I had a list of rules I made up one time. It says: Tell the truth, sing with passion, work with laughter, and love with heart. Those are good to start with, anyway.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I didn't know that there were many rules in music when I first started writing.
Write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
I'm a believer in just open, free-form creativity, and you never know the surprises that life has in store, and that, purely on a creative level, there's no such thing as rules.
I don't care about the rules. In fact, if I don't break the rules at least 10 times in every song then I'm not doing my job properly.
I don't really know that there's any real rules for songwriting.
I follow three rules: Do the right thing, do the best you can, and always show people you care.
It doesn't matter what people say or what the rules say or what you're supposed to do, you go after what's in your heart.
I've only had two rules: Do all you can and do it the best you can. It's the only way you ever get that feeling of accomplishing something.
I had made all these rules for myself: I'm not writing social commentary, I'm not writing love songs.
I learned that music should be fun and should be a way to express yourself - that there aren't really any rules.