People say I'm such a pessimist, but I always was. It never stopped me from doing what I had to do. I would say I'm a realist. Joan Baez More Quotes by Joan Baez More Quotes From Joan Baez We need to have faith in the people who are giving this movement direction to be smart enough to stay one step ahead of what's coming up next. Joan Baez smart giving people Noise is an imposition on sanity, and we live in very noisy times. Joan Baez imposition sanity noise Back then I was still listening to rhythm and blues, and my aunt took me to see a Pete Seeger concert. And it gelled. He made all the sense in the world to me. I got addicted to his albums, and then Belafonte and Odetta - they were the people who seemed to fuse things that were important to me into music. I think Pete the most because he did what he did to the point where he took those enormous risks and then paid for them. Joan Baez aunt people thinking That was sheer luck that it [being immersed into folk scene] happened when my voice began to develop. I don't know exactly what would have happened if I hadn't been alive and well and really lively in the Cambridge scene. But (the folk scene) was, and I fell into it absolutely naturally in the little coffee shops, and pretty soon it was Newport and then it was an overwhelming response internationally, actually. Joan Baez voice coffee luck The hardest song to write is a protest song, a topical song with meaning. Joan Baez protest writing song My dread is for my show to be a nostalgia act. So the key to it is how do we keep it fresh? Joan Baez dread nostalgia keys I'd hear a tune in my head and the words would come. And then, very suddenly it just stopped. It seemed too stilted to try and learn how to write a song, to go to round robins and to learn things from other people on how to write a song. So I just stopped and did other things. Joan Baez writing song people If it came back I would be thrilled. I would be delighted to write more songs. I need them now because I want to make an album and I have to depend on other people's music, which I've done for years. But still, it'd be really nice to be able to sprinkle it with my own. Joan Baez nice writing song And my voice now is a struggle, it's a daily struggle to keep it up. Gravity has begun to fight the vocal cords the way it does with everybody. So I have a vocal therapist, and we record the sessions and I use them on tour every day. Joan Baez voice fighting struggle Living so fully, I can't imagine what any drug could do for me. Joan Baez imagine drug i-can I wish it was clear for me how it happened [stop writing songs], then maybe I could start writing again. But it's kind of an "it." It just submerged itself. Because the way I had always written was just that it came out. It just happened. Joan Baez wish writing song Put tattoos all up and down our thighs, do anything our parents would despise. Take uppers, downers, blues, and reds and yellows, our brains are turning into jello. Joan Baez tattoo parent reality I have been true to the principles of nonviolence, developing a stronger and stronger aversion to the ideologies of both the far right and the far left and a deeper sense of rage and sorrow over the suffering they continue to produce all over the world. Joan Baez sorrow suffering peace You don't get to choose how you're going to die, or when. You can decide how you're going to live now. Joan Baez As long as one keeps searching, the answers come. Joan Baez I've never been an optimist. Joan Baez been never optimist I didn't go through the routine of singing in small clubs and doing open mics and working so hard the way a lot of people do and did. It was just an overnight kind of thing. Joan Baez small singing people way
