Aretha with no goals, eternally single & one step soft of heaven/ let it be understood that she owns this melody along with her emotional diplomats & her earth & her musical secrets
Bob DylanRead
My best songs were written very quickly. Just about as much time as it takes to write it down is about as long as it takes to write it...In writing songs I've learned as much from Cezanne as I have from Woody Guthrie...It's not me, it's the songs. I'm just the postman, I deliver the songs...I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Dylan emphasizes the spontaneous nature of creativity and the influence of various artists on his work.
In this quote, Bob Dylan reflects on the effortless and rapid creation of his best songs, suggesting that true artistry comes from a combination of inspiration and the influence of other artists. He humbly portrays himself not as the creator of the songs, but as a deliverer of messages that transcend his personal identity, highlighting the interconnectedness of art and the artist's role in its expression. By identifying as a poet first, he suggests that the essence of his work lies in the depth of expression and poetic intent, rather than merely musical composition.
Themes
CreativityPoetryMusicInspirationArtistry
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech about the importance of artistic expression, one might quote Dylan to illustrate the role of influence in creativity.
More from Bob Dylan
All quotes →If I wasn't Bob Dylan, I'd probably think that Bob Dylan has a lot of answers myself.
Bob DylanRead
Some formulas are too complex and I don't want anything to do with them.
Bob DylanRead
I'm the oldest son of a crazy man, I'm in a cowboy band.
Bob DylanRead
My songs are personal music, they're not communal. I wouldn't want people singing along with me. It would sound funny. I'm not playing campfire meetings. I don't remember anyone singing along with Elvis, Carl Perkins or Little Richard.
Bob DylanRead
I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you.
Bob DylanRead
Similar quotes
It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around.
Stephen KingRead
Things are pretty, graceful, rich, elegant, handsome, but, until they speak to the imagination, not yet beautiful.
Ralph Waldo EmersonRead
Who among us has not dreamt, in moments of ambition, of the miracle of a poetic prose, musical without rhythm and rhyme, supple and staccato enough to adapt to the lyrical stirrings of the soul, the undulations of dreams, and sudden leaps of consciousness.
Charles BaudelaireRead
There was a time before I felt I was a real writer, when I was a yarn spinner and I just wanted to tell story until it was over. But then there came a time where I was like, 'No, I want to understand something through writing this that I might have not understood before. I want people to come away with something to think about.'
Joss WhedonRead
In a way, her strangeness, her naiveté, her craving for the other half of her equation was the consequence of an idle imagination. Had she paints, or clay, or knew the discipline of the dance, or strings, had she anything to engage her tremendous curiosity and her gift for metaphor, she might have exchanged the restlessness and preoccupation with whim for an activity that provided her with all she yearned for. And like an artist with no art form, she became dangerous.
Toni MorrisonRead
Whenever we have seen a crevice in the crust of convention, we have called attention to it, because we have hoped for a force underneath, which will someday come to light.
Franz MarcRead