Conor Oberst Quotes & Sayings

I keep my eyes closed a lot when I'm singing because sometimes it's distracting to see people. — Conor Oberst

Hip-hop music has done a very good job of maintaining the political context, where they stand and not giving a sh-t what people think. — Conor Oberst

The sound of loneliness makes me happier. — Conor Oberst

One of my best friends, Mike, had a kid. Just seeing him go through it all was inspiring. It would be so nice to care about someone more than yourself. And Mike is a total delinquent, so if he can do it, I figure I can, too. — Conor Oberst

Cause I swear that I'm dying, slowly but its happening. — Conor Oberst

I was raised Catholic, and I have an aversion to anyone who takes religion to the extreme. — Conor Oberst

When everything is lonely I can be my best friend. — Conor Oberst

The one recurring theme in my writing, and in my life in general, is confusion. The fact that anytime you think you really know something, you're going to find out you're wrong - that is the rule. The moments where you think you have something figured out, those are the exceptions. — Conor Oberst

I think different musical collaborators bring out different qualities in my songs and I like that. — Conor Oberst

If the world could remain within a frame like a painting on the wall, I think we'd see the beauty then and stand staring in awe. — Conor Oberst

Although Omaha is my birthplace and the place I grew up, I don't see myself spending extended amounts of time there. I feel almost more comfortable and more at peace in New York. — Conor Oberst

I've cried, and you'd think I'd be better for it, but the sadness just sleeps, and it stays in my spine the rest of my life. — Conor Oberst

I like to feel the burn of the audience's eyes when I'm whispering all my darkest secrets into the microphone. — Conor Oberst

I have a terrible memory in general, but one thing I've always been able to remember is my songs. — Conor Oberst

I think in a lot of ways unconditional love is a myth. My mom's the only reason I know it's a real thing. — Conor Oberst

We've all seen the power music has to spread messages of solidarity and hope. — Conor Oberst

I remember having to quit school and quit my job. I just sort of moved all my stuff into other people's places. Within, like, six months, I was able to earn enough money from touring to rent a place again. — Conor Oberst

Men with purple hearts carry silver guns and they will kill a man for what his father has done. But what my father did, I don't live it: no, I am not him. — Conor Oberst

There's a very fine line between one person's reality and another person's fantasy. — Conor Oberst

For a sunrise or a sunset, you're manic or you're depressed. Will you ever feel ok? — Conor Oberst

I'm always fascinated when people really fervently believe, because I have such a hard time believing anything. When people have real faith in something, it's fascinating to me. And the fact that so many people, in surveys, so many people say they do. It kind of blows my mind. — Conor Oberst

On every Bright Eyes record, there's some kind of sound collage that begins it. Some of them have dialogue, some don't. I like it because it can kind of slow down the attention span a bit. It's a way to draw you in to the rest of the record. — Conor Oberst

I like the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. I love how it's been rained on forever and looks worn down by time. — Conor Oberst

Since the songs were written over a five-year period, I think these are little snapshots. Some people call it political or topical, but I think each song is self-contained. I think it fits together as a picture of the last half-decade of time. — Conor Oberst

It's exploding bags, aerosol cans Southbound buses, Peter Pan They left it up to us again I thought you knew the drill It's kill or be killed. — Conor Oberst

My Brother went to college To become a doctor And if he studies hard enough He'll end up just like papa, who hates his life. — Conor Oberst

So when your new eyes meet mine they won't see no lies, just love ... — Conor Oberst

So much of listening to lyrically driven music is projecting your own feelings and experiences into the music. — Conor Oberst

The way my life's structured, I don't stay in a place for more than a couple months. — Conor Oberst

Sometimes I worry that I've lost the plot My twitching muscles tease my flippant thoughts I never really dreamed of heaven much Until we put him in the ground. There is nothing as lucky, as easy, or free — Conor Oberst

It's not a movie, no private screening This method acting, well, I call that living — Conor Oberst

Music is unique because you can get behind enemy lines a little bit, get into people's houses and into their heads, on their stereos, and win hearts and minds. — Conor Oberst

The only thing major labels can really offer is money. — Conor Oberst

I like ideas, but I don't like being preached to. — Conor Oberst

It's very strange when people get so focused on what a song means, what actual events inspired a song. That gets people really excited for some reason ... But that's what's great about music - however people interpret it, whatever they see, is what I want to be there for them. — Conor Oberst

In theory, I always think I should totally go back to school, because I don't want to start sinking slowly ... I want to learn, blah blah blah. Then I think about actually going and sitting in classes and, man, it sounds terrible. — Conor Oberst

Let the poets cry themselves to sleep, and all their tearful words will turn back into steam. — Conor Oberst

Once you realize that everyone is in the same boat, that everyone is just as insecure and childlike as everyone else, that all these jokers in D.C. ruining our world are just greedy kids grabbing for marbles - I think that realization means you're an adult. — Conor Oberst

I try to keep the idea that there's an audience in as little space in my mind as possible, but you can't erase it entirely, the idea that when you're sitting down to write a song, people are going to hear it. — Conor Oberst

In many ways Bright Eyes is really a studio project. We form bands to tour, but it really is - you know, we take the songs and we figure out how to decorate them and it's all in the studio; we build the songs that way. — Conor Oberst

I think we should be pushing for amnesty and a path to citizenship for every undocumented person residing in the United States who has not committed a violent crime, with a special emphasis on keeping families together. — Conor Oberst

Much of appreciating art or music is really the interpretation of the listener. To a certain extent it's projection - it's what people need or lack in themselves that they then put upon these people that they admire. — Conor Oberst

I have a lot of friends that take that position of extreme cynicism, and I just can't let myself go to that place. It's just too easy, and it's just too defeatist. — Conor Oberst

So I wait for the day when I'll hear the key as it turns in the lock And the guard will say to me, Oh my patient prisoner you waited for this day and finally, you are free! You are free! You are free! — Conor Oberst

You can't manufacture inspiration, so a lot of it is still a waiting game for me. There's still a lot of mystery to songwriting. I don't have a method that I can go back to - they either come or they don't. — Conor Oberst

I have many friends who are both Mexican and Mexican-American and others who, I guess you would say, are somewhere in between. The ironic thing is that all three of those categories often exist inside of the same family. — Conor Oberst

Each song [Desaparecidos] has a seed that it came from. We're trying to take that and broaden it out and make it resonate with people. — Conor Oberst

As long as I can buy records and books and maybe some clothes, I'm pretty stoked. I don't need a yacht or anything. — Conor Oberst

I swear that I'm dying slowly but it's happening, and if the perfect spring is waiting somewhere ... just take me there. — Conor Oberst

The worst thing you can do as an artist is to repeat yourself. — Conor Oberst

I've given up trying to understand what people think about me. It seems like a lot of people don't like the music we make and don't know me, or something. — Conor Oberst

In a coma, you don't dream, you just hope that someone sits with you. — Conor Oberst

If there's a song that stops meaning anything to me, then I'll quit playing it. — Conor Oberst

There's a small amount of super-wealthy people that want to maintain their billions and billions of dollars. Those are the people who are really making the decisions. — Conor Oberst

There's all body types, but there's just one size. — Conor Oberst

One of my favorite modern American authors is Denis Johnson. I'm deeply inspired by all of his work - I rip him off constantly. — Conor Oberst

Art is essentially communication. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. That's why people make art, so other people can relate to it. — Conor Oberst

My dad, who plays guitar and piano and was in cover bands, along with my older brother, Matt, taught me guitar and stuff. I started writing acoustic songs and playing by myself in 7th grade. — Conor Oberst

I keep drinking the ink from my pen and i'm balancing history books up on my head but it all boils down to one quotable phrase if you love something give it away — Conor Oberst

Rock and roll seems to have had a mellowing in the business where it got harder to sell individual records and make money doing that. — Conor Oberst

I'd rather be working for a paycheck, than waiting to win the lottery. Besides, maybe this time it's different, I mean, I really think you like me. — Conor Oberst

The Bible's blind, the Torah's deaf, the Qur'an is mute; if you burned them all together you'd get close to the truth. — Conor Oberst

Now I believe that lovers should be draped in flowers and laid entwined together on a bed of clover and left there to sleep, left there to dream of their happiness. — Conor Oberst

I read the newspaper online. Mostly 'The New York Times.' I'll still buy papers if I'm getting on an airplane or the tour bus, though. I like physical things. — Conor Oberst

I think it is more like a ghost that has been following us both. Something vague that we're not seeing, something more like a feeling. — Conor Oberst

If you think about Protestant and Catholic or Shiite and Sunni, they are basically the same thing ... one eats with their left hand, the other eats with their right hand. — Conor Oberst

Screaming is bad for the voice, but it's good for the heart. — Conor Oberst

And me I'm in the bathroom crying out my eyelids because it's hard to be a man when you're scared, just like a little kid. — Conor Oberst

My favorite rhymes are sort of half-rhymes where you might just get the vowel sound the same, but it's not really a true rhyme. That gives you far more flexibility to capture the feeling you're trying to express. But sometimes it's best not to have any rhyme. — Conor Oberst

We might die from medication but we sure killed all the pain — Conor Oberst

You can do a lot to shape the feeling of a song by the way you record it. — Conor Oberst

I went right from wunderkind to washed up. Old. Been around too long. That's just the way I feel. That's my internal dialogue. — Conor Oberst

It seems like everything I do musically I tend to lose a few fans and gain a few fans, and it all kind of evens out. — Conor Oberst

Pronouns really don't matter in a song - 'I' or 'he' or 'she' or even subscribing a lyric to an inanimate object. — Conor Oberst

When I was younger, I was somewhat of an idealist. I guess I'm a little bit more of a realist now. I think there's a lot that can be done to make the world a better place, but it's more about choosing your battles. — Conor Oberst

It's dangerous to buy into praise and criticism for what you do when you're trying to present your music to people. I don't ignore it completely, but I don't dwell on it too much. — Conor Oberst

There's a lot of optimism in changing scenery, in seeing what's down the road. — Conor Oberst

I like science fiction. Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick and Vonnegut, and I really like Margaret Atwood, 'The Handmaid's Tale.' And you know, so much of science fiction has to do with predicting what's to come, so I think that's really interesting. — Conor Oberst

We made love on the living room floor with the noise in the background of a televised war and in that defeaning pleasure i thought i heard someone say if we walk away they'll walk away — Conor Oberst

If there's a criticism of 'Cassadaga' that I agreed with, it's that we left things in the oven too long, that songs were overstuffed, with too many ideas competing for space. — Conor Oberst

People resist change; if they like something, then they want you to keep doing it over and over - but I think if you like what a particular band or artist does, then you should want to see what they're going to do next. — Conor Oberst

I have a car in Nebraska. When I bought it, they gave me a satellite radio, and there's an 'indie-rock' station. It's just nothing I'm interested in. — Conor Oberst

Rastafarianism and reggae music have always kind of resonated with me. Those ideas of redemption, liberation and overcoming oppression through music, weed and community. Fighting evil through love and music, I think it's just a really powerful idea. — Conor Oberst

I came upon a doctor who appeared in quite poor health. I said, 'There's nothing that I can do for you that you can't do for yourself.' He said, 'Oh yes you can. Just hold my hand. I think that that would help.' So I sat with him a while then I asked him how he felt. He said, 'I think I'm cured.' — Conor Oberst

Everything must belong somewhere. I know that now, that's why I'm staying here. — Conor Oberst

I didn't used to think about politics much, or social issues. I was a teenager, writing about girls. — Conor Oberst

I used to work at a school as a teacher's assistant, and my mom is a principal at an elementary school. I don't know, I think that's a pretty good life, teaching kids. — Conor Oberst

A boycott is, inherently, a blunt instrument. It is an imperfect weapon, a carpet bomb, when all involved would prefer a surgical strike. — Conor Oberst

The first music I ever got into was the '80s alternative bands that my brother listened to, like The Cure and The Smiths and R.E.M. and Fugazi. I can remember specifically saying The Cure was my favorite band back in second grade. — Conor Oberst

Little soldier, little insect You know war it has no heart It will kill you in the sunshine Or happily in the the dark Where kindness is a card game Or a bent up cigarette In the trenches, in the hard rain With a bullet and a bet. — Conor Oberst

Everything that happens is supposed to be And it's all pre-determined, can't change your destiny Guess I'll just keep moving, someday maybe I'll get to where I'm going — Conor Oberst

With science and reason throughout history, what people believed turned out to be false. So I like to keep an open mind to all perspectives and learn and become more fully realised as a person. I just feel we're never going to know what the full picture is. — Conor Oberst

I would prefer to be a little nervous, because when you stop being nervous is kind of when you stop caring. — Conor Oberst

I think that hip-hop is more of an individual effort. That means you're an artist from the streets, they expect you to rap about the streets, because that's what happens there. — Conor Oberst

I enjoy recording and performing, but it's the songwriting that I love most. — Conor Oberst

Because the truth is that gossip is as good as gospel in this town. You can save face but you won't ever save your soul. And that's a fact. — Conor Oberst

There was this book I read and loved, The story of a ship Who sailed around the world and found That nothing else exists Beyond its own two sails And wooden shell And what is held within. All else is sure to pass. We clutch and grasp And debate what's truly permanent. — Conor Oberst

Art is basically communication, and I think everyone who's a music lover has had that experience where a record or a recording has kept you company when no one else is around. And I think that is what I'm hoping that people get out of my music. — Conor Oberst

Love's an excuse to get hurt. — Conor Oberst

We must memorize nine numbers and deny we have a soul. — Conor Oberst