Richard Thompson Quotes

I try to make songs visual and tactile to kind of put you into the action.

Amplifying acoustic instruments more than a little is really cheating, and everything becomes a compromise.

I`ll try to imagine something and see what happens. But it usually winds up being about something fairly concrete and close to home.

To stand up on a stage alone with an acoustic guitar requires bravery bordering on heroism. Bordering on insanity.

The thing I do, really, is a communication with audiences more than any achievement through records.

But music can save your life sometimes. It probably saved me from working in a bank or something. That`s a kind of salvation right there.

I`m glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me.

I probably wrote three-quarters of the songs without an instrument in my hands.

It`s hard to tell where one tour ends and the next begins. I`m generally touring most of any year. I`m just generally out there doing it.

I want people to come to my music without prejudice. I want them to get the music first. And who I am isn`t that important. If they like the songs to me that`s a good thing.

All audiences should be slightly off balance.

You want the audience to be uncomfortable.

It`s amazing what some people read into songs.

I try to look for the good in everybody, regardless of the way they`re labeled.

When you stand up acoustic in front of an audience, you really are a man without any clothes on. And that can be fun - it depends how much of an exhibitionist you are, I suppose. I quite enjoy it.

People want to hear about the extremes of human nature. They want things that are larger than their own lives, and more romantic, and not necessarily of their own experiences.

It`s fun to sing sad songs. And it`s fun to listen to sad songs. Enjoyable. Satisfying. Something.

I think the reason kids get into drugs and smoking is they don`t have anything to do.

Well, first of all it`s entertainment. That stops us becoming too pretentious or thinking we`re great artists.

What I wanted to hear didn`t exist, so it was necessary for me to go out and create it.

I just like to entertain myself by sitting down and writing songs.

As the writer, you`re always a presence in the song. If you get close to what human beings are like, you`re writing about common experience. We all do much the same things, so if you nail somebody, then you`ve also nailed yourself.

The best thing you`ve got going for you is individuality.

There`s a part of me that wishes I`d never said one single solitary word on any subject publicly. Then I could have been the tortured poet, and there`s so much mileage in that. But it`s too late to stop now.

I have to remind myself not to set boundaries.

I like the idea of playing in unison with yourself.

It`s an honor to have this job and, to me, the greatest thing is to be up on stage and to feel that connection with an audience.

I`m always making a conscious effort to be viable and accessible.