85 Quotes by Joanna Newsom

Maybe a good goal would be to just at least always try to create something good. Like something that is connected to love in some way. Like the [musical] equivalent of…you can make a decision to be kind. You can make a decision to greet people kindly and make jokes with people and connect.

In the sinking sand,where we’ve come to rest,have I had a hand in your loneliness?

Among the responsibilities of any writer is that, no matter what else, they know what they mean. So, even if no one else knows what you're talking about, you do. The listener can sense that, even if they don't get the literal meaning. The faith that they place in the clues and the connections and the secrets of the lyrics is of the utmost importance.

All my life, I've felt as thoughI'm inside a beautiful memory, replayingwith the sound turned down low.

I wasn't born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilightNo I was all horns and thorns sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright.

The fire breather is beneath the clover, and beneath his breathing there is cold clay forever

I am consciously not trying to bring in World Music elements. The ways that I work and feel are completely different in how they sound than someone playing the Kora in Africa would play it.

I went to school to become a composer.

I would like to be on a record label, because it is very expensive to tour with a harp. It's a huge deterrent for me to go cross country.