You get older and come to the conclusion that it's a great gig making music. Even if you turn into an old gnarly fart, no one cares what you look like if you write good songs - the only gig is to sing well and perform.
Interpretation
Making music is a valuable and fulfilling pursuit, regardless of age or appearance.
The quote reflects the idea that the essence of music is in the creativity and performance, rather than in the superficial aspects like looks or age. It emphasizes the importance of talent and the joy of making music, suggesting that what truly matters is the ability to connect with people through song, rather than how one is perceived physically as they grow older.
In practice
This quote could be used in a motivational speech for aspiring musicians.
I hated singing, I hated being on stage; I hated being in the Cranberries. I was constantly crying. I was going insane. I wanted to be a shopkeeper, a hairdresser, anything. I was so desperate to have a reality, friends, a regular, boring life. I missed that.
People don't look at you singing. They go within themselves and listen. Music is about listening, not looking. That's why I wore these huge baggy dresses on stage with The Cranberries.
Everything that an artist does is a risk. Some people want you to stay the same. If you want to evolve, they want to keep you in a certain place.
My dedication to trying to be a poet started very, very young, and I was very well encouraged by good teachers and by older friends and so on, so I think it is a benediction, and I also think it is a calling, a duty.
Drag is literally so ancient that it predates modern understanding of gender, of transness, of queerness. Drag predates modern ideas of gender, of theater at all. Drag predates the word 'drag' itself.
I've always had a profound conviction that great music is about joy, even in the face of tragedy.
And they three passed over the white sands, between the rocks, silent as the shadows.
Australian genre films were a lot of fun because they were legitimate genre movies. They were real genre films, and they dealt, in a way like the Italians did, with the excess of genre, and that has been an influence on me.
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