Key Takeaways
- He was funny and looked sharp—very charming, and women like men who are charming. So much gets overlooked in the name of charm.
- They say we walk in circles—we humans—in circles when we’re lost.
- Note-keeping is a big part of what I do. There is nothing like being fully informed: knowledge equals ease of operation.
- Keeping track of arrangements and ideas on paper has always been part of my work process. Remembering is just another word for choosing. The world turns the same way for everybody but different people choose to see different things. I decided to remember the little pieces that matter to me. This is the same way that I see God, as little pieces flying by, tiny molecular pieces of information constantly flying by. Some people see them, some people don’t. A godly moment may be sparkling in only a tiny way—too small to make a difference in its singular form—but stacked up with others the sparkle begins to build shapes. The shapes are the instigators of sound, soul, and dreams. Dreams allow you to then see more possibilities, and in my case, my dreams become realities. Not quickly, maybe only one piece at a time over, say, three years, before it all falls together.
- My morning route afforded me some isolated time away from adults, time for a child’s imagination to grow. There’s something powerful that happens when you rise before the rest of the world. The feeling of freedom or rebirth that I imagine the birds feel every morning also belongs to a newspaper delivery boy. The two voices or characters in my head would inevitably start talking. They would argue and discuss, the one trying to outwit the other, or win the argument, both characters played by myself. Is this a mental illness? Or a necessary preparation for the psychological journey one must embark on to be good in the recording studio? I still play the two characters today. Sometimes I get strange looks from people.
- Everybody thought he was a kook, but in retrospect he was the only guy in the neighborhood who made any sense.
- Being faithful to skill-building without knowledge of practical future application has always been part of me. Running on excitement, I will pursue a skill or an idea, trusting that one day it will find a home.
- Some people have said that Billy and I look similar. I’ve seen the resemblance myself in photographs, but I think the real resemblance lies in obsession. We are similar in our fundamental values of kindness and lust for quality.
What I got out of it
- This book explores the creative world of Daniel Lanois. His passion and enthusiasm for music are clear, in how he tinkers to how he approaches his process. Beautiful read.
