Keith Urban Quotations

You go through life experiences. Each record captures a different turning point in my life.

I think there's just so many people in the world that don't feel understood, and when you hear a song and you go, 'Oh, that song understands me,' that's an amazing feeling. I get it when I listen to the radio... That's a beautiful part of music.

The records in the house I really remember were, well, Glen Campbell's 'Wichita Lineman' and 'Galveston.' Even as a kid, I knew these songs were glorious. My dad also had records by Merle Haggard, Charley Pride, Waylon Jennings, and then there was also the Eagles and Don Henley. Anything Texas, which includes Don Henley, was big.

I think everybody has different priorities in their life. People live their lives differently. People become famous through all sorts of different reasons... some of it through art and some of it through just wanting to be famous. And I think how that all starts tends to reflect how you live your life daily.

At the end of the day, the Grammys are about recognizing genres that are making an impact.

I love the beginnings of artists when all they've got is raw talent and nothing else.

There are certain songs that are sacred. People want to hear them just as they are in their head; they don't want you messing around with them. And then there are some other songs, if they've been around a long time in our set list, that I think we can take some creative liberties with.

I always wish I'd had more mentors, better mentors, wiser mentors, people who were proper professional working musicians to guide me as I was coming up.

I think it took me a while to convince Nashville that what I do is genuine and my heart's in the right place, and I love country music.

A song like 'Once in a Lifetime' is inspired by my marriage - it's a good, life-changing happening in my life. I think when you find your once-in-a-lifetime love, that's what everybody's looking for.

Once we get into the groove, we're kind of like long-distance runners - that adrenalin kicks in for me and I just keep running - and I don't stop!

I tend to write better when I'm not touring.

I don't swear much; I've taken those words out of my vocabulary, and having kids, you have to have two sets of language!

I think the industry is oblivious to the fact that most people listen to all kinds of stuff. I personally don't know of anyone who listens to only one genre of music. It's vanity because no one does.

It's something I've always loved doing. I'm not one of the artists who comes in and just does my bit. I'm there every second of every day. That's my hands-on situation.

You're always in a different headspace when you make each record, so hopefully they're all different. You just pick up things that you wish you hadn't done on the first one.

It's not the case of turning in a bunch of songs and recording the next month. I think you're looking for songs all year long and you're writing all year long.

Getting on the bus and touring was my life. And when that was not around, I felt myself a bit lost at times, because that was all I had.

My father's record collection was all country. That's how I was exposed to it.

Red carpets are pretty unpredictable. You can go from one person asking you what you're wearing to the next person asking you about the situation in Haiti. It's the extreme juxtaposition, and some of the questions can throw me!

Country seems to be finding a bigger audience. Certainly an audience out of the general country scene is finding me.

I make no apologies for being a huge fan of radio songs.

I've always been a pretty private, quiet kind of person and so I haven't had to change my life really at all, I don't think.

Being with my family is very important to me, and touring is very important to me, too, because it's who I am. It's what I do.

I'm a little more comfortable in that role. I love being in the studio.

There are certain things you want to go do together, and you want your mate to be there. But mostly you just try and, you know, pick places where you shouldn't be going because it's going to be too crazy.

My dad was a drummer on the weekends when he was young. Being a kid in the '50s, he got bitten by the rock 'n' roll bug like everyone else. He had a fascination with American culture and the American dream. He fell in love with the idealism.

I feel like I'm 15 and in my first garage band again, ... I don't know where that's coming from, but I love it. I find an even deeper exuberance in playing music and putting on a show. I'm just giddy about putting all this together and giving something to people that they haven't seen before.

He has a master understanding of holding a crowd and taking them places: high, low and everywhere in between, ... He knows how long he can hold them before they go over the edge, and then he brings them back. It was just astounding. It's amazing to think somebody could be that compelling and captivating for that long.

I wrote it and God said 'Well, I'm gonna' hang on to them and when you're going through this I'll give it back to you.' And that's exactly what happened.

I think it just means that country is a global phenomenon.

It can get a little costly if you try and leave it until then to write songs. But you're writing all the time. You're collecting songs. I've had songs that have been collected over a two-year period for my next record.

I think we just got upstaged. Everything pales in comparison.

The dealer took $2 000 (R12 000) off the asking price, as long as I agreed to make an appearance at his dealership some time in the future.

The dealer took $2,000 off the asking price, as long as I agreed to make an appearance at his dealership some time in the future. It's taken long enough, but I've finally come back to town to settle up.

We just wanted to present a better tone for 'Better Life,' and I had been down to New Orleans and was struck by a combination of things -- how much has been done and how little has been done. We just wanted to bring a little more awareness back to the cause down there.

We go to Australia with LeAnn Rimes for a couple of weeks in October. We have a lot of shows between now and the end of the year.

You look at me and give me that 'come here baby' smile. And I know we can make it through anything.

One day I'm gonna run across your mind, but don't worry I'll be fine, I'll be alright while you're sleeping with your pride, wishin' I could hold you tight, but I'll be gone and on with my life.

Days go by like a hand out the window in the wind!

This is good for all of us, ... This is good for a lot of New Yorkers that are starved for their country music.

They're mostly done before we went into the studio, although I do like writing in the studio.

For a long, long time I felt music was a trick for me. Because I had been playing guitar at such an early age, it felt like a magic trick -- I didn't really have a deep-seated appreciation for it. And I went through a period where I think I came very close to God taking it away from me. Fortunately, I got through it and suddenly went 'Oh my God, this is an amazing thing.' Music is a phenomenal thing and I saw it as a blessing and not as a trick anymore, and as soon as I recognized it for that, everything started coming together.

I'm lettin' go of all my lonely yesterdays, I've forgiven myself for the mistakes I've made.

I remember one night crawling around on my hands and knees, looking for these little rocks at 5 in the morning. It was the worst.

Everybody needs somebody sometimes.

If it's a real dream it's uncrushable.

Someone said one time, 'If your marriage isn't your priority, you're not married,' and I thought, for me that's so true. So as long as I keep her as a priority, everything else sort of seems to work. And when I don't keep it as a priority, it's ... Jenga.

Nothing like seeing the genesis of the relationship between an instrument and a child.

Since I was a kid I just wanted to be in Nashville.

I'm grateful when anybody can start to have his or her limited perception of the genre open up a little bit, ... There's a lot of great music in the country genre that doesn't get heard because people say, 'Well, I don't like country.

...And now you've lost the only thing that ever made you feel alive...

Days go by I can feel 'em flying like a hand out the window in the wind!

Youre always in a different headspace when you make each record, so hopefully theyre all different. You just pick up things that you wish you hadnt done on the first one.

If I knew what I was doing, I'd be doing it right now. I would be the best damn poet, silver words out of my mouth. My words might not be magic, but they cut straight to the truth. So if you need a lover and a friend, baby, I'm in.

The older I get the more I can see How much he loved my mother and my brother and me And he did the best that he could And I only hope when I have my own family That everyday I see a little more of my father in me.

Sometimes I just cry at random stuff!

The world is getting so reality-driven these days. It seems to be accelerating exponentially. But it's a dangerous game for a lot of people.

I've never wanted to name an album from a song title if I could avoid it because I like it to be a body of work.

Let water wash our bodies clean, and love wash our souls.

Take your records, take you freedom, take your memories, I dont need 'em. And take your cat, and leave my sweater, cause we've got nothing left to weather.

There's no soul in perfection.

When you put your arms around me, You let me know there's nothing in this world I can't do

From the cradle to the grave, temptations all around. But no matter how good the fix, its gonna take you down.

You changed my life. You changed my ways. I don't even recognize myself these days. It must be a reflection of you, only you.

Raw is a good place for an artist. It's where the truth comes out.

Life is about holding on and letting go.

I don't want to impress, I want to inspire.

It took a while for her to figure out she could run but when she did she was long gone, Long gone..

Everyday I see a little more of my father in me..

You were not available for this one, apparently.