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" It all comes together. It's - that's the way it's always worked for me with songwriting. "
Tracy Chapman
Me
Always
Way
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" I started playing and writing songs when I was eight. "
Tracy Chapman
Eight
Writing
Started
" That's one of the things I like about San Francisco. It's not like anywhere else in the world. "
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Else
Like
San Francisco
" That's what everyone should do with their lives: stand up for what they believe in or try to do some good in the world. I don't think artists have a greater responsibility than anyone else. "
Tracy Chapman
Try
Think
Good
" There's a time and place for everything, and my focus is music. So that's what I prefer to spend most of my time doing, and not talk about making music. "
Tracy Chapman
Time
Focus
Doing
" I never travelled when I was younger. "
Tracy Chapman
Travelled
Younger
Never
" 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
Singing
Mother
Growing Up
" I learn all these things about the record talking about it after it's finished. "
Tracy Chapman
Talking
Things
Learn
" My older sister encouraged me from early on and bought me one of the first guitars I had. She listened to all of the crappy songs that I wrote when I was 8 years old and encouraged me to keep doing it. "
Tracy Chapman
Doing
Early
Me
" 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
Together
Weather
Death
" Love's a recurring theme through my work. "
Tracy Chapman
Theme
Work
Recurring
" 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
Surprise
Success
" 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
People
Men
Career
" I love living in California and being able to go to the beach or go to the woods. "
Tracy Chapman
Love
California
Living
" I was raised in a Baptist tradition, but then I went to an Episcopalian high school, and they were very accepting of people of all faiths. "
Tracy Chapman
People
Tradition
School
" 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
Trying
Looking
Connections
" 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
Live
Think
Try
" With other people, you're always swapping music. Somebody is always listening to something you've never heard. It's a great way to hear all sorts of new things. "
Tracy Chapman
You
New Things
People
" If you are living a life that feels right to you, if you're willing to take creative chances or a creative path that feels like it's mostly in keeping with your sensibilities, you know, aesthetic and artistic, then that's what matters. "
Tracy Chapman
Know
Life
Path
" I won't get into it any more than to say that there are parts of me in all the songs that I write. "
Tracy Chapman
Write
Than
More
" At this point in my life I'd like to live as if only love mattered. "
Tracy Chapman
Like
Point
My Life
" I don't try to project any image at all, other than the person that I am. "
Tracy Chapman
Person
Try
Project
" I mentioned that I received a scholarship to Episcopalian school, and the model for the school was 'From each according to his or her ability and to each according to his or her need.' And it's something that is still really important to me in thinking about how I prioritize what I do with my life. "
Tracy Chapman
School
Her
My Life
" I think religion played a huge part in Bush's re-election. "
Tracy Chapman
Religion
I Think
Think
" You have to pay attention to the moment and make it the best it can be for you. I've been trying to do that. It's really made a major difference for me. I'm a happier person. "
Tracy Chapman
Best
Me
Attention
" After it's finished, sometimes I can trace a path that goes back to the possible source of inspiration. "
Tracy Chapman
I Can
Back
Path
" 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
Things
Write
End
" As a child I always had a sense of social conditions and political situations. I think it had to do with the fact that my mother was always discussing things with my sister and me - also because I read a lot. "
Tracy Chapman
Child
Think
Sister
" So much has happened to obscure the dialogue about race and about gender and discrimination in general, especially where those things touch on economics. "
Tracy Chapman
Economics
Gender
Race
" As I started to consider a career in music, I hoped for success, truthfully. I didn't imagine anything that would amass the level of the first record, but I hoped that I would be able to sustain a career. "
Tracy Chapman
Career
Music
Started
" People's real hopes and dreams can be distorted and misdirected and packaged until you're not sure what you really want or what you even really need. "
Tracy Chapman
Dreams
Real
Want