I picked up the guitar at 11, but even before then, I was writing songs on the organ.
Tracy ChapmanRead
Music was never just a hobby for me. I'd pick up a guitar every day to work on whatever I was writing at the time. I would put my ideas in songs the way some people might put them in diaries or journals.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music serves as a personal outlet and creative expression for the author, akin to journaling.
In this quote, Tracy Chapman emphasizes that music is not merely a pastime for her; it is a vital part of her daily life and a way to express her thoughts and feelings. By comparing songwriting to journaling, she illustrates how deeply personal and integral music is to her identity and emotional process, highlighting its significance as a form of artistic communication.
Themes
MusicExpressionArtCreativityIdentity
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about creativity and self-expression, this quote could be used to highlight the importance of art in personal development.
More from Tracy Chapman
All quotes →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.
Tracy ChapmanRead
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
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