You want to know a secret? Writing what you call good music is easy, piece of cake. You’re writing for intelligent, educated people who are prepared to meet you halfway. It’s the army songs and the romantic ballads that made me sweat blood.”
You don’t know anything about writing music. Simple and accessible is the hardest thing there is. It’s like designing a clock mechanism with only two moving parts. It’s working with both hands tied behind your back. You’re limited to a simple melodic line, which has to conform to strict form. You’ve got the voice and one instrument and that’s it, no orchestra, no counterpoint, nothing. It’s like explaining Saloninus’ theory of the Eternal Recurrence to a six-year-old rather than a tenured professor of Ethics.”
A thousand cultured folk will tell you they love your symphony, but can you believe them? But if a hundred thousand poor people decide they can afford two stuivers to hear you sing, that probably means you’re actually getting something right.”