A good idea for lyrics and a melody to expand on.
Gordon Waller

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.
John Mellencamp

A melody is not merely something you can hum.
Aaron Copland

After all my years of doing instrumental music I still like just a simple instrumental song with a nice catchy melody and an opportunity to play a solo over a harmonic structure.
Stanley Clarke

After playing now for 60 years, it's still very challenging for me to play a simple melody and have it clean and touch the reed at the proper time in the proper way.
Lee Konitz

All my music is very simple in that melody is usually clearly stated.
Carter Burwell

As long as I can say what it is that I need to say, then I'll fit whatever I'm trying to say around a melody.
Alanis Morissette

Asking the author of historical novels to teach you about history is like expecting the composer of a melody to provide answers about radio transmission.
Lion Feuchtwanger

Because if you've got the wit, you can make anything into a melody, ultimately.
Gerry Mulligan

But when you get to a song, not only do you have to do a vocal melody, you have to write words and not be redundant and make some semblance of a story.
Glenn Danzig

By giving the public a rich and full melody, distinctly arranged and well played, all the time creating new tone colors and patterns, I feel we have a better chance of being successful. I want a kick to my band, but I don't want the rhythm to hog the spotlight.
Glenn Miller

Composers in the old days used to keep strictly to the base of the theme, as their real subject. Beethoven varies the melody, harmony and rhythms so beautifully.
Johannes Brahms

Doing the instrumental thing, you're really looking for the power of the melody to carry the record.
Michael W. Smith

Essentially my contribution was to introduce repetition into Western music as the main ingredient without any melody over it, without anything just repeated patterns, musical patterns.
Terry Riley

Every soul is a melody which needs renewing.
Stephane Mallarme

For me Brazilian music is the perfect mix of melody and rhythm. It just bubbles rhythmically. If I had to pick just one music style to play if would be Brazilian.
Herbie Mann

For me it's always contingent on getting a sound-the sound always suggests what kind of melody it should be. So it's always sound first and then the line afterwards.
Brian Eno

From a very early period of my life I have derived the highest enjoyment from listening to music, especially to melody, which is to me the most pleasing form of composition.
James Nasmyth

Great melody over great riffs is, to me, the secret of it all.
Steven Tyler

Here is how I work: when I think that a film needs to have a principal theme, I search for a melody.
Michel Legrand