Renounce all those material things that you gained by exploiting other human beings. Tracy Chapman More Quotes by Tracy Chapman More Quotes From Tracy Chapman I often write either really early in the morning, or really late at night. Tracy Chapman writingmorningnight 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. Tracy Chapman like-youshowsfeels Everyone is looking for connections between the songs. I don't usually approach a record as a concept. There's no overriding theme I'm trying to represent. It's all about the individual songs. Tracy Chapman connectionssongtrying I end up writing about all kinds of things. I never make an attempt to write about anything in particular. I don't have a little list of topics to write about. Tracy Chapman topicswritinglittles I'm not sure if the next song I write is going to be about love or a song about a tree. Tracy Chapman writingtreesong 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! Tracy Chapman togetherweathersong 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. Tracy Chapman halloweenpartycouple A lot of kids spent more time out of school than in, but I always loved school and thought it was my way out of Cleveland, and out of poverty. Tracy Chapman clevelandkidsschool 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. Tracy Chapman found-someonegunrunning Who took away the part so essential to the whole Left you a hollow body Skin and bone. Tracy Chapman numbnessskinsbody Now love's the only thing that's free /We must take it where it's found /Pretty soon it may be costly Tracy Chapman foundmay I love living in California and being able to go to the beach or go to the woods. Tracy Chapman woodscaliforniabeach 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 mensexhands My old man's got a problem, he lives with the bottle. Tracy Chapman familybottlesmen Growing up in Cleveland, I learned about singing from my mother, who had once sung professionally and who admired Mahalia Jackson and Aretha Franklin. Tracy Chapman growing-upsingingmother I never assumed I would have that commercial success, so it was a total surprise. And honestly, I never assumed that it would ever happen again. Tracy Chapman never-assumehonestlysurprise Maybe it's naive to say, but it almost seems like, in the past, people tried to sell you something you would actually need, like a hammer or a broom or a toothbrush. But now there's this notion that they can sell you anything. And all they have to do is convince you that you need it. Tracy Chapman sayyoupeoplepast When we started making 'Where You Live', I bought a bunch of Polaroid cameras in so that people could record the experience. Some of those pictures are in the CD sleeve. Tracy Chapman picturesyouexperiencepeople I can't think of anything worse, really, than to try to live up to someone else's expectations of what you should be. You don't make art by consensus. Tracy Chapman livethinkyouart One of the reasons I chose Tufts is that they have one of the best veterinary schools in the country. Since I was six years old, I wanted to be a veterinarian. Tracy Chapman oldbestcountryyears
