In the music world, concerts unfold strictly according to plan. But, as I’d been finding out, in the book world, things keep changing by the second. – Dan Hill
Due to my work as a musician, songwriter, recording artist and author, hundreds of people stream in and out of my basement studio to help me with my creative projects. – Dan Hill
My problem is I don’t have this incredible, hip image. I’m not some flamboyant or gorgeous-looking guy who’s going to sell records based on his image. – Dan Hill
When I’m not running, I cycle about 30 miles a day. I use the biking as cross training. I’m kind of a maniac. I race everybody. – Dan Hill
Some stresses are unavoidable – it’s just part of life. One of the things I do to avoid stress is not work with people that I don’t really like or drive me crazy. – Dan Hill
I think the last thing you want to do as a writer, as a storyteller, is to create indifference. I don’t necessarily go out of my way to provoke, but I would much rather have a song that triggers a whole myriad of reactions than a song that inspires a shrug of the shoulder. – Dan Hill
I didn’t have that thing that Michael Bolton did; my star power – my charisma – was not a match to my writing ability. – Dan Hill
I cannot emphasize just how dangerous it is cycling in the city. Especially now. Even though it is against the law to do this, you’ll see people texting while they drive. – Dan Hill
In a world where people are hungry for quick fixes and sound bites, for instant gratification, there’s no patience for the long, slow rebuilding process: implementing after-school programs, hiring more community workers to act as mentors, adding more job training programs in marginalized areas. – Dan Hill
The tricky thing about songwriting is that, more often than not, what you consider to be your best work generates a collective shrug, and something you’ve simply tossed off bowls people over. – Dan Hill
One of the things I did to make myself feel better is that I kicked up my running even more. I knew that I had to stay active, that I had to keep living as if my life was actually going to unfold naturally because when you stop, when you freeze, and you think about it, that’s when the demons come and can drag you down. – Dan Hill
Let’s face it: pop music in its myriad permutations will always be sexually presumptuous, racially controversial and, frequently, politically charged. – Dan Hill
You get your heart stomped by the opposite sex, and you’re hurting so badly that you write ‘Sometimes When We Touch.’ But then what happens when you’ve been married for 25 years? You can’t rely on those emotional male-female roller coasters. You have to start using your imagination and the powers of empathy more. – Dan Hill
While I’ve won five Junos, I’ve donated four of them to the National Archives in Ottawa. Which left my fifth Juno sitting, seemingly abandoned by its four family members, on my bookcase in my dining room. – Dan Hill
Since the dawn of recorded music, every generation has felt shocked by the musical tastes of the next. – Dan Hill
My, oh my, how ‘Sometimes When We Touch’ has travelled since I solemnly wrote my first version at the age of 19. – Dan Hill
Flipping through the ‘Toronto Star’ one day in 2008, I noticed a piece about a phenomenal boxer from the Philippines who had won several different titles in several different weight divisions. Manny Pacquiao’s rise from heart-crushing poverty to the top ranks of his sport was astounding. – Dan Hill
Woody Allen movies notwithstanding, therapy, in the early eighties, was not exactly a hot conversation starter. Nor was it a favoured activity for dysfunctional couples or suffering individuals. – Dan Hill
You can tell black artists are front and centre when Usher discovers and launches Justin Bieber. – Dan Hill
Sling your guitar to wherever you’re going, and you’ll be amazed by the connective power of music: It knows no boundaries, cultures or class. – Dan Hill
In Don Mills in the Sixties, nothing comes close to the humiliation of losing an argument. In our weird little creative circle, no one cares who has faster fists, but to lose an argument suggests inferior intelligence. – Dan Hill
You succeed and accomplish and accomplish; the problem is when you stop, you become depressed because you could never do enough. – Dan Hill
My dad was one of four children. His three siblings were female, and he loved and protected them. – Dan Hill
With my son, I tried not to be so judgmental and tried not to push him so hard. I didn’t want him to feel that everything or that our love for him will be based on how much he has achieved. – Dan Hill
I just wanted to show people – maybe I’m wrong – that I can still really sing. I can sing better than I ever have before. My intonation is way better, my timing, my phrasing – there’s a lot more expression; I feel it’s a more lived-in, soulful voice. – Dan Hill
At 10, I heard Neil Diamond’s ‘Solitary Man’ and it moved me so deeply I stood, frozen in place during school recess, feeling such empathy for the narrator in Diamond’s masterpiece that my heart was smashed. – Dan Hill
