We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
Aretha FranklinRead
As a very small girl, I listened to Charlie Parker and loved him and Max Roach and people like that.
Interpretation
The speaker reminisces about her early love for influential musicians.
In this quote, Aretha Franklin reflects on her childhood experiences with music, specifically her admiration for jazz legends Charlie Parker and Max Roach. This highlights the formative influence of music on her life and career, showcasing how early inspirations can shape one's artistic journey.
In practice
During a music appreciation class, to emphasize the lasting impact of early musical influences.
We didn't have music videos. You weren't an overnight sensation. You had to work at it and learn your craft: how to take care of your voice, how to pace your concerts, all that trial and error.
Trying to grow up is hurting. You make mistakes. You try to learn from them, and when you don't, it hurts even more.
My mentor was Clara Ward of the famous Ward gospel singers of Philadelphia. And my dad was my coach. He coached me. And just my natural love for music is what drove me.
It really is an honor if I can be inspirational to a younger singer or person. It means I've done my job.
In terms of helping people understand and know each other a little better, music is universal - universal and transporting.
Everybody wants respect. In their own way, three-year-olds would like respect, and acknowledgment, in their terms.
It was all part of being a Beatle, really: just getting lugged around and thrust into rooms full of press men taking pictures and asking questions.
Why should the devil have all the best tunes?
I wouldn't say that I'm the greatest guitarist ever. I'd say probably that I'm the greatest guitarist sitting in this chair.
When I go to a gig and I hear a song that I really like, a song that hits home to me or hits an emotional nerve, if I could ever recreate that for someone, that would be the ultimate goal.
In order to understand the history of the banjo, and the history of bluegrass music, we need to move beyond the narrative we've inherited, beyond generalizations that bluegrass is mostly derived from a Scotch-Irish tradition with influences from Africa. It is actually a complex Creole music that comes from multiple cultures.
I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.