Conor Oberst Song Quotes & Sayings

We're going to sing about things that matter to us. The balancing act is to present these ideas but also make the music exciting and sort of fun enough that even if you're not paying attention to the lyrics, you might still like the songs anyway. That's the idea. — Conor Oberst

For a song I was bought Now I lie when I talk With a careful eye on the cue card. Onto a stage I was pushed, With my sorrow well rehearsed. So give me all your pity and your money, now (all of it). — Conor Oberst

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

The best feeling I ever get is when I finish a song, and it exists, and it didn't exist before, and now it's there, and it makes me feel a certain way. — Conor Oberst

I understand why people get desensitized and roll their eyes when they hear a protest song, or even a politician making some flowery speech. It doesn't really change anything. — 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 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

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

I think there are some songs that stand the test of time better than others for sure. I think some songs go out of favour; I'll get sick of a song for a while, and I won't play it; then it'll make a comeback. — 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

If there's a song that stops meaning anything to me, then I'll quit playing 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

To finish a song is the best feeling in the world. — Conor Oberst

And your eyes must do some raining if you're ever gonna grow / When crying don't help, you can't compose yourself / It's best to compose a poem, an honest verse of longing / Or a simple song of hope. — Conor Oberst

When you write a song, the goal is not to convey the details of your life. You should write a memoir or something if that's what you're going to do. — Conor Oberst

Every time I finish a song ... most of the time it's in my own head, like this sounds too much like a Townes Van Zandt song, or whoever. I realize there are so many melodies and chord progressions in pop and rock music that are so similar that you can kind of trace it back to other things. Most of the time it's just in your head. — Conor Oberst

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

To me, a political song is also a personal song. Most political activism has been driven by empathy for other people and the desire for a world that's less divisive. Even if songs aren't overtly political, they can make a listener more empathetic. — Conor Oberst