Carly Simon

I think when you get married, it’s not a totally free ride – it’s not without its unglamorous periods and its fights and its angry noons and silent dawns or vice-versa.

From the first time I saw a picture of him, James Taylor was it — the ultimate Orpheus of all my fantasies.

The other day I came across a recording I made of a night at my apartment when I was living with Kris Kristofferson. Bob Dylan had been around earlier and we were all passing around the guitar. Whenever it came to my turn I would run into the kitchen and say I’d left the coffee on the stove or something. Shyness. Scared to perform.

I grew up not understanding what was true and what was not true. It gave me a sense of unreality.

I’ve sworn never to read any reviews ever again except those that are pointed out to me as nice ones. I would say that most of us who are considered in the artist realm just take it so terribly, and, you know, it can kill ya!

Actually, I think the more Ben [Taylor] sings, the less like James he sounds.

For most dates I was paid the sum of $1 per hr and they always tipped me at the end of the night.

I’m my own most merciless critic onstage.

Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.

For me, there wasn’t a line between working and getting paid or simply playing for fun.

In classical music, only two people are important, the composer and the conductor. Everybody else is a serf. In jazz, a thing of beauty is created collectively with everybody getting to express an idea. And that reflects what democratic society is – or should be.

There’s a spiritual satisfaction that one gets from listening and playing good Jazz.

When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, ‘That’s just that ole blues singer.’

Inspiration grows into full-scale creation through persistence and imagination.

Being a Jazz musician is not a rose garden!

If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.

Some people try to get very philosophical and cerebral about what they’re trying to say with jazz. You don’t need any prologues, you just play. If you have something to say of any worth then people will listen to you.

People complain about the music industry, but this is a great time to be a musician.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it.

I developed in my head that I’m never any better than my last concert or the last time I played, so it’s like an audition each time. You get nervous just before going onstage. I still have that, but I think it’s more like concern. You’re concerned about the people – like meeting your in-laws for the first time.

I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once.