To some extent I happily don't know what I'm doing. I feel that it's an artist's responsibility to trust that.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of embracing uncertainty in the creative process.
David Byrne suggests that a degree of uncertainty and a lack of complete understanding can be beneficial for artists. This ambiguity allows for spontaneity and trust in the creative process, enabling artists to express themselves authentically. It highlights the idea that not always knowing the outcome can lead to innovative and genuine artistic expressions.
In practice
In an art class, a teacher might use this quote to encourage students to explore their creativity without fear.
Forces that you might think are utterly unrelated to creativity can have a big impact. Technology, obviously, but environment, too. Even financial structures can affect the actual content of a song. The making of music is profoundly affected by the market.
When things get so absurd and so stupid and so ridiculous that you just can't bear it, you cannot help but turn everything into a joke.
I certainly agree that putting everything into little genres is counterproductive. You're not going to get too many surprises if you only focus on the stuff that fits inside the box that you know.
You create a community with music, not just at concerts but by talking about it with your friends.
Real sadness is such an all-encompassing intense thing that it takes you out of your humdrum existence. If you can still function, you want to show it while it's peaking. So when people tell you to cheer up, it's not always the best thing.
I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.
The seeming significance of nature's appearances, their unchanging strangeness to the senses, and the thrilling response which they awaken in the mind of man . . . If we could only write near enough to the facts, and yet with no pedestrian calm, but ardently, we might transfer the glamour of reality direct upon our pages.
Making art in America is about saving one's soul.
I miss horribly those couple of hours before the performance when you get into the theater and you see people.
Let's face it, writing is hell.
I have often seen an actor laugh off the stage, but I don't remember ever having seen one weep.
I have so much music inside me I'm just trying to stay afloat. I don't tend to write for a particular band - you have to just write the songs and then let God into the room and let the music tell you what to do.
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