Quotes from Famous Female Songwriters:
We all have someone to look up to; these can be people who are part of our daily lives, or someone we’ve met briefly but left a lasting impression. They can also be someone famous like a celebrated musician, composer or vocalist. Let’s read and learn from these inspiring quotes by some of the world’s legendary female musicians.
“A great work of art is made out of a combination of obedience and liberty.” – Nadia Boulanger
“Songwriting is a very mysterious process. It feels like creating something from nothing. It’s something I don’t feel like I really control.” – Tracy Chapman
“You’re gonna have to learn to get out there in front of those cameras and hold your head up. Take charge when you’re singing.” – Patsy Cline
“Wrinkles are hereditary. Parents get them from their children.” – Doris Day
“It isn’t where you came from, it’s where you’re going that counts.” – Ella Fitzgerald
” You can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music.” – Billie Holiday
“Put your faith in God and confidence in yourself.” Alberta Hunter
“The downside of videos is that it will put my vision in front of other people, so they might not get the chance to create their own.” – Carole King
“I don’t try to sound like anyone but me anymore. If something is out of my element, I try to avoid it.” – Norah Jones
“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.” – Joni Mitchell
“You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.” – Beverly Sills
“As a singer I tried on all these hats, these voices, these clothes, and eventually out came me.” – Carly Simon
“When I sing, trouble can sit right on my shoulder and I don’t even notice.” – Sarah Vaughan
“You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live now.” – Joan Baez
“Always be smarter than the people who hire you.” – Lena Horne
“Success is important only to the extent that it puts one in a position to do more things one likes to do.” – Sarah Caldwell
“When music fails to agree to the ear, to soothe the ear and the heart and the senses, then it has missed its point.” – Maria Callas
“As long as you keep a person down, some part of you has to be down there to hold him down, so it means you cannot soar as you otherwise might.” – Marian Anderson
“Sometimes oppurtunities float right past your nose. Work hard, apply yourself, and be ready. When an opportunity comes you can grab it.” – Julie Andrews
“No one can figure out your worth but you.” – Pearl Bailey
“You can do anything you want to do, if you know what to do.” – Betty Carter
“I don’t think you get to good writing unless you expose yourself and your feelings. Deep songs don’t come from the surface; they come from the deep down. The poetry and the songs that you are suppose to write, I believe are in your heart.” – Judy Collins
“It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.’ Marlene Dietrich
“If a song’s about something I’ve experienced or that could’ve happened to me it’s good. But if it’s alien to me, I couldn’t lend anything to it. Because that’s what soul is all about.” – Aretha Franklin
“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland
“In the long run, you make your own luck – good, bad, or indifferent.” – Loretta Lynn
“Cherish forever what makes you unique, ‘cuz you’re really a yawn if it goes.” – Bette Midler
“You can’t just sit there and wait for people to give you that golden dream. You’ve got to get out there and make it happen for yourself.” – Diana Ross
“You have got to discover you, what you do, and trust it.” – Barbra Streisand
“I don’t like to dwell on the past.” – Tina Turner
Wanna try your hand at Songwriting? Join us for our upcoming Songwriting Workshop classes in Grosse Pointe and Canton Township. We will have a Songwriting workshop from 12pm-2pm in Grosse Pointe on Saturday, February 25th and in Canton on Sunday, February 26th.
Call us today or Sign up Online Now!
Saturday February 25th in Grosse Pointe 12pm-2pm
Sunday, February 26th at 12pm-2pm in Canton
What a refreshing post. I really enjoyed reading it. Female Songwriters rock.
Female songwriters totally rock.
thanks so much for these. I always find quotes from songwriters to be so inspiring! isn’t Joni Mitchell the best?
here’s a great quote from Debbie Harry -“We probably, as primitive people, made music before we actually had a language, and that’s where language comes from.”
Thanks for sharing the Debbie Harry post. I just heard Professor Daniel J. Levitin speak on that during a speech at the Library of Congress. He said that Neanderthal people did indeed have a musical language that they used to communicate with one another. I’ll be posting that speech a little later today.
Wow, these are some great and inspiring quotes. I would really like to start working on being more creative … perhaps something I would learn from workshop offered!
Another fav by Tina Turner …. “Sometimes you’ve got to let everything go – purge yourself. If you are unhappy with anything . . . whatever is bringing you down, get rid of it. Because you’ll find that when you’re free, your true creativity, your true self comes out.”
You most certainly would learn some great songwriting skills from the upcoming workshop. Tina Turner is Great!