I talk to the audience, look into their eyes. I need them and they need me.
Interpretation
The relationship between a performer and their audience is reciprocal and vital.
In this quote, Janis Joplin emphasizes the interconnectedness between herself as a performer and the audience. She recognizes that her emotional and artistic expression relies on their presence and engagement, while they, in turn, find connection and meaning in her performance. This mutual need highlights the intimacy and importance of shared experiences in the realm of live music and art.
In practice
This quote can be used when discussing the power of live performances at a music workshop.
I gotta go on doin' it the way I see it...I got no choice but to take it like I see it. I'm here to have a party while I'm on this earth...I'm gettin' it now, today. I don't even know where I'm gonna be twenty years from now, so I'm just gonna keep on rockin', cause if I start saving up bits and pieces of me...man, there ain't gonna be nothing left for Janis.
When I sing, I feel like when you're first in love. It's more than sex. It's that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it's gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.
Like most girls I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.
I won't quit to become someone's old lady.
Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.
You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once?
It is not good to see people who have been pretending strength all their lives lose it even for a minute.
Nobody ever lies about being lonely.
If you close your eyes and think about where you feel the most safe, you're probably not going to tell me it's in a room full of police. You feel safe where you're around people that love you, when you have food and shelter, when you're being pushed to be your best self and learn.
Tracy is more a help to me than I am to her.
Marriage is the only actual bondage known to our law. There remain no legal slaves, except the mistress of every house.
I once heard someone on a bus say that this guy had gotten under her skin. And it struck me as a remarkable thought - that someone would affect you so deeply they'd always be a part of you.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.