I loved English literature – if didn’t it would have been hard – but I had to learn it myself. I remembered ways to repeat words, to put more emphasis on certain lines.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI loved English literature – if didn’t it would have been hard – but I had to learn it myself. I remembered ways to repeat words, to put more emphasis on certain lines.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI felt like I was homeless anyway, so the change in environment wasn’t that much of a big deal. I felt pretty much the same. After six months of living on the streets [in Camden], I started singing, busking.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWhen you look at the media and television, and all this Hollywood stuff, you just judge people.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWilliam Blake is my favorite poet of all time, and he said that he wasn’t quite familiar with the sounds of music. If so, he would have been a musician.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEObviously you live life for yourself and have your choice to believe what you want to believe in, but I know that the Bible can be used to appreciate life.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI think it is all about creating characters, mixing them up with the stars and the light-years, and coming back to Earth, because we’re from this universe. We’re not just New York or London; we’re stars.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI’m from a middle class family but my father squandered all the money, so I didn’t really run around with rich people. I was very judgmental towards a lot of them.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEPoetry itself is music. I’m just lucky that I can convert it into music.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE[My music] is opposite to fashion.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEThe real self is who you are when you’re at home, when you’re comfortable, and the false self is what you’re pretending – and the reason you pretend is because you want to create a character for the surroundings you’re within.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINESome people will never be able to get their real self, but that’s fine, because their fake self is also part of them.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEI started understanding William Blake and George Orwell more and more. It’s amazing how we go to school when we’re so young, read all of these books, just trying to memorize them. When you start to live, you don’t have to memorize anything.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWhen I started writing again, especially when I listened to French music and Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, I realized that these lots talked about themselves. The greatest artists, they didn’t sing; they only spoke.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEHappiness is overrated and money can’t justify it.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEPeople take things too literal in the Bible and it’s totally wrong.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINEWe’re all competent in different ways, we’ve just got to find a way to push ourselves up more.
BENJAMIN CLEMENTINE