Lyrics have to be underwritten. That's why poets generally make poor lyric writers because the language is too rich. You get drowned in it.
More Quotes from Stephen Sondheim:
I prefer neurotic people. I like to hear rumblings beneath the surface.Stephen Sondheim
When you know your cast well and their strengths and weaknesses, you can start writing for them, just the way Shakespeare wrote for his actors.
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I would have been a geologist.
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I was raised to be charming, not sincere.
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One of the hardest things about writing lyrics is to make the lyrics sit on the music in such a way that you're not aware there was a writer there.
Stephen Sondheim
One difference between poetry and lyrics is that lyrics sort of fade into the background. They fade on the page and live on the stage when set to music.
Stephen Sondheim
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Based on Topics: Language Quotes, Money & Wealth QuotesBased on Keywords: underwritten
Our greatest responsibility is not to be pencils of the past.
Robert A. M. Stern
There is a great deal of unmapped country within us which would have to be taken into account in an explanation of our gusts and storms.
George Eliot
Seek not to follow in the footsteps of men of old; seek what they sought.
Matsuo Basho