I've had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude.
Carole KingRead
I'm a songwriter first...In my career I have never felt that my being a woman was an obstacle or an advantage. I guess I've been oblivious...Sensitive, humbug. Everybody thinks I'm sensitive...There is a downside to having one of the biggest-selling albums ever.
Interpretation
Carole King reflects on her identity as a woman in songwriting, seeing it neither as a hindrance nor benefit.
In this quote, Carole King discusses her perspective on being a woman in the music industry, emphasizing that she has not allowed her gender to define her experience as a songwriter. Instead, she seems to focus on her craft and the challenges that come with it, particularly the mixed perceptions about her sensitivity and the pressures of success.
In practice
Referencing this quote during an interview about women in music to highlight the importance of skill over gender.
I've had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude.
I still believe that everyone is beautiful in some way and by seeing the beauty in others we make ourselves more beautiful.
When I wake up every morning, I smile and say, 'Thank you.' Because out of my window I can see the mountains, then go hiking with my dog and share her bounding joy in the world.
There is but one art, to omit.
I'm a method writer. In order to write about the emotion, I have to experience it. I get physically tired and exhausted, devoting hours and hours and hours to it.
History has proven that art depicting black people cannot be disentangled from the political implications that such art has on their lives. As Africans were being stripped from the continent and sailed across the Atlantic to the Western world, depictions of black people in Western art changed in order to further render them racialized caricatures.
There will be no new music until it's good enough and until I'm ready.
Wine is one of the most civilized things in the world and one of the most natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciation than, possibly, any other purely sensory thing.
Some song ideas absolutely require a kind of rigid discipline, and others require absolute chaotic abandon. The form is only valid if you know how to un-form it. I don't mean to sound like an intellectual here!
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