When you write a song, a song has longevity
Smokey RobinsonRead
One thing I can say about the Motown acts is that we were a family. That's not a myth
Interpretation
The Motown acts shared a close, familial bond that was genuine and real.
Smokey Robinson emphasizes the deep, authentic connections among the Motown artists, highlighting that their relationships transcended mere professional associations. He asserts that the sense of unity and love they experienced as a collective was genuine, countering any notion that it was exaggerated or mythical.
In practice
In a speech celebrating the Motown legacy at an awards show.
When you write a song, a song has longevity
Even if I don't release it myself, somebody else might hear it and want to record it. When you write a song, it gives it that potential.
When someone picks up one of my songs and records it, I'm a flattered man, it's a blessing to me
Motown will always be a heavy-duty part of my life because those are my roots
Songwriting is my gift from God
I always try to write a song, I never just want to write a record.
My parents raised me and my siblings in an armor of advice, an ocean of alarm bells so someone wouldn't steal the breath from our lungs, so that they wouldn't make a memory of this skin.
When you stay present with your children, that’s where abundance is. And when you stay out of their business, that’s where everything you deserve in life is. When you’re in presence, there’s no story, and you are abundance. And you come to trust that space so often that you just eventually hang out as that, because there is nothing that can move you out of it, not even a perceived child or a perceived anything.
And that was the greatest heartbreak of all- no matter how spectacular we want our children to be, no matter how perfect we pretend they are, they are bound to disappoint. As it turns out, kids are more like us than we think: damaged, through and through.
Sometimes I really think people ought to have to pass a proper exam before they're allowed to be parents. Not just the practical, I mean.
I often imagine what it would be like if my father were still here to mark his 100th birthday, if Alzheimer's hadn't clawed away years, possibilities, hopes. What would he think of all the commemorations and celebrations?
I describe family values as responsibility towards others, increase of tolerance, compromise, support, flexibility. And essentially the things I call the silent song of life-the continuous process of mutual accommodation without which life is impossible.
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