Quote

My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it.

Tracy Chapman

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Tracy Chapman
Age: 60
Born: 1964
Born: March 30
Composer
Guitarist
Musician
Recording Artist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Street Artist
Cleveland
Ohio
First
Wrote
Years
Older
Guitar
Crappy
Early
Guitars
Songs
Encouraged
Song
Listened
Keep
Bought
Firsts
Sister

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I see some recurring themes: things that feel threaded together, some symbolic references, and songs about some of the big questions, like death. There are a lot of references to weather, too!
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I'm not sure about anything as far as religion and spirituality go.
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I may be revered or defamed and decried But I tried to live my life right.
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I think many people would say that writers like Stephen King have hypergraphia.
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The songs are not necessarily autobiographical. A lot of songs are a combination of influences. It might be some part of my life, or something I've felt, or something somebody's told me. It all comes together.
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Words don't come easily, like forgive me.
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I found myself in the middle of a race riot when I was about 14 years old, and I found someone pointing a gun at me and telling me to run or they'd shoot me.
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Love's a recurring theme through my work.
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Now love's the only thing that's free /We must take it where it's found /Pretty soon it may be costly
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I don't want someone to squeeze me, that might take away my life. Just want someone to hold me, and we'll rock through the night.
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Consume more than you need This is the dream Make you pauper Or make you queen I won't die lonely I'll have it all prearranged A grave that's deep and wide enough For me and all my mountains o'things
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People's real hopes and dreams can be distorted and misdirected and packaged until you're not sure what you really want or what you even really need.
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I picked up the guitar at 11, but even before then, I was writing songs on the organ.
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When you feel like you've had a good show, you go backstage and you talk to yourself about it, and if you have a bad show you talk to yourself about it.
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I dressed up as a veterinarian for a Halloween costume party. I had the lab coat. I got a couple of stuffed animals for patients and put bandages on them.
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So don't be tempted by the shiny apple Don't you eat of a bitter fruit Hunger only for a taste of justice Hunger only for a world of truth 'Cause all that you have is your soul.
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Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin.
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Renounce all those material things that you gained by exploiting other human beings.
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With other people, you're always swapping music. Somebody is always listening to something you've never heard. It's a great way to hear all sorts of new things.
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Men are able to sustain a career into their 50s and 60s and still present themselves as sex symbols. With women, on the other hand, people say, 'Why doesn't she retire?'
Tracy Chapman