Most of 'All Hail West Texas' was written during orientation at a new job I had. I had basically worked this job before, I knew this stuff, so I was writing lyrics in the margins of all the Xeroxed material.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
So one can say that I write all the time, that goes for the lyrics as well.
I get writer's block all the time. The only way I can write what I consider to be good lyrics is to put myself through the mill.
I'm always writing lyrics. I have so many lyrics on so many stray pieces of paper. Everywhere.
I try to write like the writers I admire - I rip them off in form. It comes from George Strait and Merle Haggard records, and country music in general is really good at that, the twisted phrase... So I'm always looking for that angle in my own work.
I started writing lyrics out of desperation. I was broke and wondering where my next job, my next meal was coming from, although I had had several successful revue songs on Broadway.
When I moved to New York, I fell head over heels back into country music and probably 'cause I missed something about Texas.
I kind of need to be ambulatory to write lyrics.
I got a little bit lost in the writing process: like, that moment in the 'Fight Song' music video where I'm throwing the crumpled paper on the bed, that was really true life. I was filling journals with different possibilities of lyrics for the first verse. And none of them felt right.
I didn't really start writing music or lyrics or turning them into songs until I went to San Francisco.
I've never written lyrics. I get up in front of a microphone, and I just sing what comes to the top of my head.