Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst
Conor Mullen Oberstis an American singer-songwriter best known for his work in Bright Eyes. He has also played in several other bands, including Desaparecidos, Norman Bailer, Commander Venus, Park Ave., Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band, Arab Strap and Monsters of Folk. Oberst was named the Best Songwriter of 2008 by Rolling Stone magazine...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth15 February 1980
CityOmaha, NE
CountryUnited States of America
So much of listening to lyrically driven music is projecting your own feelings and experiences into the music.
I like ideas, but I don't like being preached to.
When I started writing songs, I was doing it for myself and a small circle of friends. And gradually, over the years, an audience became involved.
I've always been slightly preoccupied with death or whatever those kind of silly big questions people will tell you to not spend your time worrying about.
I try to make all my songs good. I don't ever write one to finish one. A lot of protest songs end up that way, driven by some kind of emotional response.
If there's a criticism of 'Cassadaga' that I agreed with, it's that we left things in the oven too long, that songs were overstuffed, with too many ideas competing for space.
If you think about Protestant and Catholic or Shiite and Sunni, they are basically the same thing... one eats with their left hand, the other eats with their right hand.
Music is unique because you can get behind enemy lines a little bit, get into people's houses and into their heads, on their stereos, and win hearts and minds.
I enjoy recording and performing, but it's the songwriting that I love most.
It's very strange when people get so focused on what a song means, what actual events inspired a song. That gets people really excited for some reason... But that's what's great about music - however people interpret it, whatever they see, is what I want to be there for them.
I keep my eyes closed a lot when I'm singing because sometimes it's distracting to see people.
I'm very interested in writing - it just takes so much discipline, whether it's short stories or novels.
If there's a song that stops meaning anything to me, then I'll quit playing it.
Movement has been one of the few constants in my life, and I always feel a great sense of optimism when I set off to a new place.