Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle, they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like they told you the whole universe. But I don't know that yet. All I got now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I'll get it.
Interpretation
The power of music lies in its ability to convey deep emotions despite simplicity.
Janis Joplin reflects on the profound impact that musicians like Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin have on listeners through their subtle yet powerful melodies. She acknowledges her own journey in understanding music's depth and expresses a determination to keep singing as a means to uncover greater insights and strength within herself.
In practice
In a speech about overcoming challenges, one might say, 'Like Janis Joplin, perhaps if I keep pushing forward, I will find my strength.'
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?
A lot of people are promoting records that are just throw-it-agains t-the-wall-see- if-it-sticks meaningless bullshit. Everybody has the responsibility to do the right thing and promote artists that mean something.
Music rhythms are mathematical patterns. When you hear a song and your body starts moving with it, your body is doing math. The kids in their parents' garage practicing to be a band may not realize it, but they're also practicing math.
Some 'people' think I'm a great singer. They don't know nothin'. I ain't no singer; I just talk in time with the beat and on pitch. That ain't singin'; that's talkin'.
Things like guitars and ukuleles, you should never part with it, because there will probably be good, healthy times spent, just playing and writing.
With pop music and pop musicians, you know everything about everyone all the time, particularly their physical appearance. With female musicians, that's made a big thing of, and I think people, certainly with me, have appreciated a bit of mystery.
At night in the country, you'd be surprised how that music carries. You could hear my guitar way before you get to the house, and you could hear the peoples hollerin' and screamin'.
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