A carefree quality is a whole aspect of life that I will never understand. I don't think I have ever been carefree and can't see the pleasure of it.
- Carter Burwell Quote

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

Carefully execute every instruction given to you by the director, producer, and studio. But that would be a life not worth living.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Conducting, I tried it once off the cuff, and quickly realized there were subtle aspects that I was missing. There is a lot more to it that I was able to grasp simply by watching conductors.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Connection is what one is after in probably most media, but certainly in film, which is an immersive medium.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Death is always around the corner, but often our society gives it inordinate help.
- Carter Burwell Quote

How does my music connect to an audience? That is just a complete mystery to me.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I almost never try to make the audience comfortable. I wouldn't want that if I were in the audience.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I don't personally see my work as being dark. What interests me is a balance between light and dark.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I had piano lessons when I was a kid, like most people. And hated them, like most people. And quit, like most people.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I have always loved Scottish music - all sorts of Celtic, Gaelic music.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I just love the sheer mess of New York.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I like business and personal life to be distinct.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I think I've only done one horror movie, Psycho III. That was a walk in the park compared to a romantic comedy.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I would like to do a science fiction film some day. Star Wars seems really to have destroyed the genre, which at one time offered great musical opportunities.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I write music to please myself. Hopefully the director's enjoying it too.
- Carter Burwell Quote

I'm one of those people who is actually inspired by a deadline. I might not sleep for many days on end, it may not be good for my health, but it definitely helps.
- Carter Burwell Quote

In mainstream romantic comedies, I'm usually tearing my hair out. It's just a devastatingly difficult genre for me.
- Carter Burwell Quote

John Barry was the first film composer I was aware of. As a teenager I owned several of his Bond soundtracks.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Learning how to improvise really awakened my interest in music.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Most films I work on, the people making the film are constantly second-guessing the executives of the studio, the producer, and the audience. It is very hard to accomplish anything in that situation.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Music is the subliminal connecting adhesive in film, or at least in narrative feature films.
- Carter Burwell Quote

On Being John Malkovich and the cinema of the absurd, I do enjoy it. I wish there were more like it. The very fact that there can't be more like it is one of the reasons it's admirable.
- Carter Burwell Quote

Performing written music, even when I've written it, is not very interesting to me.
- Carter Burwell Quote

The jarring change going from an urban environment to an extremely remote natural environment is extremely inspiring. It's constantly stimulating, it's like a slap in the face.
- Carter Burwell Quote

There is not much irony when people are being happy on screen.
- Carter Burwell Quote