I picked up the guitar at 11, but even before then, I was writing songs on the organ.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Stand up for yourself and fight for your right to be the artist that you want to be. There's plenty of pressure from outside; people tell you how to dress and how to sing or what to sing, but I always felt like if I'm going to fail or succeed, I want to do it on my own terms.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of self-expression and authenticity in pursuing artistic goals, despite external pressures.
Tracy Chapman's quote stresses the significance of standing up for oneself in the creative process and the necessity of making artistic choices based on personal convictions rather than succumbing to societal expectations. It reflects the struggle many artists face when navigating between their own vision and the influence of others, advocating for personal integrity and ownership in the pursuit of artistic identity.
Themes
Self-ExpressionAuthenticityArtistic FreedomIndividualityCreativity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can inspire aspiring artists at a gallery opening to remain true to their vision.
More from Tracy Chapman
All quotes →As I started to consider a career in music, I hoped for success, truthfully. I didn't imagine anything that would amass the level of the first record, but I hoped that I would be able to sustain a career.
Tracy ChapmanRead
I can't think of anything worse, really, than to try to live up to someone else's expectations of what you should be. You don't make art by consensus.
Tracy ChapmanRead
My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Now love's the only thing that's free /We must take it where it's found /Pretty soon it may be costly
Tracy ChapmanRead
I think it's important, if you are an artist, to use your music to stand up for what you believe in.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Similar quotes
Some of the songs come so fully, it's like they are pre-packaged. There have been a couple that came in the middle of the night. And I thought, jeez, I'll never forget that. And went back to sleep, and it was gone. You'll hear something years later that another songwriter that you respect writes, and you go, jeez, I think that was the remnants of that song that got sent to me.
John PrineRead
Remember always that the composer's pen is still mightier than the bow of the violinist; in you lie all the possibilities of the creation of beauty.
John Philip SousaRead
I am still a victim of chess. It has all the beauty of art - and much more. It cannot be commercialized. Chess is much purer than art in its social position.
Marcel DuchampRead
Faulkner is a writer who has had much to do with my soul, but Hemingway is the one who had the most to do with my craft - not simply for his books, but for his astounding knowledge of the aspect of craftsmanship in the science of writing.
Gabriel Garcia MarquezRead
There's something really cool about taking oily coloured paste and pushing it around with these hairy sticks and making something that looks like you. That's the magic of painting.
Kehinde WileyRead
Governments have always been wary of the arts because they're wayward and ambiguous and because they deal with feelings rather than facts.
Richard EyreRead