From an American Songwriter Interview with Rickie Lee Jones [well, I think Stevie believes you can be like both Fleetwood Mac
and Bob Dylan]:
http://www.americansongwriter.com/20...kie-lee-jones/
When you start a song, do you start with an intention of what the song is about?
I don’t think I ever do that. I think it’s always just coming out of me. I never know where it’s gonna go or what it’s gonna be. I don’t watch my process, but I probably write a line or two and then know where I’m gonna go right away. Do I want to do a rhyme scheme or a rhythm thing, or do I want to write free verse? It will usually tell you a direction to go. And what the subject is will be revealed. But it doesn’t have the conscious in it. I just get out of my way—following, not leading it, not thinking about it at all. I can take the pen and write you eight lines right now. When it’s done, it’ll probably make sense, rhyme, because the part just behind my consciousness knows just what it is doing. If my consciousness gets in the way, then that unconscious part goes, “OK, you take care of it.” [Laughs] And then my ego enters, and the flow stops. So I have to not guide it, but just trust that I know what I’m doing. And again, not bothering with it.
Like “Bonfires” was about 12 verses. There were a lot of beautiful verses, but I felt that I was going to lose the impact. What I was thinking about when I wrote that was Bob Dylan’s first record. I was thinking of how he played his guitar. This is where I am right now; it’s simple. And that’s how I wanted to deliver it.
I didn’t want it to be like Fleetwood Mac; I wanted to be like Dylan. Knowing there’s no other way to survive heartbreak than to give love.