Long live teachers of children, because they can show children how they can save the world.
Pete SeegerRead
Songwriters can’t explain. You get an idea and you don’t know where it’s come from. And if you’re lucky, you have a pencil or pen and can write it down.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Songwriters often create without understanding the source of their inspiration, relying on intuition to capture their ideas.
In this quote, Pete Seeger reflects on the mysterious nature of creativity in songwriting, emphasizing that inspiration can strike unexpectedly and may not always be easily explained. He suggests that the ability to write down these fleeting ideas, when they arise, is crucial for songwriters, as it captures the essence of their creative spark before it fades away.
Themes
CreativityInspirationSongwritingArtMusic
In practice
Example use cases
A music teacher might use this quote to inspire students about the nature of creativity in songwriting during a class.
More from Pete Seeger
All quotes →According to my definition of God, I'm not an atheist. Because I think God is everything. Whenever I open my eyes, I'm looking at God. Whenever I'm listening to something, I'm listening to God.
Pete SeegerRead
Songs are funny things. They can slip across borders. Proliferate in prisons. Penetrate hard shells. I always believed that the right song at the right moment could change history.
Pete SeegerRead
Well, normally I’m against big things. I think the world is going to be saved by millions of small things. Too many things can go wrong when they get big.” — Pete Seeger (on how he felt about attending his big 90th birthday bash last year)
Pete SeegerRead
I’ve never sung anywhere without giving the people listening to me a chance to join in - as a kid, as a lefty, as a man touring the U.S.A. and the world, as an oldster. I guess it’s kind of a religion with me. Participation. That’s what’s going to save the human race.
Pete SeegerRead
I write a song because I want to. I think the moment you start writing it to make money, you're starting to kill yourself artistically.
Pete SeegerRead
Similar quotes
I don't write songs, songs write me. ... Writing a song can be agony or ecstasy. It can take half an hour or half a year. ... The popular song is America's greatest ambassador.
Sammy CahnRead
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
In difficult times, people just like to hear music. They like to be moved by what they hear. And music speaks different languages.
Itzhak PerlmanRead
The house has to please everyone, contrary to the work of art which does not. The work is a private matter for the artist. The house is not.
Adolf LoosRead
I prefer to unwind by DJing. I learned that from Mike D from the Beastie Boys. After a show, he would DJ. Once I saw that, I wanted to do that. And now DJing is like my lifeline. I love the power it represents.
QuestloveRead
I believe that Judy Garland's artistry was so fine. I mean, when people say: 'oh, she brought so much of her life to her music', I don't really believe that. I believe that she didn't have to. She just was a moving human being. That was her gift.
Bette MidlerRead