• the unreliable narrator •

You as a songwriter, whoever you are, have to really align with the idea of 'What is your purpose?' Some songwriters' purpose is to make people laugh, and they're magical at it. That is their gift. That's not everybody's gift. It's a special one. It's very tricky to do that. Some songwriters paint almost like sonic canvasses for people to step into, to escape the television set. Some artists tap into that place in the heart and can walk with sorrow and walk with you in all the trenches, and that's their gift. And all of these gifts, I feel, have their place now. Not only were the two towers split wide open, but we were, and our emotional self has been. So there is a need for any kind of emotion, whether it's fear or anger or sadness or escape—all of it.