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To me songwriting is more like redemption. I can extract the poison or the pollen, the essence from a situation and the rest becomes a husk that blows away.

Beth Orton

I’m not comfortable holidaying in other people’s poverty.
BETH ORTON

Comfortable People Poverty
I didn’t jump a lot of trees because I didn’t like heights. I liked getting a mirror and walking around with it facing the sky. I’d imagine I was walking in the tops of the trees and falling into the sky, or walking up the stairs whilst going down.
BETH ORTON

Fall Mirrors Sky
Norfolk is not on the way to anywhere, you don’t stop off on the way somewhere else – it’s an end in itself. You have to want to go there; it’s an effort.
BETH ORTON

Effort Else Somewhere Want
I’d say my greatest fear is fear itself.
BETH ORTON

Good Greatest Fear Say
I get a feeling, on a guitar, and I sort of mess around until something resonates with me, and then I just find that what happens is that a melody comes, and with that, words.
BETH ORTON

Feelings Guitar Melody
My dad got me a chemistry book one Christmas and I burnt the garden shed down. I remember there was the most beautiful smell forever after in the remains.
BETH ORTON

Beautiful Book Dad
To me songwriting is more like redemption. I can extract the poison or the pollen, the essence from a situation and the rest becomes a husk that blows away.
BETH ORTON

Blow Essence Poison
The way I write, words can means lots of different things.
BETH ORTON

Different Mean Writing
I’ve also been writing with my guitarist, Ted Barnes, and he’s amazing. Writing with him has taught me a lot about my own writing process, in the sense that it’s incredably personal to write with someone else from scratch.
BETH ORTON

Scratches Taught Writing
When I was really young I used to collect frog spawn. I made a pond out of an old sink and I loved to spend hours watching the frogs grow.
BETH ORTON

Frogs Hours Ponds
I get told I’m a confessional songwriter, which gets on my tits because I think of negative connotations attached to the word “confessional”. I don’t like the idea of songwriting being therapy. I don’t want to put myself so directly in the foreground.
BETH ORTON

Ideas Negative Thinking
When I’m on a roll nothing makes me happier or feel more satisfied, like plugging in, life makes sense.
BETH ORTON

Feels Makes Satisfied Sense
I want it to be more universal than that – like a painter doesn’t have to explain his life story away to justify his painting.
BETH ORTON

Painting Stories Want
Even when I haven’t had money, I found money to travel. It’s a luxury that’s a kind of necessity, I think.
BETH ORTON

Kind Luxury Thinking
Therapy is like telling your nightmares when you’re a kid; they lose their power to hurt and control.
BETH ORTON

Hurt Kids Nightmare
When I first started writing, a friend said I should be careful because I’m letting people know how to reach right in and play with my workings. And they do!
BETH ORTON

People Play Writing

To me songwriting is more like redemption. I can extract the poison or the pollen, the essence from a situation and the rest becomes a husk that blows away.

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To me songwriting is more like redemption. I can extract the poison or the pollen, the essence from a situation and the rest becomes a husk that blows away.

Related Topics

Popular Authors

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