What we've had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we're doing - the music.
Interpretation
Success should be managed and kept in perspective to preserve the true essence of one's passion.
In this quote, Janis Joplin emphasizes the importance of maintaining a clear perspective on success while staying true to oneself and the art one produces. She suggests that while achieving success can be enticing and overwhelming, it is crucial to focus on the underlying passion—music in her case—to ensure it doesn't lose its value or authenticity amid external pressures and expectations.
In practice
In a motivational talk about pursuing your dreams, you might quote Janis Joplin to stress the importance of staying true to your art.
I gotta go on doin' it the way I see it...I got no choice but to take it like I see it. I'm here to have a party while I'm on this earth...I'm gettin' it now, today. I don't even know where I'm gonna be twenty years from now, so I'm just gonna keep on rockin', cause if I start saving up bits and pieces of me...man, there ain't gonna be nothing left for Janis.
When I sing, I feel like when you're first in love. It's more than sex. It's that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it's gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills.
Like most girls I'm always really self-conscious about do I look fat, if my legs are short, if I'm weird shaped, but when I go on stage, man, it never occurs to me. I think I look beautiful.
I won't quit to become someone's old lady.
Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.
You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once?
People think that I popped out of my mother's womb singing 'Chasing Pavements'.
Reggae is my heart ♥ reggae is my soul
When you play the 12-string guitar, you spend half your life tuning the instrument and the other half playing it out of tune.
If you play more than two chords, you're showing off.
The idea of being a rock and roll musician sort of suited my talents and mentality. The freedom was great, but then I found out I wasn't free. I'd got boxed in...The whole Beatle thing is just beyond comprehension ... subconsciously I was crying for help.
No, I don't know how to get young people to start listening to jazz again. But I do know this: Any symphony orchestra that thinks it can appeal to under-30 listeners by suggesting that they 'should' like Schubert and Stravinsky has already lost the battle.
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