It's OK to quote from your past. But I'm more interested in quoting from my present and pointing towards the future.
Robert PlantRead
I am a reflection of what I sing. Sometimes I have to get serious because the things Ive been through are serious.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that a person's art reflects their personal experiences and seriousness of life.
Robert Plant suggests that his music is a reflection of his own life experiences, highlighting a connection between art and personal truths. He acknowledges that while he often expresses joy and creativity through his singing, there are moments when the seriousness of his experiences calls for a more profound and serious expression in his art.
In practice
In a speech about the impact of music on mental health.
It's OK to quote from your past. But I'm more interested in quoting from my present and pointing towards the future.
The essence of my lyrics is the desire for peace and harmony. That's all anyone has ever wanted. How could it become outdated?...We are trying to communicate a fulfilled ideal...I am a reflection of what I sing. Sometimes I have to get serious because the things I've been through are serious...The way I see it, rock n' roll is folk music.
Look, Salvador Dali did not paint because he needed the money. No conversation about materialism and music makes sense. You make music and that's that, it doesn't matter why.
I absolutely adore and idolise women. All women. I think they are all amazing. The female musicians I've met have been far more inspiring than the male ones. Women tend to be much more creative and ambitious. I think I may have been a woman in a past life.
Does anyone remember laughter?
It's a two-dimensional gig being a singer, and you can get lost in your own tedium and repetition.
With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.
It's not exclusive, but inclusive, which is the whole spirit of jazz.
I learned that if you bring black people together, you bring them together with a song. To this day, I don't understand how people think they can bring anybody together without a song.
Superficial pop will always exist - there've always been Fabians - but when people like Dire Straits and Bruce Hornsby start having hits, it suggests that there's a revolution going on in music.
I only hope that one day, America will recognize what the rest of the world already has known, that our indigenous music - gospel, blues, jazz and R&B - is the heart and soul of all popular music; and that we cannot afford to let this legacy slip into obscurity, I'm telling you.
Gospel goes with me wherever I go. Gospel is a constant with me.
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