Top quotes by Joni Mitchell

I don't understand why Europeans and South Americans can take more sophistication. Why is it that Americans need to hear their happiness major and their tragedy minor, and as jazzy as they can handle is a seventh chord? Are they not experiencing complex emotions? Votes: 34

I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with 'Thus Spoke Zarathustra.' He gets a bad rap; he's very misunderstood. He's a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers. Votes: 26

I had made all these rules for myself: I'm not writing social commentary, I'm not writing love songs. Votes: 21

You could write a song about some kind of emotional problem you are having, but it would not be a good song, in my eyes, until it went through a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity. Without that moment of clarity to contribute to the song, it's just complaining. Votes: 18

My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didn't mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But it's good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable. Votes: 16

Buddy Holly and the early rock 'n' roll was no lighter than the way I play. It's very minimal. Votes: 16

Everyone I know has attention deficit, and they say it with great pride. It's a bad time to be right. Votes: 15

My style of songwriting is influenced by cinema. I'm a frustrated filmmaker. A fan once said to me, 'Girl, you make me see pictures in my head!' and I took that as a great compliment. That's exactly my intention. Votes: 15

You have this mounting aggressive ignorance with the rabbit's foot of their particular religion. You don't really have any kind of spiritual law, just a kind of a rabid mental illness. The songs are a little slice of life. Votes: 15

Rachmaninoff made a musician out of me. His 'Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini' was the piece that sent me into raptures. It spoke to me. To me, it was a tender entreaty for the misunderstood. Votes: 13

My family could only afford to get me the box of eight Crayola crayons, but I craved the one with all 24 colours. I wanted magenta and turquoise and silver and gold. Votes: 13

I conceived in art college at the age of 20, near the end of term. Votes: 11

The God of the Old Testament is the depiction of evil. Votes: 11

You wake up one day and suddenly realize that your youth is behind you, even though you're still young at heart. Votes: 10

I come from pioneer stock, developers of the West, people who went out into the wilderness and set up home with nothing but a pair of oxen. Votes: 9

The thing that gave me the most pain in life, psychologically, and it gave me tremendous pain psychologically, is man's disrespect for nature. Votes: 8

An unhappy mother does not raise a happy child. Votes: 8

My first four albums covered the usual youth problems - looking for love in all the wrong places - while the next five are basically about being in your 30s. Votes: 7

This is a nation that has lost the ability to be self-critical, and that makes a lie out of the freedoms. Votes: 6

My heart is broken in the face of the stupidity of my species. Votes: 6

I know my generation - a lot of them, they're getting old now, and they want to think back fondly, they want to kid themselves. A lot of them think, 'Yeah, we were the best.' That's the kiss of death. That's non-growth. And also that's very bad for the world. Votes: 5

To enjoy my music, you need depth and emotionality. Votes: 5

America is in a runaway-train position and dragging all the world with it. It's grotesquely mentally ill. Votes: 4

Eventually, with success, I started to feel more and more isolated - like I didn't have a community of artists. Votes: 4

No one likes to have less than they had before. That's the nature of the human animal. Votes: 4

I'd had a rough childhood. Votes: 3

I believe that I am male and I am female. Votes: 2

With a painting, you don't have to go back and paint it again. Votes: 2

I couldn't see passion as a bad thing. Votes: 1

I'm a night owl. Votes: 1

My life came down to being a granny and watching a lot of television. Votes: 0

I don't like being too looked up at or too looked down on. I prefer meeting in the middle to being worshiped or spat out. Votes: 0

I've got 50 different tunings in the guitar. Votes: 0

I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate. Votes: 0

At the point where I'm trying to force something and it's not happening, and I'm getting frustrated with, say, writing a poem, I can go and pick up the brushes and start painting. At the point where the painting seems to not be going anywhere, I go and pick up the guitar. Votes: 0

Augustine, Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath are confessional writers and all three make me sick. I have nothing in common with them. Votes: 0

I always thought the women of song don't get along, and I don't know why that is. Votes: 0

I do have this reputation for being a serious person. Votes: 0

Back then, I didn't have a big organization around me. I was just a kid with a guitar, traveling around. My responsibility basically was to the art, and I had extra time on my hands. There is no extra time now. There isn't enough time. Votes: 0

We are stardustBillion-year old carbonAnd we've got to get ourselves back to the garden" Votes: 0

Abstract Expressionism was invented by New York drunks. Votes: 0

I used to be monastic, almost. Now I'm like a Tibetan that has discovered hamburgers and television. I'm catching up on Americana. Votes: 0

My individual, psychological descent coincided, ironically, with my ascent into the public eye. Votes: 0

When I was 19 I went to art school. I had six months of teaching myself to play baritone ukulele under my belt, so was sort of a novice folkie. ... I was singing folk songs at that time. Votes: 0

Rationally I have no hope, irrationally I believe in miracles. Votes: 0

Depression can be the sand that makes the pearl. Most of my best work came out of it. Votes: 0

I never really wanted to be a star. I didn't like entering a room with all eyes on me. I still don't really like the attention of a birthday party. Votes: 0

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block. Votes: 0

Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere, I've looked at clouds that way. Votes: 0

We're captive on the carousel of time, we can't return we can only look behind. Votes: 0

And the seasons they go 'round and 'round And the painted ponies go up and down We're captive on the carousel of time We can't return we can only look behind From where we came And go round and round and round In the circle game. Votes: 0

A few drinks later you're not so choosy when the closing lights strip off the shadows on this strange new flesh you've found. Votes: 0

Drag wasn't always counterculture. Votes: 0

We managed to put together a compilation that had some creativity to it. In the meantime I was listening to the free radio stations and I noticed that during their war coverage they were playing these songs born out of the Vietnam War that were all critical of the soldiers. Votes: 0

I'm a fine artist working in a commercial arena, so that's my cross to bear Votes: 0

When you're trying to pass on the best of the stuff you're culling to what should be a hungry culture but you have it diminished... that's kind of disappointing. Votes: 0

The thing that started me painting originally was seeing Bambi when I was about nine. I was incredibly disturbed by the forest fire that killed Bambi's mother, and that distress gave me the impulse to create something, as a way of dealing with it. Votes: 0

Heaven's full of astronauts and the Lord's on death row. Votes: 0

I loved Debussy, Stravinsky, Chopin, Tchaikovsky, anything with romantic melodies, especially the nocturnes. Nietzsche was a hero, especially with Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He gets a bad rap; hes very misunderstood. Hes a maker of individuals, and he was a teacher of teachers. Votes: 0

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels The dizzy dancing way you feel As every fairy tale comes real I've looked at love that way. Votes: 0

Some people are upset to see you doing ordinary things. Those people, if they were a celebrity, they would have an entourage. Votes: 0

Happiness is the best facelift. Votes: 0

I don't like to make fluffy little songs, but now I want to make some light songs. Votes: 0

I see music as fluid architecture. Votes: 0

We are stardust, we are golden and we've got to get ourselves back to the garden. Votes: 0

My name had gone stale, and no matter how progressive I got, it was my time to die. Votes: 0

Keep a good heart. That's the most important thing in life. It's not how much money you make or what you can acquire. The art of it is to keep a good heart. Votes: 0

Some get the gravy, some get the gristle. Votes: 0

I like my freedom. I like to do my own grocery shopping. Votes: 0

When the world becomes a massive mess with nobody at the helm, it's time for artists to make their mark. Votes: 0

Do you see how you hurt me, baby? So I hurt you too. Then we both get so blue. I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, looking for the key to set me free. Votes: 0

When I felt that fame, people were nosing me out, well I moved on. I used traveling names. Wigs, if necessary. Votes: 0

When I think of your kisses my mind see-saws. Votes: 0

There'll be icicles and birthday clothes And sometimes there'll be sorrow Votes: 0

But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Well something's lost, but something's gained In living every day Votes: 0

I'm a very analytical person, a somewhat introspective person; that's the nature of the work I do. Votes: 0

Ira Gershwin, shame on him. I mean, some of the writing. Votes: 0

Morgellons is constantly morphing. There are times when it's directly attacking the nervous system, as if you're being bitten by fleas and lice. It's all in the tissue and it's not a hallucination. It was eating me alive, sucking the juices out. I've been sick all my life. Votes: 0

Something's lost, but something's gained, in living everyday. Votes: 0

It's in my stars to invent; I was born on Madame Curie's birthday. I have this need for originals, for innovation. That's why I like Charlie Parker. Votes: 0

I wanted to paint in a folk-artist-y way. My heroes were Van Gogh, Gauguin, Matisse, and Rembrandt. I think Picasso is about as a modern as I got. But I incorporated things that they rejected as well as movements that happened later. Votes: 0

When I came to California, it was the mecca of the world. Every young person on the planet wanted to be here. Votes: 0

In search of love and music My whole life has been Illumination Corruption And diving, diving, diving, diving, Diving down to pick up every shiny thing Votes: 0

I am as constant as a northern star Votes: 0

Just before our love got lost you said "I am as constant as a northern star" And I said, constantly in the darkness, Where's that at? If you want me I'll be in the bar. Votes: 0

I learned from admiration and osmosis. Votes: 0

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Votes: 0

White rhythm is waltzes, marches, and the polka. In Africa, rhythm is used for a celebratory groove, but white rhythm doesn't have such an enormous vocabulary of spirits. It's basically militant. Votes: 0

I've looked at life from both sides now...from win and lose, and still somehow it's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all. Votes: 0

I dreamed I saw the bombers riding shot gun in the sky and they were turning into butterflies above our nation. Votes: 0

I have always thought of myself as a painter derailed by circumstance. Votes: 0

Fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm. They cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable, or mineral. Votes: 0

Unlike some of my peers, I haven't really hit a writer's block. When I hit a block I just paint, which is an old crop rotation trick. Votes: 0

Do you see how you hurt me, baby? So I hurt you too. Then we both get so blue. I am on a lonely road and I am traveling, looking for the key to set me free Votes: 0

I love you when I forget about me Votes: 0

We are stardustBillion-year old carbonAnd we've got to get ourselves back to the garden Votes: 0

I lost my daughter at 21. I had to give her up because I was broke, no place to take her, no money to take her. That was very traumatic. Votes: 0

If you're smart or rich or luckyMaybe you'll beat the laws of manBut the inner laws of spiritAnd the outer laws of natureNo man can Votes: 0

you dont know what you got till its gone Votes: 0

Will you take me as I am? Strung out on another man...California, I'm comin' home. Votes: 0

In search of love and music my whole life has beenIlluminationCorruptionAnd diving, diving, diving, diving down To pick up on every shiny thing Votes: 0

There was this mountain village in Russia where my music was getting in on some German radio station. I remember this because music used to get up to Saskatchewan from Texas. Late at night after the local station closed down. Votes: 0

Land of snap decisions, land of short attention spans, nothing is savored long enough to really understand. Votes: 0

I thrive on change. That's probably why my chord changes are weird, because chords depict emotions. They'll be going along on one key and I'll drop off a cliff, and suddenly they will go into a whole other key signature. That will drive some people crazy, but that's how my life is. Votes: 0

We have a war dictator who was not elected, he snuck in. so he punishes people that threaten him in any way, or even say something he doesn't like. It has no resemblance to democracy. Votes: 0

I got in before SoHo was SoHo. It was just Little Italy when I was in there. It's still off the touristy track. It's just away from the Saturday action, the crowds and everything. It's too expensive. It's insane. You've got to be a billionaire to live on Manhattan now. Votes: 0

Once I got the open tunings for some reason, I began to get the harmonic sophistication that I heard that my musical fountain inside was excited by. Once I got some interesting chords to play with, my writing began to come. Votes: 0

My childhood was very difficult. I had every childhood disease and then some, but my parents didnt mollycoddle me. They left me to fight those battles on my own. I guess that was very Canadian, very stoic. But its good. I had to become a warrior. I had to give up hope and find a substitute for hope that would be far more stable. Votes: 0

Oh, the jealousy, the greed is the unraveling. It's the unraveling and it undoes all the joy that could be. . Votes: 0

Paul Simon started piling up a lot of words, more than the bar could handle, and I stopped! Votes: 0

Lord, there's danger in this land, you get witch hunts and wars when church and state hold hands. Votes: 0

I learned a woman is never an old woman. Votes: 0

In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in the people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here in Los Angeles, there are less characters because they're all inside automobiles. Votes: 0

I have an aversion to being mislabeled. Here's a label I'd accept: I'm an 'individual.' I'm someone who can't follow, and doesn't want to lead. Votes: 0

In terms of fiction, I'd rather go out and have a good time than read a book about someone having a good or bad time. Votes: 0

Van Gogh was impulsive. Votes: 0

I see the entire world as Eden, and every time you take an inch of it away, you must do so with respect. Votes: 0

I get the same charge from juxtaposition of colors as I do from juxtaposition of chords. Votes: 0

Fame is a series of misunderstandings surrounding a name. Votes: 0

You know, Neil Young is singing Rock n' roll will never die, and Neil never rocked and rolled in his life. I mean, he rocked, but he didn't roll. He has got no swing in him. Votes: 0

The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. Votes: 0

My goal as a writer is more to comfort than to disturb. Votes: 0

I'm not a pitiable creature. It's just that I suffer very eloquently. Votes: 0

There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said. Votes: 0

I think I would go further into fine arts, I think, if I were to continue. Votes: 0

When I began experimenting, people weren't ready for it. Once it's in its second and third generational stages, people can accept it. Votes: 0

My parents told me I'd point to a bed of flowers and say 'Pink. Pretty,' before I knew any other words. Votes: 0

Sorrow is so easy to express and yet so hard to tell. Votes: 0

Nobody understood The Reoccurring Dream, but after September 11, when we were coerced to do a national duty and go out and shop, surely people could begin to see what I was getting at. Votes: 0

Chase away the demons, and they will take the angels with them. Votes: 0

The times you impress me the most are the times when you don't try. Votes: 0

Freedom to me is a luxury of being able to follow the path of the heart, to keep the magic in your life. Freedom is necessary for me in order to create, and if I cannot create I don't feel alive. Votes: 0

The only thing I have to give to make you smile, to win you with, are all the mornings still to live. Votes: 0

All my battles were with male egos. I'm just looking for equality, not to dominate. But I want to be able to control my vision. Votes: 0

people will tell you were they have gone, they'll tell you where to go, but until you get there for yourself you never really know. Votes: 0

You've got to shake your fists at lightning now, you've got to roar like forest fire You've got to spread your light like blazes all across the sky They're going to aim the hoses on you, show 'em you won't expire Not till you burn up every passion, not even when you die Come on now, you've got to try, if you're feeling contempt, well then you tell it If you're tired of the silent night, Jesus, well then you yell it Condemned to wires and hammers, strike every chord that you feel That broken trees and elephant ivories conceal Votes: 0

They won't give peace a chance, that's just a dream some of us had Votes: 0

Whatever it was that I felt was the weak link in my previous project gave me inspiration for the next one. Votes: 0

All I really, really want our love to do is to bring out the best in me and in you too. Votes: 0

If you see yourself as a kingly type, then you need your serfs and your army and someone around you. Votes: 0

I don't know how to sell out. If I tried to sell out I don't think I could. Votes: 0

They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum. Votes: 0

Daydreamin' drugs the pain of living. Votes: 0

You've got to keep the child alive; you can't create without it. Votes: 0

All romantics meet the same fate some day. Drunk and cynical and boring someone in some dark cafe. Votes: 0

I am a woman of heart and mind, looking for affection and respect, a little passion. Votes: 0

The Blue album, there's hardly a dishonest note in the vocals. At that period of my life, I had no personal defenses. I felt like a cellophane wrapper on a pack of cigarettes. I felt like I had absolutely no secrets from the world and I couldn't pretend in my life to be strong. Or to be happy. But the advantage of it in the music was that there were no defenses there, either. Votes: 0

I create by feeling rather than by intellectualizing. Votes: 0

I wish I had a river I could skate away on? Votes: 0

Ask anyone in America where the craziest people live and they'll tell you California. Ask anyone in California where the craziest people live and they'll say Los Angeles. Ask anyone in Los Angeles where the craziest people live and they'll tell you Hollywood. Ask anyone in Hollywood where the craziest people live and they'll say Laurel Canyon. And ask anyone in Laurel Canyon where the craziest people live and they'll say Lookout Mountain. So I bought a house on Lookout Mountain. Votes: 0

Let light hearts remake us. Votes: 0

Love is touching souls. Votes: 0

I wanna be strong, I wanna laugh along, I wanna belong to the living. Alive, alive, I wanna get up and jive, Wanna wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive. Votes: 0

I was demanding of myself a deeper and greater honesty, more and more revelation in my work in order to give it back to the people where it goes into their lives and nourishes them and changes their direction and makes light bulbs go off in their head and makes them feel. And it isn't vague, it strikes against the very nerves of their life and in order to do that you have to strike against the very nerves of your own. Votes: 0

Edith Piaf knocked my socks off when I was 8, but I didn't know what she was singing about. Votes: 0

Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please. Votes: 0

Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Votes: 0

I don't like being too looked up at or too looked down on. I prefer meeting in the middle to being worshipped or spat out. Votes: 0

I don't know who I am but you know, life is for learning. Votes: 0

I never loved a man as far as I could pitch my shoe. Votes: 0

I'm a little young for retirement. Votes: 0

I wrote 'Big Yellow Taxi' on my first trip to Hawaii. I took a taxi to the hotel and when I woke up the next morning, I threw back the curtains and saw these beautiful green mountains in the distance. Then, I looked down and there was a parking lot as far as the eye could see, and it broke my heart this blight on paradise. That's when I sat down and wrote the song. Votes: 0

Because I'm so busy and because I think of myself as a painter, I desperately guard the time that I have to paint. And sometimes I'm irresponsible to my career in order to paint. Because painting is obsessive. I forget to eat. I forget to sleep. Votes: 0

In a pure anonymous encounter you find a world alive and full of character. In New York, the street adventures are incredible. There are a thousand stories in a single block. You see the stories in people's faces. You hear the songs immediately. Here, in Los Angeles, there are fewer characters because they are all inside automobiles. Votes: 0

Won't you stay We'll put on the day And we'll talk in present tenses Votes: 0

I came upon a child of god, He was walking along the road And I asked him, where are you going And this he told me: "I'm going on down to Yasgur's farm I'm going to join in a rock 'n' roll band I'm going to camp out on the land, I'm going to try an' get my soul free. Votes: 0

Applause, applause, life is our cause. Votes: 0

Tears and fears and feeling proud To say I love you, right out loud Dreams and schemes and circus crowds I've looked at life that way. But now old friends are acting strange They shake their heads, they say I've changed Something's lost, but something's gained In living every day I've looked at life from both sides now From win and lose, and still somehow It's life's illusions I recall I really don't know life at all Votes: 0

My husband had an education. He had a degree in Literature. I married into a camp of literary types. Votes: 0

Fly silly sea bird, no dreams can possess you, no voices can blame you for sun on your wings. Votes: 0

That's one thing that's always, like, been a difference between, like, the performing arts, and being a painter, you know. A painter does a painting, and he paints it, and that's it, you know. He has the joy of creating it, it hangs on a wall, and somebody buys it, and maybe somebody buys it again, or maybe nobody buys it and it sits up in a loft somewhere until he dies. But he never, you know, nobody ever, nobody ever said to Van Gogh, 'Paint a Starry Night again, man!' You know? He painted it and that was it. Votes: 0

I heard someone from the music business saying they are no longer looking for talent, they want people with a certain look and a willingness to cooperate. I thought, that's interesting, because I believe a total unwillingness to cooperate is what is necessary to be an artist "” not for perverse reasons, but to protect your vision. The considerations of a corporation, especially now, have nothing to do with art or music. That's why I spend my time now painting. Votes: 0

How does a person create a song? A lot of it is being open to encounter and to be in touch with the miraculous. Votes: 0

Sunlight will renew your pride. Votes: 0

I believe that I am male and I am female, Votes: 0

I could drink a case of you. Votes: 0

I didn't like the sound of people gasping at the mere mention of my name. It horrified me. Votes: 0

Yesterday a child came out to wonder Caught a dragonfly inside a jar Fearful when the sky was full of thunder And tearful at the falling of a star Votes: 0

All the news of home you read, more about the war and of bloody changes. Votes: 0

I still believe in the power of the word, that words inspire. Votes: 0

I love you when I forget about me. Votes: 0

But now it's just another show, you leave em laughing when you go. And if you care, don't let them know, don't give yourself away. Votes: 0

I'm your biggest fan, California, I'm coming home Votes: 0

I was anti-intellectual to the nth. Basically I liked to dance and paint, and that was about it. Votes: 0

So many things I would have done, but clouds got in my way. Votes: 0

I could drink a case of you, darlin'...and I would still be on my feet, yes I would still be on my feet... Votes: 0

You know that it never has been easy Whether you do or do not resign Whether you travel the breadth of the extremities Or stick to some straighter line. Votes: 0

You snipe so steady, you snub so snide, so rip and ready to diminish and deride. Votes: 0

I'm drinking champagne, got the head phones up high, can't numb you out. Votes: 0

Inside your own self pity there you swim, in sinking down to drown her voice still haunts you, and only with your laughter can you win. Votes: 0

I'm not a kiss-and-teller. I never named names. Votes: 0

You feed it all your woes, the ghostly garden grows. Votes: 0

The rock & roll industry is very incestuous, and we have all been close at one time or another. A lot of beautiful music and a lot of beautiful times came from that. A lot of pain, too, because, inevitably, different relationships broke up. Votes: 0

He's swept with the broom of contempt and the rooms have an empty ring. Votes: 0

A little lawyer on the tube, he said, its so easy now, anyone can sue. Votes: 0

When the spirit of child's play enters into the creative process, it's a wonderful force and something to be nurtured. Votes: 0

In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss. Votes: 0

I hate show business. Votes: 0

What I do is unusual: chordal movements that have never been used before, changing keys and modalities mid-song. Votes: 0

I'm irresponsible to my career in order to paint. Because painting is obsessive. I forget to eat. I forget to sleep. Votes: 0

If I'm censoring for anyone, it's for my parents. They are very old-fashioned and moral people. They still don't understand me that well. Votes: 0

I came through folk music simply because it was easy to get into it. Votes: 0

For the first time in my career, I'm working in a fine-arts arena, so I'm finally getting some intelligent reviews. Votes: 0

The songwriting was almost like something I did while I was waiting for my daughter to come back. Votes: 0

Oh it gets so lonely When you're walking And the streets are full of strangers Votes: 0

They paved paradise and put up a parkin lot With a pink hotel, a boutique, and a swingin' hot spot Don't it always seem to go That you don't know what you got till it's gone Votes: 0

everything comes and goes; pleasure moves on too early and trouble leaves too slow Votes: 0

Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got till it's gone. Votes: 0

But you know it's hard to tell When you're in the spell if it's wrong or if it's real But you're bound to lose If you let the blues get you scared to feel Votes: 0

There's a man who's been out sailing In a decade full of dreams And he takes her to a schooner And he treats her like a queen Bearing beads from California With their amber stones and green He has called her from the harbor He has kissed her with his freedom He has heard her off to starboard In the breaking and the breathing Of the water weeds While she was busy being free Votes: 0

I met a woman She had a mouth like yours She knew your life She knew your devils and your deeds And she said "Go to him, stay with him if you can But be prepared to bleed Votes: 0

I paint my joy and I sing my sorrow. Votes: 0

The Beginning of Survival is my best album. I am very proud of it, and I am surprised at it, too. I thought some of Travelogue was a little heavy, but I don't think this is heavy. Votes: 0

When you reach that kind of successful pinnacle, it is the nature of the business and the press and everything that they go about tearing you down. Votes: 0

I can't remember anything I ever wrote. Votes: 0

Do you want - do you want - do you want to dance with me baby? Votes: 0

We love our lovin'....but not like we love our freedom. Votes: 0

It's life's illusions that I recall, I really don't know life at all Votes: 0

I hang my laundry on the line when I write. Votes: 0

An artist needs a certain amount of turmoil and confusion. Votes: 0

Love is a very hard feeling to keep alive. It's a very fragile plant. Votes: 0

People used to say nobody can sing my songs but me, they're too personal. Votes: 0

I'm a method actress in my songs, which is why it's hard to sing them. Votes: 0

I find a lot of poetry to be narcissistic. Votes: 0

I certainly don't want to be an angry old artist. Votes: 0

The coming of the kids hasn't come out in my art yet. Votes: 0

I sang in art school, just to get money to smoke. Votes: 0

I live in a box of paints I'm frightened by the devil And I'm drawn to those ones that ain't afraid Votes: 0

I assume there must be some kind of genetic thrust. My two grandmothers were very different, but both of them were frustrated musicians. Votes: 0

Because Elvis gave 'em cars, you think I'm cheap. Votes: 0

Everybody's saying hell's the hippest way to go. Well, I don't think so, but I'm gonna take a look around it though. Votes: 0

You win the lasting laurels with your laughter. Votes: 0

The Hollywood sirens are shrieking, while down some search lit alley runs some lost belief. Votes: 0

Woke up, it was a Chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew there was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too. Votes: 0

Heart and humor and humility, he said will lighten up your heavy load. Votes: 0

Does the moon play only silver when it strums the galaxy? Votes: 0

We call for the three great stimulants of the exhausted ones, artifice, brutality, and innocence. Votes: 0

Acid, booze, and ass, needles, guns, and grass, lots of laughs. Votes: 0

I get the urge for going/But I never seem to go, Votes: 0

I see bodies as individual things, Votes: 0

They'll crucify you for staying the same, and they'll crucify you for change. I'd rather be crucified for changing. Votes: 0

I'm a painter first, and a musician second. Votes: 0

Fear is like the wilderland - Stepping stones or sinking sand Votes: 0

He saw my complications and he mirrored me back simplified, and we laughed how our perfect world would always be denied. Votes: 0

Elusive dreams and vague desires fanned to fiery needs by deadly deeds of falling empires. Votes: 0

Innocence is drowned in anarchy. The best lack conviction given time to think, and the worst are full of passion without mercy. Votes: 0

Sex sells everything and sex kills. Votes: 0

Bob [Dylan] is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I. Votes: 0

During times like these, the wise are influential. Votes: 0

The most important thing is to write in your own blood. I bare intimate feelings because people should know how other people feel. Votes: 0

The pirate he will sink you with a kiss, he'll steal your heart and sail away. Votes: 0

Oh, I am a lonely painter / I live in a box of paints... Votes: 0

The bands and the roadies, love 'em and leave 'em. It's pleasure to try 'em, but trouble to keep 'em. Votes: 0

Richard got married to a figure skater, and he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator. Votes: 0

Some turn to Jesus and some turn to heroin. Votes: 0

I met a redneck on a Grecian isle who did the Goat Dance very well. Votes: 0

They used to laugh at me when I refused to ride on all those double decker buses, all because there was no driver on the top. Votes: 0

I have one piece of music, since 1997, and I don't see it having lyrics. Where does it go in this world? So I haven't recorded it. Votes: 0

Laughing and crying, you know it's the same release. Votes: 0

She'll prophesy your death. She won't say when. Votes: 0

The land of litigation, the courts are like game shows. Take what's behind the curtain the jury cries. Votes: 0

We'll laugh and toast to nothing, and smash our empty glasses down. Votes: 0

I like to move around. I travel. I've driven across country by myself. Votes: 0

I have lost my credibility as a hit maker because of these side excursions into other branches of music by not being consistent. Consistency seems to be all important. Votes: 0

Musically, I would never run dry. Any time I sit down to an instrument, I could write a song. Votes: 0

I try not to steal from myself, but the modalities create similarities. Votes: 0

I didn't think I had much of a following in the south. I thought I was anonymous down there so I kept to the south. I found in certain pockets that I was quite recognizable, and I just hit a wig store. Votes: 0

I prefer Christmas, which is everybody's holiday. It's just my nature. I don't like to be zeroed in on en masse. Votes: 0

You can give me 400,000 hostile people and I won't even break sweat. If you give me 200 adoring people, my mouth will dry out. Votes: 0

People were very protective of me. Overly so. I was in the industry for a long time before I had any idea of what drugs people were doing. Votes: 0

I was young for my age. Not as naïve as they expected. I don't know why I seem to bring that out in people. Votes: 0

I like my freedom. I like to do my own grocery shopping. People do recognize you. They are kind of shocked. Some people like it. It makes them feel at ease. It confirms their hopes that you are in fact similar to them. Votes: 0

I liked playing in small clubs. I really liked holding the attention of thirty or forty people. I never liked the roar of the big crowd. Votes: 0

Musically, I don't think I'd ever dry up. I trust my musical invention. Votes: 0

Rolling Stone hates me. They must have an editorial policy to do me in for many years. Votes: 0

Lazy reviewers look up other people's reviews and they write the same thing, so you get people writing crap based on crap. Votes: 0