#paul zollo

[dk-thrive]

To me, the only thing that has kept me going through the years, as a writer, is that deep, private, self-forgetful joy that I feel when I’m working. When you sit down at the table and it’s eight o’clock in the morning and then you look up and it’s, God, it’s three o’clock in the afternoon. All that time has gone by as if in a single moment. And in that prolonged moment, you were completely given over to the task at hand, you were joyful, even if you were writing about how joyless your life has been. Because you had totally forgotten everything but the poem you were trying to make.

— Alan Shapiro, from an interview titled "The Conversation" which was featured in the book "More Songwriters on Songwriting" edited by Paul Zollo (Da Capo Press, November 8, 2016) (via Alive on All Channels)

[infiniterichesinalittleroom]

it entails witnessing, it entails detachment. For a certain kind of songwriter who is socially conscious and aware of some inequities and wants to voice those inequities for himself and say, “This is where I stand. This is where I draw the line.”

P. F. Sloan • Songwriters on Songwriting ed. Paul Zollo

[infiniterichesinalittleroom]

A middle-aged woman in Ohio wrote a poem that said, “The month of April, when we pay for the burning of the children.” Talking about the income tax, of course. That’s where we pay for the burning of the children. So I built a whole song around that, called “The Calendar.

Pete Seeger • Songwriters on Songwriting ed. Paul Zollo

[infiniterichesinalittleroom]

You don't really want to say "the tree," you want to say “the sycamore.” And it's not even true. But there is a certain truth to it. We seem to be able to relate to detail. We seem to have an appetite for it. It seems that your days are made of details, and if you can't get the sense of another person's day of details, your own day of details is summoned in your mind in some way rather than just a general line like "the days went by." It's better to say "watching Captain Kangaroo." Not "watching TV." Sitting in my room "with that hopeless little screen." Not just TV, but the hopeless, little screen. I think those are the details that delight us. They delight us because we can share a life then. It's our sense of insignificance and isolation that produces a great deal of suffering.

Leonard Cohen • February 1992 • Paul Zollo

[americansongwriter]

Behind David Letterman's Favorite Song, "Everlong," by Dave Grohl & Foo Fighters « American Songwriter

Foo Fighters performed this song five times on Late Night with David Letterman, including the final show. David Letterman & Foo Fighters David

[gtunesmiff]

Legends of Songwriting: John Denver « American Songwriter

After he became a cultural icon, he started to become dismissed as a musician. The critics were quick to dismiss him, and much of the public followed. But

[songwritingguide]

The Great Song Adventure

The Great Song Adventure is a podcast hosted by Louise Goffin and Paul Zollo featuring in-depth conversations about songs and the songwriters who write them....

[natehertweck]

My talented friend Paul Zollo took these killer photos at a Dinosaur Tooth show last year at The Ranch Party at EB’s Bar. Paul does so many things well, a great songwriter in his own right, he’s also written the bible(s) on the craft in Songwriters On Songwriting and More Songwriters On Songwriting. It’s his birthday today, and we love him!