A lot of political music to me can be rather pedantic and corny, and when it’s done right – like Bruce Springsteen or Jackson Browne or great satire from Randy Newman, there’s nothing better.
BONNIE RAITTThe fact is that this conversation is going on at every level at every age, we’re all going, “God, what a jerk I’ve been,” “How could I have married that guy?” or “How could I have done this or that?” With time, this is the gift of being older, that you get to look back and say, “It wasn’t all about them.”
More Bonnie Raitt Quotes
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When they were putting oil rigs up and down the California coast, the whole issue of safe energy and the addiction to fossil fuels really came into focus.
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It is still a surprise when people tell me that I’ve had an influence on them, particularly when it’s someone I really respect.
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It can unite kids and musicians, everybody, whether they’re leftist or rightist, or radical, or Republican, because energy is energy. But in fact, it is a real political struggle – it shows people that it’s big business against the people.
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Religion is for people who are scared to go to hell. Spirituality is for people who have already been there.
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One of the biggest obstacles I’ve overcome in my life was thinking I didn’t deserve to be successful.
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Those of us who grew up in the ’50s and ’60s, we had the dream that this could be turned around, and the earth could be back in balance, and that we could level the playing field with men and women and pay, and you know, minority groups having equal opportunity.
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Sometimes I’m more true when I’m up onstage than I’m able to be in my regular life. It’s not as exciting to be at home, but I’ve got to learn how to make that work, and then I will be an ordinary woman.
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Pat Benatar might need a rock band, but I can just sit with a blues guitar for an hour and a half and do folk songs and great contemporary ballads, and not many people can pull that off.
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I have been really heartened by how much coverage there has been about inequality of pay across the board, between the entertainment industry and almost every industry worldwide.
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The talent on YouTube is incredible, and it can spread like wildfire. The downside is that it’s very hard to convince the younger generation that they should pay for music.
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In my early twenties, if I wasn’t getting good enough at it, then people would not come and see me. Anybody who has lasted this long – I hope we get better with age.
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There’s a balance between ballads and kick-ass songs.
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With the new ways of getting music out, you don’t need a label if you’re a legacy artist.
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Even if the writers don’t get paid enough most of the time, unfortunately – but there’s never been a more amazing flow of information on all of the issues. I would love to see a revival of what we had against the war in the ’60s – we could do thes
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There would be no rock and roll or rhythm and blues without Leo Fenders’ contribution … the tone is everything
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There were so many great music and political scenes going on in the late ’60s in Cambridge. The ratio of guys to girls at Harvard was four to one, so all of those things were playing in my mind.
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Distribution has really changed. You can make a record with a laptop in the morning and have it up on YouTube in the afternoon and be a star overnight.
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The great thing about the arts, and especially popular music, is that it really does cut across genres and races and classes.
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I think that we have a unique opportunity as performers and artists to be kind of the town criers and also to get more people to listen, so that’s a blessing and a responsibility that I take very seriously.
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Jazz and blues fests are everywhere now, and Americana is going strong on college radio. What I’m hearing is an appreciation of real music.
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Whether you’re playing it on the guitar or on the dance floor, you’re in that moment.
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And just the problem of young women not getting an education, not being able to have an equal position in the cultures all around the world.
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I think my fans will follow me into our combined old age. Real musicians and real fans stay together for a long, long time.
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I was already doing really well in terms of my goals, to keep my fans coming back.
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The fifth member of my band is my non-profit work.
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Ugly ducklings don’t turn into swans and glide off down the lake. Whether your sunglasses are on or off, you only see the world you make.
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