time , Happiness

“Since suffering a concussion eight years ago, I find my inside emotions are right to the front and as such, when I heard that Antonio Carlos Jobim had died in December of 1994 I was much affected, I experienced happenings like no other time in my life. While sleeping one night, I dreamed that I was conducting a recording session with strings in Brazil and we were performing Jobim's "Corcovado," except that besides thje melody and harmony, there was polyharmonic bass line. As I awakened from this dream, I went to my piano and wrote down what I had dreamed.”

Clare Fischer (1928–2012) American keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader

Explaining the genesis of the track "Corcovado Fúnebre" in the liner notes from Clare Fischer's Jazz Corps

Life , Dreams , Sleep , Suffering

“I believe that the luxuriance of Shakespeare's dramatic instinct largely dominates that outburst of lyric melody which gives the Sonnets their life.”

Sidney Lee (1859–1926) English biographer and critic

"The Impersonal Aspect of Shakespeare's Art" (English Association Leaflet, 13, July 1909)

Life

“The success of Watermark surprised me. I never thought of music as something commercial; it was something very personal to me… The writing of a melody is an emotional moment; success doesn't make it easy.”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

You interview (2006)

Music , Success , Personality

“Sing the melody line you hear in your own head. Remember, you don't owe anybody any explanations, you don't owe your parents any explanations, you don't owe your professors any explanations.”

Bono (1960) Irish rock musician, singer of U2

PENN Address (2004)

Parent , Singing

“I think I am easy to make fun of. I try not to pay too much attention. You can't let critics dictate what you do… The thing that fascinates me, is the emotion in music, the way it can make me cry or laugh or be angry. I'm not trying to be hip or cool, and I'm not scared to put everything I have into songs. Passion is the greatest thing that music can evoke. We live in a society where I think people often find it hard to express themselves, but sometimes a song can do that for you. It might not be groundbreaking, but there is something about the simplicity of presenting songs where it's all about the lyric and the melody. People don't need to get through a whole lot of production to get to the root of the song. It's just music doing what music does best… A lot of things in the mainstream are repetitive and soulless and have been churned out without any real conviction. It is really unfair to call Coldplay insufferable, when they obviously care about what they do. James [Blunt] too. Too much of the music industry is controlled by lawyers and businessmen, making music like it's a product on the factory line. That's what I call insufferable.”

Katie Melua (1984) British singer-songwriter

[Neil McCormick, Who is right? Critics or the public?, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2005/09/29/bmneil29.xml, The Telegraph, 2005-09-29]

People , Music , Way , Thinking

“A letter depends on how you read it, a melody on how you sing it.”

Isaac Leib Peretz (1852–1915) Yiddish language author and playwright

A Gilgul fun a Nign, 1901. Alle Verk, vi. 33.

Singing , Reading , Dependency

“It appears to me that the subject of music, from Machaut to Boulez, has always been its construction. Melodies of 12-tone rows just don't happen. They must be constructed…. To demonstrate any formal idea in music, whether structure or stricture, is a matter of construction, in which the methodology is the controlling metaphor of the composition…Only by 'unfixing' the elements traditionally used to construct a piece of music could the sounds exist in themselves--not as symbols, or memories which were memories of other music to begin with.”

Morton Feldman (1926–1987) American avant-garde composer

quoted in Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music, ISBN 0028645812

Music , Idea , Appearance , Memory

“For you, there might be a brighter star,
But through my eyes the light of you burns all I see.
For you, there might be another song,
But all my heart can hear is your melody.”

Stevie Wonder (1950) American musician

Another Star
Song lyrics, Songs In The Key of Life (1976)

Star , Light , Heart

“I am now satisfied that the future music of this country must be founded upon what are called negro melodies. This must be the real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in the United States.”

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Czech composer

Interviewed by James Creelman, New York Herald, May 21, 1893. http://web.archive.org/20060923062509/homepage.mac.com/rswinter/DirectTestimony/Pages/62.html

School , Music , Future , Country

“Since the beginning of our critical career, we have seen a vast deal of beautiful poetry pass into oblivion, in spite of our feeble efforts to recall or retain it in remembrance…The rich melodies of Keats and Shelley,—and the fantastical emphasis of Wordsworth,—and the plebeian pathos of Crabbe, are melting fast from the fields of our vision. The novels of Scott have put out his poetry. Even the splendid strains of Moore are fading into distance and dimness, except where they have been married to immortal music; and the blazing star of Byron himself is receding from its place of pride…. The two who have the longest withstood this rapid withering of the laurel, and with the least marks of decay on their branches, are Rogers and Campbell.”

Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850) British politician

Edinburgh Review (1829). He goes on to promise "enduring fame" to Felicia Hemans.

Beauty , Music , Star , Effort

“At certain times I read a lot of poetry. My favorite poets are Shelley and Keats. Rimbaud is so identifiable. Lord Byron. I don't know. Lately if I read poems, it's like I can always hear the guitar. Even with Shakespeare's sonnets I can hear a melody because it's all broken up into timed phrases so I hear it. I always keep thinking, 'What kind of song would this be?”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Interview with Denise Worrell, "'It's All Right in Front': Dylan on Life and Rock" in Time Magazine (25 November 1985)

Thinking , Time , Reading

“My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness, —
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.”

John Keats Ode to a Nightingale

Stanza 1
Poems (1820), Ode to a Nightingale

Pain , Sense , Tree , Light

“Dan Chaucer, the first warbler, whose sweet breath
Preluded those melodious bursts that fill
The spacious times of great Elizabeth
With sounds that echo still.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

" A Dream of Fair Women http://home.att.net/%7ETennysonPoetry/dfw.htm", st. 2 (1832)

Time

“It's everything. It's the walk you take in the morning, it's the night before, the meeting with people, landscapes, the chats, all of that evolves in some way into melody, but I'm not sure how it's going to happen. I'm dealing with the unknown all the time and that is exciting.”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

The Telegraph interview (2005)
Context: There is no formula to it because writing every song, for me, is a little journey. The first note has to lift you and make you go, 'What's this?' You play C, but why is it that one day it leads to G and it didn't yesterday? I don't know. It's everything. It's the walk you take in the morning, it's the night before, the meeting with people, landscapes, the chats, all of that evolves in some way into melody, but I'm not sure how it's going to happen. I'm dealing with the unknown all the time and that is exciting.

People , Way , Time , Night

“Your born genius, therefore, will first have to ask himself, Whether he can hold his tongue or cannot? True, all human talent, especially all deep talent, is a talent to do, and is intrinsically of silent nature; inaudible, like the Sphere Harmonies and Eternal Melodies, of which it is an incarnated fraction.”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1850s, Latter-Day Pamphlets (1850), Stump Orator (May 1, 1850)
Context: Our English careers to born genius are twofold. There is the silent or unlearned career of the Industrialisms, which are very many among us; and there is the articulate or learned career of the three professions, Medicine, Law (under which we may include Politics), and the Church. Your born genius, therefore, will first have to ask himself, Whether he can hold his tongue or cannot? True, all human talent, especially all deep talent, is a talent to do, and is intrinsically of silent nature; inaudible, like the Sphere Harmonies and Eternal Melodies, of which it is an incarnated fraction.

Nature

“I get very inspired by traveling, by being home in Donegal … all those wonderful moments I'll take with me to the studio. And they, ah, then become at some stage, a melody. That emotion that I loved at some stage will evolve as a melody.”

Enya (1961) Irish singer, songwriter, and musician

KSCA interview (1996)
Context: I get very inspired by traveling, by being home in Donegal... all those wonderful moments I'll take with me to the studio. And they, ah, then become at some stage, a melody. That emotion that I loved at some stage will evolve as a melody.

Love , Travel , Home

“We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, The Quest for Peace and Justice (1964)
Context: We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say "We must not wage war." It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but on the positive affirmation of peace. There is a fascinating little story that is preserved for us in Greek literature about Ulysses and the Sirens. The Sirens had the ability to sing so sweetly that sailors could not resist steering toward their island. Many ships were lured upon the rocks, and men forgot home, duty, and honor as they flung themselves into the sea to be embraced by arms that drew them down to death. Ulysses, determined not to be lured by the Sirens, first decided to tie himself tightly to the mast of his boat, and his crew stuffed their ears with wax. But finally he and his crew learned a better way to save themselves: they took on board the beautiful singer Orpheus whose melodies were sweeter than the music of the Sirens. When Orpheus sang, who bothered to listen to the Sirens? So we must fix our vision not merely on the negative expulsion of war, but upon the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody that is far superior to the discords of war.

Peaceful , War , Peace , Music

“Ghosts of melodious prophesyings rave
Round every spot where trod Apollo's foot”

John Keats Endymion

Bk. I, l. 789
Endymion (1818)
Context: Ghosts of melodious prophesyings rave
Round every spot where trod Apollo's foot;
Bronze clarions awake, and faintly bruit,
Where long ago a giant battle was;
And, from the turf, a lullaby doth pass
In every place where infant Orpheus slept.
Feel we these things? — that moment have we stept
Into a sort of oneness, and our state
Is like a floating spirit's. But there are
Richer entanglements, enthralments far
More self-destroying, leading, by degrees,
To the chief intensity: the crown of these
Is made of love and friendship, and sits high
Upon the forehead of humanity.

“It fills the world with melody — for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.”

Robert G. Ingersoll (1833–1899) Union United States Army officer

Orthodoxy (1884).
Context: Love is the only bow on Life's dark cloud. It is the morning and the evening star. It shines upon the babe, and sheds its radiance on the quiet tomb. It is the mother of art, inspirer of poet, patriot and philosopher. It is the air and light of every heart — builder of every home, kindler of every fire on every hearth. It was the first to dream of immortality. It fills the world with melody — for music is the voice of love. Love is the magician, the enchanter, that changes worthless things to Joy, and makes royal kings and queens of common clay. It is the perfume of that wondrous flower, the heart, and without that sacred passion, that divine swoon, we are less than beasts; but with it, earth is heaven, and we are gods.

Love , God , World , Music

“Once at the croak of a Raven who crost it,
A barbarous people,
Blind to the magic,
And deaf to the melody,
Snarl’d at and cursed me.
A demon vext me,
The light retreated,
The landskip darken’d,
The melody deaden’d,
The Master whisper’d
‘Follow The Gleam.”

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) British poet laureate

"Merlin and the Gleam", st. 3 (1889)

People , Light

“Patterns of gene expression are to organisms as melodies and harmonies are to sonatas.”

Ursula Goodenough book The Sacred Depths of Nature

Source: The Sacred Depths of Nature (1998), p. 59
Context: Patterns of gene expression are to organisms as melodies and harmonies are to sonatas. It's all about which sets of proteins appear in a cell at the same time (the chords) and which sets come before or after other sets (the themes) and at what rate they appear (the tempos) and how they modulate one another (the developments and transitions). When these patterns go awry we may see malignancy. When they change by mutation we can get new kinds of organisms. When they work, we get a creature.

“Genuine melody sings itself without a voice. It sings inside, within the heart, in man's very entrails!”

Isaac Leib Peretz (1852–1915) Yiddish language author and playwright

Mekubolim, 1906. Alle Verk, vi. 53.
Context: There are melodies that must have words... and melodies that sing themselves without words. The latter are of a higher grade. But these, too, depend on a voice and lips,... hence are not yet altogether pure, not yet genuine spirit. Genuine melody sings itself without a voice. It sings inside, within the heart, in man's very entrails!

Singing , Heart

“You stomp the competition with the bass line. You rattle windows. You drop the melody line, and shout the lyrics. You put in foul language and come down hard on each cussword.”

Chuck Palahniuk book Lullaby

Source: Lullaby (2002), Chapter 3
Context: You turn up your music to hide the noise. Other people turn up their music to hide yours. You turn up yours again. Everyone buys a bigger stereo system. This is the arms race of sound You don't win with a lot of treble. This isn't about quality. It's about volume. This isn't about music. This is about winning. You stomp the competition with the bass line. You rattle windows. You drop the melody line, and shout the lyrics. You put in foul language and come down hard on each cussword. You dominate. This is really about power.

“What is Love—the divine Love of which the—the great singer teaches us in Proverbs? It is the rainbow that comes after the dark cloud. It is the morning star and it is also the evening star, those being, as you all so well know, the brightest stars we know. It shines upon the cradle of the little one and when life has, alas, departed, to come no more, you find it still around the quiet tomb. What is it inspires all great men—be they preachers or patriots or great business men? What is it, my brethren, but Love? Ah, it fills the world with melody, with such sacred melodies as we have just indulged in together, for what is music? What, my friends, is music? Ah, what indeed is music but the voice of Love!"”

Sinclair Lewis book Elmer Gantry

Elmer Gantry, paraphrasing the eloquence of the "atheist" Robert G. Ingersoll in his sermon.
Elmer Gantry (1927)
Context: His text was from Proverbs: "Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins."
He seized the sides of the pulpit with his powerful hands, glared at the congregation, decided to look benevolent after all, and exploded: "In the hustle and bustle of daily life I wonder how many of us stop to think that in all that is highest and best we are ruled not by even our most up-and-coming efforts but by Love? What is Love—the divine Love of which the—the great singer teaches us in Proverbs? It is the rainbow that comes after the dark cloud. It is the morning star and it is also the evening star, those being, as you all so well know, the brightest stars we know. It shines upon the cradle of the little one and when life has, alas, departed, to come no more, you find it still around the quiet tomb. What is it inspires all great men—be they preachers or patriots or great business men? What is it, my brethren, but Love? Ah, it fills the world with melody, with such sacred melodies as we have just indulged in together, for what is music? What, my friends, is music? Ah, what indeed is music but the voice of Love!"

Love , Life , Men , World

“Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you freedom to go and to stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land.”

Henri Nouwen (1932–1996) Dutch priest and writer

With Open Hands (1972)
Context: Prayer leads you to see new paths and to hear new melodies in the air. Prayer is the breath of your life which gives you freedom to go and to stay where you wish and to find the many signs which point out the way to a new land. Praying is not simply some necessary compartment in the daily schedule of a Christian or a source of support in time of need, nor is it restricted to Sunday mornings or mealtimes. Praying is living. It is eating and drinking, action and rest, teaching and learning, playing and working. Praying pervades every aspect of our lives. It is the unceasing recognition that God is wherever we are, always inviting us to come closer and to celebrate the divine gift of being alive.

Life , Way , Freedom

“If you take whatever there is to the song away—the beat, the melody—I could still recite it.”

Bob Dylan (1941) American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and artist

Interview with Paul Robbins (March, 1965)
Context: I find it easy to write songs. I been writing songs for a long time and the words to the songs aren't written out just for the paper; they're written as you can read it, you dig. If you take whatever there is to the song away—the beat, the melody—I could still recite it. I see nothing wrong with songs you can't do that with either—songs that, if you took the beat and the melody away, they wouldn't stand up because they're not supposed to do that, you know. Songs are songs.

“In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music.”

Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) Czech composer

Interviewed by James Creelman, New York Herald, May 21, 1893.
Context: In the negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music. They are pathetic, tender, passionate, melancholy, solemn, religious, bold, merry, gay or what you will. It is music that suits itself to any mood or any [[purpose. There is nothing in the whole age of composition that cannot be supplied with themes from this source. ]]

School , Music

“Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade.”

Yip Harburg (1896–1981) American song lyricist

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).
Context: Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade. It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.

Love

“There are melodies that must have words… and melodies that sing themselves without words.”

Isaac Leib Peretz (1852–1915) Yiddish language author and playwright

Mekubolim, 1906. Alle Verk, vi. 53.
Context: There are melodies that must have words... and melodies that sing themselves without words. The latter are of a higher grade. But these, too, depend on a voice and lips,... hence are not yet altogether pure, not yet genuine spirit. Genuine melody sings itself without a voice. It sings inside, within the heart, in man's very entrails!

Singing

“I think writing is basically about time and rhythm. Like with jazz. You have your basic melody and then you just riff off of it.”

Kathy Acker (1947–1997) American novelist, playwright, essayist, and poet

Kathy Acker: Where does she get off?
Context: I think writing is basically about time and rhythm. Like with jazz. You have your basic melody and then you just riff off of it. And the riffs are about timing. And about sex.
Writing for me is about my freedom. When I was a kid, my parents were like monsters to me, and the world extended from them. They were horrible. And I was this good little girl — I didn't have the guts to oppose them. They told me what to do and how to be. So the only time I could have any freedom or joy was when I was alone in my room. Writing is what I did when I was alone with no one watching me or telling me what to do. I could do whatever I wanted. So writing was really associated with body pleasure — it was the same thing. It was like the only thing I had.

Thinking , Time

“Byron! how sweetly sad thy melody!
Attuning still the soul to tenderness,
As if soft Pity, with unusual stress,
Had touched her plaintive lute, and thou, being by,
Hadst caught the tones, nor suffered them to die.
O'ershading sorrow doth not make thee less
Delightful: thou thy griefs dost dress
With a bright halo, shining beamily,
As when a cloud a golden moon doth veil,
Its sides are tinged with a resplendent glow,
Through the dark robe oft amber rays prevail,
And like fair veins in sable marble flow;
Still warble, dying swan! still tell the tale,
The enchanting tale, the tale of pleasing woe. ”

John Keats (1795–1821) English Romantic poet

Sadness , Soul , Suffering

“I left Souls because of two different tastes in sounds. They liked one kind of music, I liked another. I was into loud, rocking, powerful sounds, and the rest of the members wanted quiet, melodious sounds. You cannot just compromise day after day. We never really had any big arguments, but it occurred to me that it would be better if I just quit and do something different.”

Ayub Bachchu (1962–2018) Musician, singer, songwriter

Bachchu answered the Daily Star, when he was asked why he left Souls (November 9, 2012) https://archive.thedailystar.net/magazine/2012/11/02/cover.htm

Music , Soul

“I’ve always said that Chris was the greatest songwriter to ever come out of Seattle. Jimi Hendrix could play the guitar like crazy, but Chris had the song-writing chops that we all sort of hoped to get to at different points in our songwriting careers. He had a way he could wrap a melody around odd time signatures and weird parts and make them catchy. He was a beautiful wordsmith. If you look at his lyrics, he obviously was processing his pain and depression, and all of those things. I think that’s part of what people, myself included, responded to when he was singing. With the songwriting he had that voice, there’s not too many people that have that many options with their voice. He could do a lot of different things with it, and have a lot of different characters in that voice. I feel so lucky that I got to be in a project with him, got to hang out with him, and just sort of witness his greatness.”

Chris Cornell (1964–2017) American singer-songwriter, musician

Jeff Ament talking about Cornell on NBA.com podcast NBA Soundsystem ** Pearl Jam's Jeff Ament on Chris Cornell's death and depression, 30 May 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9buvTFxf2EA,

Singing , Pain , Time , Beauty

“Never before had I heard such melody from human throat. It was superhuman. Was he a Gandharva come to earth? No expression on his face. Not much movement of lips. Perfect control over breath. Perfect pauses. Clear pronunciation. I was spellbound.”

K. L. Saigal (1904–1947) Indian actor

By Raychand Boral in "Begum Akhtar the Undisputed Malika of Ghazals".

Perfection

“We didn’t know what kind of music we’d make, we didn’t know if it would be any good, but we hoped we’d have fun. He brings so much musical knowledge, amazing musicianship, melody and singing power from a different culture.”

A. R. Rahman (1966) Indian singer and composer

Mick Jagger’s views Superheavy, 16 December 2013, Official website of ARRahman http://www.arrahman.com/superheavy.aspx,

Singing , Hope , Music , Knowledge

“His gifted voice could exfoliate the contrasting emotions of anguish and ecstasy with equal felicity; his impassioned rendition of both the major melodies like a Thodi or Kalyan in their multifarious variations and their minor counterparts like Bhoop or Abhogi with equal aplomb. In either case, one could only marvel at his unfailing deep, powerful and penetrating vocalism. Equally emphatic was the way he could throw away the values and sanctity of sweetness to unleash a flurry of rollicking bol-taans, an exquisite feat which was not easily fathomable by any other artiste in living memory.”

Bhimsen Joshi (1922–2011) Indian vocalist

Critique

Way , Memory

“A wild impetuous whirlwind of passion and faculty slumbered quiet there; such heavenly melody dwelling in the heart of it. A noble rough genuineness; homely, rustic, honest; true simplicity of strength; with its lightning-fire, with its soft dewy pity;—like the old Norse Thor, the Peasant-god!”

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) Scottish philosopher, satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher

1840s, Heroes and Hero-Worship (1840), The Hero as Man of Letters

Passion , Home , God , Heart

“Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter: therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear’d,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone.
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal — yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!”

John Keats Ode on a Grecian Urn

Stanza 2
Poems (1820), Ode on a Grecian Urn

Tree , Kiss , Youth , Lovers

“In the air sweet and dancing melodies of the sound, in life music is always the master.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Nell'aria dolci e danzanti melodie del suono, nella vita la musica fa sempre da padrona.
Source: prevale.net

Music , Life , Dance

“The night is made to dream, imagine, travel and compose intense melodies that describe the depth of one's soul.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) La notte è fatta per sognare, immaginare, viaggiare e comporre intense melodie che descrivono la profondità della propria anima.
Source: prevale.net

Soul , Imagination , Night , Dreams

“I turn my gaze to the sky, close my eyes creating a set of thoughts with my mind, embrace the feeling that my heart emanates... letting me live a sweet melody of sound inside me.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: (it) Rivolgo il mio sguardo al cielo, chiudo gli occhi creando con la mente un insieme di pensieri, abbraccio il sentimento che emana il mio cuore... lasciando vivere dentro me una dolce melodia del suono.
Source: prevale.net

Feeling , Heart

“Landscape, at its best, is not a narrow category. It is a source of surprise. It allows for the sudden assertion of a place, like an unexpected time signature within a melody.”

An-My Lê (1960) American photographer

Interview with the Art Newspaper (August 13, 2020)

Time

“And when old words die out on the tongue,
new melodies break forth from the heart,
and where the old tracks are lost,
new country is revealed with its wonders.
So, don’t give up on love
when it seems that all is lost,
for there is always hope
if we’re prepared to pay the cost”

Alexis Karpouzos (1967)

Source: https://twitter.com/AKarpouzos/status/1467166433176084481

Country , Hope , Heart , Love

“I love it, but it doesn't knock me out.
I think it's great, but it could be better.
I like it a lot, it's just not my cup of tea,
yet if you were to change the melody,
take out a part that you think should be here,
put in a part that wouldn't otherwise appear?
Well, it's only an idea.”

Gilbert O'Sullivan (1946) Irish singer-songwriter

"I hate it, but that doesn't mean it's bad.
In other words, I quite enjoyed it.
Apart from which, it's the best you've ever done
yet if you were to change the words
it would be superb... with perhaps a different melody...?"
"I Love It But..." (song)
Gilbert O'Sullivan, "I Love It But..." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ip4ZvgO0Hw (song on YouTube)
Song lyrics

Appearance , Idea , Change , Thinking

“Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade. It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.”

Yip Harburg (1896–1981) American song lyricist

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).

World , Love

“As melody is in music ornament is in architecture revelation of the poetic-principle, with character and significance.”

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) American architect (1867-1959)

A Testament (1957)

Music

“For those who live music with their heart, it is extremely exciting to listen to the magical and sweet melodies of sound every time.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Per chi vive la musica con il cuore, è estremamente emozionante ascoltare ogni volta le magiche e dolci melodie del suono.
Source: prevale.net

Time , Heart , Music

“Listen to music that warms your heart, seek melodies and enchants that gifting joy to your instants.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: Ascoltate musica che scaldi il cuore, cercate melodie e incanti che regalino gioia ai vostri istanti.
Source: prevale.net

Heart , Music , Joy

“Music allows to find their place in the world and the opportunity to communicate fragility, art, life, sensations and emotions that are often transmitted through the melodies of sound.”

Prevale (1983) Italian DJ and producer

Original: La musica permette di trovare un posto nel mondo e l'opportunità di comunicare fragilità, arte, vita, sensazioni ed emozioni che si trasmettono attraverso le melodie del suono.
Source: prevale.net

Communication , Music , Art , World

Quotes about melody page 3

Quotes about melody
page 3