"David Lee Roth had the idea that if you covered a successful song, you were half way home. C'mon - Van Halen doing 'Dancing in the Streets'? It was stupid. I started feeling like I would rather bomb playing my own songs than be successful playing someone else's music"
- Eddie Van Halen
About this Quote
Eddie Van Halen's quote talks to the significance of producing and carrying out initial music. He reveals his disdain for the idea of covering successful tunes, as proposed by David Lee Roth, as he thinks it is a faster way to success. He thinks that it is better to stop working playing one's own tunes than to be successful playing someone else's music. This quote reflects Eddie Van Halen's dedication to creating and performing his own music, and his belief that it is more important to be real to one's own artistry than to take the easy route of covering effective tunes. He also indicates that covering effective tunes is a form of creative laziness, as it does not need the same level of imagination and effort as developing original music.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"
"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"