The one recurring theme in my writing, and in my life in general, is confusion. The fact that anytime you think you really know something, you're going to find out you're wrong - that is the rule. The moments where you think you have something figured out, those are the exceptions.
Conor OberstOn every Bright Eyes record, there's some kind of sound collage that begins it. Some of them have dialogue, some don't. I like it because it can kind of slow down the attention span a bit. It's a way to draw you in to the rest of the record.
Conor OberstAlthough Omaha is my birthplace and the place I grew up, I don't see myself spending extended amounts of time there. I feel almost more comfortable and more at peace in New York.
Conor OberstI came upon a doctor who appeared in quite poor health. I said, 'There's nothing that I can do for you that you can't do for yourself.' He said, 'Oh yes you can. Just hold my hand. I think that that would help.' So I sat with him a while then I asked him how he felt. He said, 'I think I'm cured.'
Conor OberstI think our music is more about seeing ourselves in each other and trying to find a more humanistic viewpoint for the world.
Conor OberstRastafarianism and reggae music have always kind of resonated with me. Those ideas of redemption, liberation and overcoming oppression through music, weed and community. Fighting evil through love and music, I think it's just a really powerful idea.
Conor OberstAnd in the morning when the sun rise. Look in the water, see the blue sky. As if heaven has been laid there at our feet.
Conor OberstA boycott is, inherently, a blunt instrument. It is an imperfect weapon, a carpet bomb, when all involved would prefer a surgical strike.
Conor OberstWith science and reason throughout history, what people believed turned out to be false. So I like to keep an open mind to all perspectives and learn and become more fully realised as a person. I just feel we're never going to know what the full picture is.
Conor OberstAnd me I'm in the bathroom crying out my eyelids because it's hard to be a man when you're scared, just like a little kid.
Conor OberstWhen I run into a person or a kid that comes up and gives me the spiel about, 'Hey, I got your record at this time in my life, and it really helped me,' that stuff totally still rings true. If you're standing there talking to someone, it's really easy to tell if they're being authentic or not. And that's great.
Conor OberstPopular music is all about traveling at the speed of you and elevating the individual as the highest thing in the world.
Conor OberstArt is essentially communication. It doesn't exist in a vacuum. That's why people make art, so other people can relate to it.
Conor OberstI think that hip-hop is more of an individual effort. That means you're an artist from the streets, they expect you to rap about the streets, because that's what happens there.
Conor OberstIn a way, to have whatever people talk about as "crossover success," I think it means you start making bad music. I mean, when I'm flipping through the channels and see the VMAs or something, I don't really see any music there.
Conor OberstI like the Alice in Wonderland sculpture in Central Park. I love how it's been rained on forever and looks worn down by time.
Conor OberstWhen you look at what people consider success in the music industry, it's just terrible music.
Conor OberstAnd I never thought this life was possible,You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for. In polaroids you were dressed in women's clothes Were you made ashamed, why'd you lock them in a drawer? Well, I don't think that I ever loved you more Well let the poets cry themselves to sleep And all their tearful words will turn back into steam The sound of loneliness makes me happier.
Conor OberstI've been part of running a label since I was a kid, so I understand how it works. But the more and more I learn about it, the less and less interested I am in it.
Conor OberstEvery 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 Obersti keep drinking the ink from my pen and i'm balancing history books up on my head but it all boils down to one quotable phrase if you love something give it away
Conor OberstI think it is more like a ghost that has been following us both. Something vague that we're not seeing, something more like a feeling.
Conor OberstNow I believe that lovers should be draped in flowers and laid entwined together on a bed of clover and left there to sleep, left there to dream of their happiness.
Conor OberstI'm not the most technically savvy person in the world. Like, I'm not good at troubleshooting when stuff happens to my digital music.
Conor OberstEach Desaparecidos's song has a seed that it came from. We're trying to take that and broaden it out and make it resonate with people.
Conor OberstMy favorite rhymes are sort of half-rhymes where you might just get the vowel sound the same, but it's not really a true rhyme. That gives you far more flexibility to capture the feeling you're trying to express. But sometimes it's best not to have any rhyme.
Conor OberstI went right from wunderkind to washed up. Old. Been around too long. That's just the way I feel. That's my internal dialogue.
Conor OberstAs long as I can buy records and books and maybe some clothes, I'm pretty stoked. I don't need a yacht or anything.
Conor OberstI have many friends who are both Mexican and Mexican-American and others who, I guess you would say, are somewhere in between. The ironic thing is that all three of those categories often exist inside of the same family.
Conor OberstIf there's ever a kid out there that can't afford to buy the music, I still want them to hear it, and hopefully they'll go to the show, or buy a T-shirt from the band. That's the idea.
Conor OberstWhen I try to explain to people the big influences in my life, or at least when I first started, the most important ones were my friends who were also writing songs and were typically four or five years older than me.
Conor OberstI liked the idea of having a record that's reggae-influenced but not musically, just lyrically. I think there's so much about Rasta culture that's interesting. Just the idea of preaching one-ness, that we're all in this together. Which I suppose is at the root of most any religion. You're gonna find it, if taken in the right context.
Conor OberstLife is always surprising to me. When you think it's going to get dull, it never really does.
Conor Oberst