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There was a f**king review in f**king Melody Maker [of the first BOSSANOVA single, 'Velouria'] - 'Sounds like someone's been taking singing lessons'. Like, motherf**king A! I am the singer. Who do sing SONGS. It's like I never sang before like I was - I don't know - reading PROSE on my previous records and now I sing. EXCUUUUUUSE me for singing

Black Francis

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Black Francis
Age: 59
Born: 1965
Born: April 6
Guitarist
Musician
Record Producer
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Boston
Massachusetts
Charles Michael Kittridge Thompson IV
Frank Black
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More quotes by Black Francis

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As soon as I got into music, I tried to be a working, real artist who gets paid for what he does, who doesn't have a day job.
Black Francis
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But the truth is that critics are by definition critical. That's their job.
Black Francis
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I like visual images and there are certainly other bands that have strong visual images going all the way back to Elvis Presley, but it's kind of like that's never really been my bag. Probably because I'm too shy.
Black Francis
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They're pretty good actually, Hall & Oates. I gotta give them credit. They got a lot of toe-tappers.
Black Francis
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I think that painting is a very ancient form of expression.
Black Francis
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I come from an art history background. I studied at a master's degree level I chose to dork out on art for much of my adult life. A lot of my heroes are artists and a lot of my musical heroes have an artistic side.
Black Francis
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I have two step-kids and one of my own on the way. That's three college funds.
Black Francis
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I don't make records that way, where I'm trying to please the marketplace or anything. Not because I have anything against that, it's just never been a part of my aesthetic, even when I was with the Pixies.
Black Francis
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As I paint, I realise, while it's something I do very much by myself, it's very solitary, the creative process feels similar to making music to me now, at least as far as my brain is concerned.
Black Francis
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You think you've made something really great, but there's a reason why it's not resonating the way some previous work did. But it's not that easy to just replicate. Some people think, Oh, just go do that thing you used to do before. But it just doesn't work like that. It's a lot more mysterious or slippery.
Black Francis
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Bob Dylan is quite a songwriter, and a great singer and musician. I won't bother with comparing myself to him, but I will say that I heard his records at a very young age and I still listen to all his records.
Black Francis
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I'm really inspired by the interplay of visual art and music, a total artistic environment where there's sound and visuals. When I think about that I get stimulated and excited. It's a feeling that you can't label with words.
Black Francis
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For some artists the live performance is the chicken before the egg of writing or recording of repertoire. For other artists the writing or recording of repertoire is the chicken before the egg of live performance.
Black Francis
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I don't want to do children's music. I write kids songs, but the kids songs I write are for my kids - like when I'm putting them to bed. We sing some song that we made up but I don't want to make a record like that.
Black Francis
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The first thing that inspires any song is a chord progression. When I have one I really like, I get into the lyrics even more.
Black Francis
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That's the most important thing, to get along with people. When you feel like you click with them. That's more important even then what their background is or what they've done before, how good they are, how new they are or whatever. All that stuff is really secondary to just getting along with the person.
Black Francis
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It's sour grapes, I admit, I want to be more famous so people are examining my work couplet by couplet, you know what I mean? That's the level where I want to go.
Black Francis
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I certainly have gotten caught up in the music business at various times in my life, mostly because you want to get along with whatever record company you're dealing with. I don't want to be flaky. I don't want to be some temperamental, hard-to-work-with musician.
Black Francis
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I won't necessarily make new music because when you make a record there are these great expectations on the side of the record company who are going to produce your record, promoters that are going to do your shows. They want you to do interviews, they want you to play shows. I mean, they want it to be a campaign.
Black Francis
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Wise is the tongue, wet of perfect thought.
Black Francis