I'm So Burned Out, The Only Person I Can Stand Is Myself. I'm The Only One I Would Put Through This. Wheels And Wings, The Ride Is Everything. I'm All I've Got. I'm All I Can Take. Another Day Has Destroyed A Part Of Me. So Far So Good.

-Henry Rollins

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I'm So Burned Out,

Henry Rollins

Topic

Wings

Another Day

Wheels

More From Henry Rollins

I'm Not In A Position Where I Get To Pick And Choose Roles. I Usually Go On Auditions In Long Lines And Embarrass Myself In Front Of Casting Directors, And With A Lump In My Throat And My Ears Burning, I Walk Past Reception And Smirking Actors As I Go To The Parking Garage And Go Back On The Highway.

Past

Long

Directors

To My Ears, Jazz Sounds Better In Warm Weather And After The Sun Has Gone Down. While I Will Listen To Some Of My Favorite Jazz Records In Cooler Weather, It's The Warmer Nights That Really Make Them Come Alive. Something About Those Sounds And The Heat Of The Night Really Makes It Happen For Me.

Night

Weather

Sound

I'm Not Exactly Ambitious As Much As I Have A Very Good Realization Of What I Am And What I Am Capable Of.

Ambitious

Realization

Very Good

When I Think Of Mick Jagger Still Singing That He Can't Get Any Satisfaction In Over Forty Years Of Being In The Rolling Stones, I Have To Conclude That He's Either Lying Or Not All That Bright.

Lying

Thinking

Years

I Like The Sound Of My Voice, Doesn't Mean It's Any Good But I Like It. The Joke Is That "all Good Singers Like The Sound Of Their Own Voice" So We'll Go With That.

Mean

Voice

Sound

Maybe Some Things Are Better Left Broken And Scattered Veiled In Darkness, Secret Bitterness And Self-doubt I Should Have Known Better Than To Start Something That I Couldn't Finish That I Couldn't Care About That I Couldn't Remember Starting In The First Place I Don't Want To Know You You Went Years Without Me You Might As Well Keep Going.

Self

Should Have

Years

Keep Walking. Hot Night Right Now, Right Here. All You Have Is What You Are. All You Want Is Much Too Much. All You Get Is So Much Less. All You Feel Is Nothing. All You See Is Darkness. All You Know Is Senseless And All You Can Do About It Is Ride.

Night

Darkness

Hot

But Can A Song Stop A War? If Bob Marley And Bob Dylan Couldn't Do It, It Can't Be Done.

Song

War

Done

I Do My Best To Limit The Amount Of Compromise In My Life So I Have More Time To Do What I Want. Not Hanging Out With Many People Really Helps. I Am Not A People Person And I Spend A Great Deal Of Time On My Own And In This Environment, I Get A Lot Done.

People

Done

Want

I Enjoy Helping. I Like Doing Benefits And Things Like That, But Don't Feel The Need To Be Thanked Or Even Meet The People I Am Doing The Benefit For.

People

Needs

Benefits

Airports In Major Cities, Like Lax, Are Trippy Environments. It Is At Once A National And International Gathering Of Those In Transition: The Euphoric, Emerging From Planes, Their Journey At An End, And The Determined, About To Depart.

Journey

Cities

Airports

He Said That Hate Makes The World Go Round People Are Afraid Of What They Really Want They Make Enemies Of All The Things That They Would Like To Be They Condition Themselves To Not Embrace What They Are Love Is A Clinging Nausea I Tried To Disagree With Him It Was No Use I Never Saw A More Honest Look In Anyone's Eyes.

Hate

Eye

Love Is

I Never Thought I Was Right For Tv Or That Tv Was Right For Me.

Tvs

When The Iron Doesn't Want To Come Off The Mat, It's The Kindest Thing It Can Do For You. If It Flew Up And Went Through The Ceiling, It Wouldn't Teach You Anything.

Flew Up

Iron

Ceilings

I Get Tired Of Talking When I Want To Be Silent.

Tired

Talking

Want

Once You Say Something, It Stays Said. I Apologized To Anyone Who May Have Been Hurt By What I Said, And I Really Meant It. I Am Absolutely Not Interested In Hurting Anyone, Or Being Mean Or Insensitive.

Hurt

Mean

May

Sometimes It Seems The Harder You Try To Hold Onto Something Or Someone The More It Wants To Get Away. You Feel Like Some Kind Of Criminal For Having Felt, For Having Wanted. For Having Wanted To Be Wanted. It Confuses You Because You Think That Your Feelings Were Wrong And It Makes You Feel So Small Because It’s So Hard To Keep It Inside When You Let It Out And It Doesn’t Come Back. You’re Left So Alone That You Can’t Explain.

Thinking

Feelings

Trying

You Can Still Function As A Living Ruin.

Ruins

Function

Stills

I Think More Tolerance, More People Having More Access To A Chance To Be Literate, And A Chance To Stay Healthy Makes For A More Peaceful Planet.

Thinking

People

Healthy

In Israel, There's A Lot To Learn From Anyone, Because To Live There You've Got To Deal With The Truth. Things Happen Real Fast. Your Day Goes From Cool To Catastrophic In One Second. Israelis Know That The Cafe You're In Could Blow Up, Or The Shopping Mall, And They Rock That.

Real

Blow

Shopping

I Would Never Be Innovative Enough To "blaze My Own Trail," I'm Just Trying To Be Interesting. So I Don't Look To Anyone Else As Far As Inspiration.

Inspiration

Interesting

Trying

A Rose Trapped Inside A Fist.

Rose

Fists

Trapped

Probably Over Half Of America Does Not Have A Passport. If Young People Could Spend Two Weeks Of Their Life In India Or Pick An African Country To Go To For 2-3 Weeks And Really See How Life Can Be. That Might Be A Real Good Thing Because I Think They Would See Things Even If The Trip Was A Nightmare. I Think They Might Understand More Of The Mechanics Of The World.

Country

Real

Thinking

Sometimes I Would Get Invited To A Party Or To Go Out To Dinner By One Of Them And I Would Decline. Part Of Me Wanted To Go, But Those Kind Of Outings Always Made Me Feel Even More Alienated Than Usual. Hearing Them Talk Made Me Feel Lonely And Hateful At The Same Time. Lonely Because I Didn't Fit In, Never Did. When I Was Reminded, It Hurt. And Hateful Because It Reaffirmed What I Already Knew, That I Was Alone And On The Outside.

Lonely

Hurt

Party

While I Disagree With Our Presence In Iraq And Afghanistan, I Have Nothing But Respect And Admiration For The Men And Women Deployed In These Places.

Men

Iraq

Admiration

Before Any American Points A Finger At President Putin And Calls Him Nasty Names, They Should Recognize That A Lot Of Americans Agree With Putin On His Stance Against Homosexual And Transgender People.

Names

People

President

Motivation Has Always Been A Fascinating Factor When Considering A Touring Artist, Especially When The Years Stack Up. What Keeps One Out There Year After Year?

Motivation

Artist

Years

Let's Pretend My Career In Music Is A Bell. Whether You Like My Music Or Not Is Up To You. But You've Got To Admit I Rang That Bell Pretty Hard And Pretty Often.

Careers

Up To You

Bells

Humans Are Pretty Amazing At Living Pretty Much Anywhere And So That Makes Me Optimistic That Perhaps Humanity Will Be Able To Survive Itself, Because The Reality Is That We Are Going To Have Problems With Water In This Century.

Optimistic

Reality

Water

The More You Own, The More It Owns You.

I Have Lived In Public As A Somewhat Recognizable Person Since I Was A Teenager. Emails I Answer End Up Posted On Sites; Pictures Of Me And Someone I Just Met, Taken By A Cellphone, Literally Number In The Thousands And Are Easily Accessed.

Teenager

Taken

Numbers

One Of The Odd Enjoyments In Life Is To Be Alone In A Room Full Of People. To Have Them There As Unknowing Human Filler In Your Wide Shot.

People

Rooms

Life Is

She Touches Me The Jungle Lights Up With Incinerating Fire Looks Like A Flaming Serpent I Look Into Her Eyes I See A Movie Flickering Car Crashes People Kicking Corpses Men Ripping Their Tracheas Out And Shaking Them At The Sky I Think To Myself: I Don’t Want To Survive This One I Want To Burn Up In The Wreckage Cooking Flesh In The Jungle

Eye

Thinking

Men

South Sudan Is One Of The Most Hard-put Places In The World.

World

South

Hard

America Is Off-the-hook Gay. I Will Not Go All Ann Coulter On You And Say, 'our Gays Are Better Than Their Gays,' But As Far As Countries Go, We Are In-your-face Gay.

Country

Gay

America

If You Listen To The Way I Speak And Watch The Way I Conduct Myself - There's Nothing About Me That's Rock N' Roll. It's Like, 'hello, I'm In A Rock N' Roll Band'. 'no, You're A Narc.'

Rocks

Watches

Band

Don't Do Anything By Half. If You Love Someone, Love Them With All Your Soul.

Unconditional Love

Soul

Half

I'm Not Trying To Amass People In The Streets. I Just Want Them To Be More Aware. So Many Americans, For One Reason Or Another, They Watch The News And It Doesn't Really Give Them The Idea Of The World. Or They Don't Read Or Travel. They Have No Idea That America Is Part Of The World And Not The World Itself. And So Anything From The Travel Stories I Tell, That's What I'm Trying To Get Across.

People

Giving

Trying

I Like The Idea Of Going Out With A Woman And Not Doing Anything, And Just Eating Dinner And Talking, And That's Cool, Too. So, Someone Might Look At Me And Say, "no Way, Man. He's Just Banging Strippers." And I Do That, But Not All The Time.

Men

Talking

Ideas

Keep Your Blood Clean, Your Body Lean, And Your Mind Sharp.

Motivational Workout

Blood

Mind

I Don't Try To Be Angry To Prove Something. I Wouldn't Try To Intimidate You For Any Reason Unless You Were Trying To Intimidate Me, And Then I Would Show You That You Can't Do That To Me.

Trying

Intimidating

Reason

You Have To Realize There Are Other People, Other Economies, Governments, Cultures, Religions, And Destinies Going On At The Same Time As Yours. You Have To Widen The Scope Of Your Lens And Start Seeing More.

Destiny

Government

Culture Religion

To Justify Being Listened To, I Try To Be As Well Informed As I Can. Hence, The Travel. Reading Is Good Too. Reading Gets You Part Way There, And I Do Read Pretty Voraciously For A Guy Who's Trying To Write So Much.

Reading

Writing

Guy

Being An Artist Is Dragging Your Innermost Feelings Out, Giving A Piece Of Yourself, No Matter In Which Art Form, In Which Medium.

Art

Giving

Feelings

I Am A Pretty Crazy Person, So It's Best For Me To Be On My Own Most Of The Time.

Crazy

Crazy Person

Persons

In Many Ways, America Is On The Receiving End Of A Pendulum That Has Been Swung With Great Force, And For A Long Time, Outward Into The World. The Impact Is A Wake-up Call On Every Level.

Impact

America

Long

The Lowest Stress Environment Is The Radio Show. I Am Not On Camera And I Can Let The Music Do The Talking. The Rest Is More Highly Pressurized Or In The Case Of Writing, Time Intensive Task. I Say Yes To All Of It And Like All Of It But The Radio Show, By Nature Of What It Is, Is The Least Hassle.

Stress

Writing

Talking

I Am Too Far Gone To Be Rehabilitated.

Gone

I'm Terrified Of Motorcycles. I've Been On One A Couple Of Times. I Did Not Like It.

Couple

Motorcycle

Terrified

I Don't Have Any Spiritual Anything.you Shoot A Guy With A Gun, He Dies. You Step On A Bug, The Bug Dies. There Is No Heaven For Me And No Hell. And Certainly Not Any Karma.

Karma

Spiritual

Gun

I Used To Sit On The Roof Of The Apartment Where Jim Morrison Used To Write His Early Lyrics

Writing

Used

Roof

The Material You Work With Is That Which You Will Come To Resemble. That Which You Work Against Will Always Work Against You, Including Yourself.

Materials

Including

I Don't Really Think About The Audience Much. I Think Of Myself. Let Me Dig Myself Out Of That One.

Thinking

Let Me

Audience

I Am The Flying Saucer Man From Another World Trapped On Yours Until They Come To Rescue Me. One Day The Saucer Will Land. Jimi Hendrix And John Coltrane Will Open The Hatch And Tell Me To Get In Before Someone Tries To Blow Up The Ship. I'll Just Ask What Took Them So Long. Within Seconds We'll Be Out Of Here.

Blow

Men

Land

Cynicism Is Only Intellectual Sloth.

Intellectual

Sloth

Cynicism

Respect Is Not A One Way Street

Way

Streets

One Way

I'm Not A Thrill Seeker. I'm Not Looking To Get Kidnapped. I'm Not Looking To Get A Shot At. I've Been Shot At. I Didn't Like It.

Thrill

Shots

Kidnapped

Joe Strummer, Johnny Rotten, And Ian Mackaye Were All People Who Really Made Me See Things Differently.

People

Rotten

Johnny Rotten

Contemporary Bands Often Will Do Tour-only Releases Pressed And Sold Only In Australia. Crikey!

Australia

Band

Release

Every Single Record I Have Is A Fossil.

Records

Fossils

You’ll Never Know That Just Sitting Across A Room Full Of People, I Have Transformed You Into A Goddess. A Destroyer Of Despair.

People

Despair

Sitting

I Thought I Was Gonna Be In The Minimum-wage Working World All My Life.

Minimum Wage

World

Minimum

In My Bright, Utopian Future World, They Will Hand Out College Educations Like Cups Of Water At The End Of The L.a. Marathon.

College

Hands

Water

Somewhere, Someone Isn’t Impressed By Your Looks. Not All Men Jump Through The Hoops Of Your Fire. You’re Unbelievably Boring To More People Than You’ll Ever Know.

Men

Fire

People

When Life Hands You A Lemon, Say, 'oh Yeah, I Like Lemons! What Else Ya Got?

Life

Hands

Fruit

We City Dwellers, We Residents Of Los Angeles And The Surrounding Areas, Are For The Most Part Urbanized To Some Extent. We Know Deadlines, Start Times And Traffic.

Cities

Los Angeles

Residents

As A Young Person Growing Up In Washington, D.c., Summers Were Hot, Humid And Relentless. My Friends And I Grew More Restless And Adventurous With Every Passing Year.

Summer

Growing Up

Years

I Wasn't Playing The Music, The Music Was Playing Me... And Once That Went Away, And I Had The Feeling I Was Playing Music, I Had To Stop. The Need To Go Onstage And Get My Brain Flattened Every Night Left Me, And What I Didn't Wanna Do Is Go Onstage And Perpetrate A Fraud... You Cannot Fool An Audience.

Night

Feelings

Brain

All I Have Is Me. Over-worked, Under-appreciated, Middle-aged, And Shriveled Up.

Appreciated

Middle

Middle Aged

I'm Not A Conservative Or A Republican But I Know That There's Conservative Republicans Who I Probably Vigorously Disagree With But I Also Am Smart Enough, Or Something Enough, To Understand That They Really Think That They're Right, And They're Looking At Me Like I'm Crazy.

Crazy

Smart

Thinking

Will Punk Rock Ever Die? Pal, If You Have To Ask It's Dead To You.

Rocks

Pals

Punk

Jazz Music Is As American As It Gets, And So Is The U.s. Postal Service. A Miles Davis Stamp Is A Perfect Marriage Of Two Great American Institutions.

Two

Perfect

Jazz

Republicans Just Can't Help Themselves. They Get In Front Of A Live Microphone And Within A Few Sentences Are Rocketing Down The Swiftest And Most Direct Route To The All-you-can-eat Comedian-and-talk-show-host Buffet.

Comedian

Buffets

Helping

I Have No Pride About Anything I Have Done. It's Just Not The Way I Think About Things. I Do The Work, Always, As Hard As I Can, To The Point Of Pain, Injury, Exhaustion, If That Is What It Takes. Once I Am Done, I Move On.

Pain

Moving

Pride

I'm Just Shallow And Self-interested, And Don't Get Out Much Because I'm Afraid Of Real Commitments.

Real

Commitment

Self

If Some Band Sucks, You're Going To Have To Find Out About It For Yourself, Because I Don't Have The Interest In Issuing Warnings.

Band

Warning

Interest

When You See The Escalades And The Hummers Driving Down The Street, At Least In Los Angeles, This Dry, Flat Desert With Shopping Malls, When You See Someone Driving One Of Those Through This You're Like, 'you Are Definitely Part Of The Problem.'

Shopping

Desert

Dry

One Person's Roar Is Another's Whine, Just As One Person's Music Is Another's Unendurable Noise.

Noise

Unendurable

Music Is

Rush Limbaugh Makes Money Getting Simpleminded People To Feel Good About Their Intellectually Undernourished Brain Spasms. He's Very Good At It, And I Scarcely Believe A Fraction Of What He Says.

Believe

People

Feel Good

The Kid Who Throws His Spaghetti From The High Chair Onto His Father's Face, He's Pushing Back. He's Sticking It To The Man As He Sees It. I Like That. So That Is Punk.

Father

Kids

Men

I Try To Be Well Informed. I Don't Know How Well I Do All The Time, But I Try Nonetheless.

Trying

Wells

Know How

I'm Constantly Around People That Talk A Lot But Say Nothing. A Sad Case.

People

Cases

I Always Found The Chicago Audience To Be A Smart, Fast-moving, Violent And Cheerful Lot, And It's Always Good To Be Back.

Smart

Moving

Cheerful

Hating Someone Is Giving Them Too Much, Just Leave Them Alone.

Hate

Giving

Too Much

With Writing, There Are Multiple Drafts. On Stage, There Is One Take. I Do A Lot Of Preparation For Shows, So, For The Most Part, What You Hear Me Say Is Pretty Much What I Wanted To Get At.

Writing

Preparation

Stage

I Mean I Appreciate Fan Mail And That The People Like What I Am Doing But I Can't Answer It. If I Would Answer 25 Letters A Day I Would Be Just A Guy Answering Mail And Not An Artist Anymore.

Mean

Artist

People

Girls Aren't Beautiful, They're Pretty. Beautiful Is Too Heavy A Word To Assign To A Girl. Women Are Beautiful Because Their Faces Show That They Know They Have Lost Something And Picked Up Something Else.

Beautiful

Girl

Faces

Can You Imagine Telling A Woman She Can't Vote!? The Women I Hang Out With Would Be Going Home With Parts Of Your Anatomy Swinging From Their Rearview.

Home

Would Be

Vote

You Don't Have To Twist My Arm To Work.

Twists

Arms

August Brings Into Sharp Focus And A Furious Boil Everything I've Been Listening To In The Late Spring And Summer.

Summer

Spring

August

When I See The Hatred Exacted At Mr. Obama - You Know, He Lowered Your Taxes, Killed Your Number One Bad Guy And Got Your Guys Out Of Iraq - I Don't Understand Why He Seems To Inflame People So Much. You Know, Unless, Unless There's A Race Problem.

Iraq

Numbers

Race

That's The Only Interaction I Have With People, Those Talking Shows. Most Of The People In My Phone Book Are Artists, Management, Producers, Engineers. I Don't Ever Call People With, "hi! How Are You?" I Say, "how Are You? Do You Have That 16/30 Ready? When Do You Want Me To Come Into The Studio?" That's What I Do.

Book

Artist

Phones

I Have To Keep Moving I Don't Want To Think I'm Going To Work All Day Today I Don't Want To Stop Don't Want To Let My Brain Catch Up My Thoughts How Will I Be Able To Tell Them That I'm A Shadow A Grey Patch Of Cold Rotting Life

Moving

Thinking

Brain

Too Sick And Freaked Out Not To Want A Bullet For Every Passer By, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Breathe, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Care, Too Sick And Freaked Out To Think Of Anything But The Annihilation Of My Mind And Denial Of My Life. So Sick And Freaked Out That I Think Everyone Is My Friend.

Thinking

Sick

Mind

I Think I Am The Most Impressed With Writing Styles That Defy Category, Like Kharms Or Selby, Breton Or Jarry, Where You Become As Interested In The Writer As Much As The Writing Itself. It's All These Things That Make Reading So Appealing To Me.

Reading

Writing

Thinking

After... The Seas Have Dried Out The Trains Have Come To A Shrieking Holt The Hounds Of The Abyss Cease To Howl The Prisons Have Closed Their Doors The Pigs Have No One To Arrest Except Themselves The Drugs No Longer Have An Effect When It's All Over All I'll Remember Is You

Pigs

Doors

Sea

I Definitely Learned A Lesson This Time. I Know That I Can Be Broken. I Am Not As Tough As I Thought. I See It Now. At This Point, It's The Only Thing Good That Came Out Of All Of This. I Know Myself Better Now And Know What I Have To Do.

Broken

Lessons

Tough

When You Put Yourself In Environments That Continually Test You, That's Where All The Good Stories Come From. That's Where The Jokes Come From Is From The Shitty Parts.

Stories

Tests

Environment

In Fact, Every Place I've Been To In Africa Has A Nice Part, But You See The Downside. Calcutta , Parts Of Central And South America , I've Seen A Lot Of Dead Bodies And A Lot Of Sad Poverty And Just Obliteration.

Nice

America

Body

My Feelings For You Shame Me Into Silence.

Silence

Feelings

Shame

It Wasn't Until My Late Twenties That I Learned That By Working Out I Had Given Myself A Great Gift. I Learned That Nothing Good Comes Without Work And A Certain Amount Of Pain. When I Finish A Set That Leaves Me Shaking, I Know More About Myself. When Something Gets Bad, I Know It Can't Be As Bad As That Workout.

Workout

Pain

Iron Will

It's Easy For Me To Play Bad Guys Because It's A Very Linear Acting. Bad Guys Aren't Empathetic. Being A Bad Guy Is Great Because You're Not Friendly And You Don't Have To Do Much With Your Face.

Play

Guy

Friendly

It's Hard For Me To Sympathize With A Young Person Who Chooses To Go Into The Military Because They Know Where They're Going. I Think We Need To Start Depopulating The Military.

Military

Thinking

Needs

I'm Not Artistic Nor Am I All That Creative.

Creative

Artistic

My First Visit To West Berlin Was In February 1983. The Drive Through East Berlin, The Fact That West Berlin Was Surrounded By A Wall That Was More Than 100 Miles Long - The Absurdity And Intensity Of It Really Knocked Me Out.

Wall

East Berlin

Long

I'm A Big Germs Fan; Most People Are.

People

Fans

Germs

All My Big Heroes Are Literary, Writers.

Hero

Bigs

I Think In Rural Settings, People Have A Different Appreciation For Animals Than Might The City Dweller. In Parts Of India Where Poisonous Snake Bite Is Common, People Have A Much Different Value System. I Live In A City. I'm Not Thinking About Wolves, Lions, Etc.

Appreciation

Thinking

Animal

The Music Kind Of Takes Care Of Itself Because We've Done All That As Preproduction In The Practice Room. So By The Time It Gets Onstage, Each Song Has About One Hundred Hours Of Way Too Much Mothering Gone Into It. So When You See Us Play Live, That Is The Product Of Ninety Days Of Practice, Over A Year Of Writing, Listening To Demos On The Weekends After Practice.

Song

Writing

Weekend

If I Lose The Light Of The Sun, I Will Write By Candlelight, Moonlight, No Light. If I Lose Paper And Ink, I Will Write In Blood On Forgotten Walls. I Will Write Always. I Will Capture Nights All Over The World And Bring Them To You

Wall

Writing

Night

Here In This Moment We Are Beautiful, Nocturnal Creatures And Our Thoughts And Words Are Jewels Guarded By The Moon.

Beautiful

Moon

Jewels

This Sounds Really Corny, But I Am A Slave To My Work, A Workaholic, And Glad Of It. I Like What I Do; This Is My Place, My Little Universe, One Of Them.

Sound

Littles

Workaholic

My Father Did Not Rock. He Just Earned And Hated. Don't End Up Like This Man.

Father

Men

Rocks

For Myself, I Can't Understand A Life Without A Job. I Don't Know What I Would Do Without Employment. Retirement Is Out Of The Question For Me.

Retirement

Jobs

Employment

America Was Cool With Saddam Hussein When He Was Killing Iranians.

America

Hussein

Killing

I Don't Consider Myself An Actor, For Me It's Employment. Like The Actor Who's A Waiter A Lot, I'm An Actor When I'm Not On Tour, In That That's A Job I Can Do.

Jobs

Employment

Actors

The Most Interesting Place By Far Was Afghanistan. Just Because It Is A Place That I Cannot See Myself Living. The Hardness Of The People And The History Of The Country Is Just So Completely Intense.

Country

People

Interesting

One Of The Nice Things About A Favorite Pop Song Is That It's An Unconditional Truce On Judgment And Musical Snobbery. You Like The Song Because You Just Do, And There Need Not Be Any Further Criticism.

Song

Nice

Musical

The Number Of People Who Are Actual Supporters Of Mr. Romney Could Very Well Be Less Than The Donner Party, Whose Members They Sadly Resemble In Many Ways.

Party

Numbers

People

People Are Best On Records And Books Because You Can Turn Them Off Or Put Them Back On The Shelf.

Book

People

Records

The Arts In America Exist In Spite Of America, Not Because Of America.

Art

America

Spite

I Was A Very Repressed Young Person. I Wasn't Good At School. I Didn't Fit In.

School

Fit

Young

There Is No Heaven For Me And No Hell. And Certainly Not Any Karma.

Karma

Heaven

Hell

I Feel Close To People Like Jimi Hendrix Because I Connect With His Music. Not The Man But What He Did.

Men

People

He Man

Bands Have Always Written Songs Against What They See As Wrong. Ronald Reagan Really Made For A Lot Of Songs.

Song

Band

Made

When You Start To Doubt Yourself The Real World Will Eat You Alive.

Real

Doubt

Alive

I See Violence In Myself; I've Done Some Pretty Violent Things In My Lifetime And I've Been Around Some Pretty Severe Violence All The Way Up To Homicide.

Done

Way

Violence

When You're Going Into An Employment Environment That Looks Pretty Scary, It Is Easy To Lose Your Moral Compass, Your Decency, Your Sense Of Civility And Your Sense Of Community.

Scary

Community

Looks

Break From Self Rejection, Try Some Introspection.

Inspirational

Self

Rejection

Stockholders Are Used To A Certain Kind Of Global Capitalism. This Version Is Very Hard On The Environment And Very Hard On People Below A Certain Fiscal Level. It Is A Calculated, Systematic Weakening Of People. Many Labour, A Few Benefit. Try Talking About Cleaning Up The Place With These People. The Hostility Is Incredible.

Talking

People

Trying

If You're Crazy Enough To Put Your Hat Into The Ring Of Speculation And Punditry, You're Going To Get Some Turbulence. But If It's Coming From Some Journalist With A Comfortable Degree Of Body Fat, I'm Not Losing Any Sleep Over It.

Crazy

Sleep

Degrees

I Contribute A Large Amount Of Money To The Southern Poverty Law Center, So I'm On Their Mailing List For All Their Klan Watch Newsletters. I'm Very Well Aware Of White Power Movements In America.

Law

White

America

I'd Love To Talk To Janeane Garafalo Or Randi Rhodes Or Stephanie Miller From Air America. I'm An Air American Junkie; I Listen To Them Every Day.

Air

America

Junkie

I Have Always Thought That Change You Can See And Feel Is Best.

Feels

For Me, Jazz Will Always Be The Soundtrack Of The Civil Rights Movement.

Rights

Movement

Jazz

I'm Trying To Be Confrontational And Direct. If I Lack Directness Then I Only Have Myself To Blame Because I Lack The Skills To Make My Point Clear.

Skills

Trying

Blame

I Am Not A Trained Actor And Am Not Near The Top Of Anyone's Want List. I Go After What I Am Offered, If I Am So Inclined. Now And Then, I Get Offers For Things That Are Not To My Liking, In That I Just Don't Care About The Story. All This Super Tough Guy Stuff Isn't Anything That Interests Me All That Much. I Can't Think Of Anything I Turned Down That I Regret.

Regret

Thinking

Guy

An Appreciation Of Animals Is Good For A Human, It Can Lead To A Better Understanding And Respect For All Living Things.

Appreciation

Animal

Understanding

Human Beings Should Not Be Reduced To A State To Where They Almost Get Into A Fight Over A Small Bar Of Soap.

Fighting

Bars

Soap

In My World There Would Be As Many Public Libraries As There Are Starbucks.

Library

Would Be

World

The First Several Years Of My Life Were Used To Upload Incredible Amounts Of Fear, And I Just Became Afraid Of Everything. I Was Afraid Of My Parents, Afraid Of My Classmates, Afraid Of The Streets Of Washington, D.c. I Would Flinch At Every Gesture.

Years

Parent

Gestures

Sarah Palin Embarrasses Herself Almost Immediately Upon Opening Her Mouth To Speak Or Upon Moving Her Fingers To Send Messages To Her Dull Flock.

Moving

Mouths

Dull

What I'm Saying Is America Has A Job Deficit Because Hundreds Of Thousands Of Jobs Went Elsewhere. Not Because [barack] Obama Raised Your Taxes. He, In Fact, Lowered Them. They Are Lower.

Jobs

America

Facts

Anywhere You Hang Yourself Is Home.

Home

Each Year, Every City In The World That Can Should Have A Multiday Festival. More People Meeting Each Other, Digging New Types Of Music, New Foods, New Ideas. You Want To Stop Having So Many Wars? This Could Be A Step In The Right Direction.

War

Years

Cities

I Don't Get A Lot Of Choices In Movies. It's Not Like I'm Brad Pitt And I Can Walk In And Go Here's The Film I Want To Do And Everyone Runs Around... I Don't Have That. I Stand In Line And Do Auditions. I'm There With 80 Other Guys Trying To Be That Guy. Every Once In Awhile I Luck Out.

Running

Choices

Guy

We Spend Millions Of Dollars To Remove Pain From Our Lives. It's Why So Many People Get Hooked On Painkillers. The Body Becomes Addicted To Painlessness. That Tells You A Lot.

Pain

People

Dollars

I Come From A Town Of Great Musicians: Washington, D.c. It's No Joke, That History.

Towns

Musician

Great Music

A Lot Of Americans Don't Have A Passport, Never Will Have A Passport. Not Only Will They Not Travel, They Don't Want To Travel.

Want

Passports

Want To Travel

I'd Like To Rid Myself Of Writing, To Surrender, To Release The Venom. And Hopefully At Some Point, I'll Be A Happy, Well-adjusted Guy And I'll Have No Need For All That 'art.'

Art

Writing

Guy

August, The Summer's Last Messenger Of Misery, Is A Hollow Actor.

Summer

August

Actors

To Hate Is To Show You Still Care, Who Needs That, Focus On What's Really Important.

Hate

Focus

Important

No One Should Die When They're 50.

Should

Dies

Americans Are Poorly Served By Their Media, You Know, For The War Machine And Propaganda Machine And The Global Empire And They're Poorly Served By What They Are Being Told Is Representative Government.

War

Government

Media

We're Just Very Belligerent, And I'm Not Trying To Put Americans Down, By And Large I Think We're Nice People, But We Operate With The Information We're Given And We Are Limited By The Ignorance That Is Kind Of Injected Into The Media And Into The Tv Shows.

Nice

Ignorance

Thinking

I Would Like To Be Able To Gently Drift In And Out Of Existence When I Wanted To.

Able

Existence

Wanted

Muscle Mass Does Not Always Equal Strength. Strength Is Kindness And Sensitivity. Strength Is Understanding That Your Power Is Both Physical And Emotional. That It Comes From The Body And The Mind. And The Heart.

Kindness

Heart

Emotional

All By Yourself, Unable To Express The Pain Of Your Distress With Your Deeper Inside. You Alienate Yourself And Everybody Else.

Pain

Revenge

Retribution

I Am A White Guy In America With An Education, Albeit High School, But A Pretty Good One. Another Guy From A Different Demographic Or Different Ethnicity In America Can Look At Me And Say, "you Take A Lot For Granted." Well... Okay. I Just Live In A White Male American Reality, Where I Hear You But I Don't Know If I Necessarily Read You.

School

Reality

Ethnicity

My Fear Is Naked, I'm Naked And Fearless, And My Fear Is Naked...

Fearless

Naked

If You Really Want A True Confrontation, You Treat Your Opponent With Respect.

Opponents

Want

Treats

I Do A Lot Of Stuff For Free Anyway. Like A Lot Of People Who You See Who Don't Need Money. Mick Jagger - He Needs Money? He Just Likes To Go Sing Satisfaction Every Night. If I Wrote That Song I Probably Would Do It Too.

Song

Night

People

My Favorite Species To Study Would Be Cobras And King Cobras Which Are Two Different Families. They're Very Intelligent, And They're Beautiful Looking Animals. Where They Come From Are Countries And Regions Which I Spend A Lot Of Time In - South East Asia And India, Those Are Places I Go To Fairly Often, And So The Cobras Are My Main Interest. It's Not A Snake I Can Maintain, But When I See Them In Zoos And What Not, I Find Them Interesting.

Beautiful

Country

Kings

Always Knowing You're Going To Die And Until Then Knowing You've Got To Live.

Knowing

Always Knowing

Dies

I Wonder If It Is Australia's Great Distance From More Populated Land Masses That Allows Its Inhabitants To Be Left To Their Own Devices, To Be Incredibly Creative And, At Times, To Be Wonderfully Weird.

Distance

Australia

Land

I Have A Lot Of Compact Discs. I Need Them For Radio Play And Convenience. Many Bands And Artists I Am A Fan Of Don't Always Release Their Work On Vinyl, So I Take What They Feel Like Giving Me.

Artist

Play

Giving

In Blues Music, There's A Lot Of Borrowing, So It's Often Difficult To Identify The Originator Of A Song.

Song

Difficult

Blues Music

You Always Know The Mark Of A Coward. A Coward Hides Behind Freedom. A Brave Person Stands In Front Of Freedom And Defends It For Others.

Brave Person

Coward

Mark

Every Year, August Lashes Out In Volcanic Fury, Rising With The Din Of Morning Traffic, Its Great Metallic Wings Smashing Against The Ground, Heating The Air With Ever-increasing Intensity.

Morning

Air

August

Consumerism Is At Once The Engine Of America And Simultaneously One Of The Most Revealing Indicators Of Our Collective Shallowness.

America

Revealing

Consumerism

Do It Or Don't. It's Amazing How Many Things In Life Are That Easy.

Things In Life

Easy

I Really Enjoy The Lattitude I Have With Being A Private Citizen. I Can Get A Lot Done. I Am Good With That.

Citizens

Done

Enjoy

There Is Not One Single Police Officer In America That I Am Not Afraid Of And Not One That I Would Trust To Tell The Truth Or Obey The Laws They Are Sworn To Uphold. I Do Not Believe They Protect Me In Any Way.

Believe

America

Law

For Me, Music Was An Age/time/place Thing. One Day I Woke Up And Realized I Was Done. That Was Many Years Ago.

Years

Age

One Day

Travelling As Extensively As I Do... The Take Away For Me Has Made Me Very Humble And Very Sympathetic To Other People's Plight In The World And Very Desirous Of Being Proactive In Being Part Of A Solution Somehow And Not Part Of A Problem. It's Made Me Very Patient And Very Grateful For Where I Live.

Grateful

Humble

People

The More I Learn About Mr. Romney, The Less There Is To Admire.

Admire

Romney

I'm Always Looking Upwards And Looking Forwards And So When Someone Says, "hey, Would You Consider A Tv Show?" I Say, "hell Yeah, I'll Consider That. I'll Check That Out."

Tv Shows

Hey

Tvs

I Think It's Very Sad That The Political Landscape Is So Dotted With Religious Extremists Who Feel The Need To Infringe Upon The Lives Of Decent, Free And Harmless Americans Who Want Nothing More Than To Be In Love And To Spend The Rest Of Their Lives Together.

Religious

Thinking

Political

Am I Self-righteous? Why Not? It's Not Like I Can Count On You To Be Righteous For Me.

Self

Alcohol

Why Not

I Want My Fellow Citizens To Wise Up And Stop Falling For [war]. I Try With My Limited Access, I'm Not Getting Into Kabul With A Camera, They're Not Letting Me Get Into Benghazi With A Camera. I Do What I Can With My Flimsy American Passport And A Visa. The Photos Are A Bit More Heavy From Southern Sudan And Haiti And Cuba.

Wise

War

Fall

Misery, Depression, Elation All Mine, Refine Confinement All My Design.

Sadness

Design

Elation

You Want To Meet A Bunch Of Really Friendly People? Go To A Slayer Concert. There'll Be Some Real Psychos There, But Most Of Those People Will Take Care Of Each Other.

Real

People

Friendly

I'm Mellower Now, I'm Over 50. But I Don't Think I'm Too Mellow. I'm Still Angry At A Lot Of Things.

Thinking

Mellow

Stills

Entertainment's Hard On The Ego. I See Why Actors Are So Psycho Now. Because There's So Much 'we Don't Want You' Going On In Acting. Even Big People Get Rejected But The Smaller People - They Really Get Rejected. Trust Me - I Know.

People

Ego

Acting

The Reality Is That We Are Going To Have Problems With Water In This Century. And The Fact That We Are Going To Have Problems With Fossil Fuel Is A Given.

Reality

Water

Facts

What I Felt For You Was A Combination Of Respect And Affection. There Was A Closeness I Felt Through Intimate Interaction. The Affection Part Is All Over With. All That Remains Is The Respect. If I Put My Arms Around You And Told You That I Missed You, I Would Be Lying. You're Alright With Me And I Wish You Well. But You're Not Me And That Makes You One Of Them And You Can Only Get So Close.

Lying

Wish

Would Be

I Get Along With Australians Really Well. Everyone's Usually Really Cool, And It's Always A Drag To Leave.

Really Cool

Drag

Wells

Young, Gay And Stuck In Arkansas? Sounds Like A Horror Flick.

Gay

Sound

Arkansas

Most Poets Are Elitist Dregs More Concerned With Proving Their Skill With A Dictionary Than Communicating Ideas With Impact.

Impact

Skills

Ideas

Pride Is A Thing That I Have Tried To Abandon Completely. Try As I Might, Pride Still Creeps Into Many Of The Things I Do.

Pride

Trying

Might

I Don't Mean To Be Arrogant And I Really Appreciate My Fans But Talking About What I Am Doing Is Not Something I'm Good At. I Do What I Do And That's It. I Want To Get Back To My Work And Do More Of It Instead Of Talking About It.

Mean

Talking

Appreciate

In The Worst Of Times The Best Among Us Never Lose Their Moral Compass, And That Is How They Emerge Relatively Unscathed.

Leadership

Moral

Compass

Everything You Do Makes My Body Scream With Loneliness.

Loneliness

Body

Scream

You Could Split Hairs And Bring Up Words Like 'doo-wop' And Terms Like 'soul' Or 'r&b', But I Think Pop Music Is What You Want It To Be - That's Why It's Pop.

Thinking

Hair

Soul

I Want To Change Things For The Better, Just Like Everybody Else.

Want

Things Change

Disharmony

Trying To Write Music, Be In A Band And Keep It All Happening Is One Of The Hardest, Morale-destroying, Heartbreaking Things You Will Ever Try To Do - And That's When It's Going Well.

Writing

Trying

Heartbreaking

Look, It's A Monster. He's Walking Alone. Look, He's Pulling Something Out Of His Pocket. He Threw It On The Ground. Let's Go See What It Is. It's A Black Box. You Open It... Ok... Look, It's Sorrow, Misery And Pain. It's Loneliness And Longing. Boy, He'll Be Sorry He Lost These.

Sorry

Pain

Loneliness

I Tend To Gravitate To The Darkest Or Most Obscure Part Of Any Venue In An Effort To Have My Own Space To Experience The Music On My Own, Free From Unwanted Conversations And Other Distractions.

Space

Effort

Obscure

I Am A Veteran Of The War On Christmas. I Am Just Emerging From A Battlefield Strewn With Dead Trees And Torn Shreds Of Brightly Colored Wrapping Paper.

War

Tree

Wrapping Paper

There's Something About Being Under-rested And Knowing That The Situation Is Going To Remain That Way For Quite Some Time That Makes Things More Meaningful.

Meaningful

Knowing

Way

Understanding Quotes: Their Essence and Application

Quotes, or quotations, are powerful tools in communication, encapsulating ideas, emotions, and wisdom in concise expressions. They serve various purposes across different contexts, from academic writing to everyday conversation.

1. Defining Quotes

A quote is a repetition of someone else's statement or thoughts. It can be a direct replication of words spoken or written by another individual, often used to support arguments, provide evidence, or convey profound insights.

2. The Importance of Quotes

2.1. Enhancing Credibility

Incorporating quotes from authoritative sources can bolster the credibility of your work. By referencing experts or primary sources, you demonstrate thorough research and a solid foundation for your arguments.

2.2. Providing Evidence

Quotes serve as concrete evidence to support claims. In academic and professional writing, they validate points made, offering readers a basis to trust the information presented.

2.3. Conveying Emotions and Perspectives

Quotes can encapsulate emotions and perspectives succinctly. They allow writers to express complex feelings or viewpoints through the words of others, often more eloquently than paraphrasing.

3. Types of Quotes

3.1. Direct Quotes

Direct quotes involve copying the exact words from a source, enclosed in quotation marks. They are used when the original wording is significant or particularly well-expressed.

3.2. Indirect Quotes (Paraphrasing)

Indirect quotes restate the original message in your own words. While not enclosed in quotation marks, they still require proper attribution to the original source.

3.3. Block Quotes

Block quotes are lengthy direct quotations, formatted as a separate block of text. They are typically used for quotes exceeding a certain length, varying by citation style. For instance, in APA style, quotes longer than 40 words are formatted as block quotes.

4. Proper Usage of Quotes

4.1. Contextual Relevance

Ensure that the quote you choose is relevant to the topic and adds value to your content. Avoid inserting quotes solely for decorative purposes.

4.2. Integration into Your Writing

Seamlessly integrate quotes into your writing. Introduce them appropriately and follow up with analysis or commentary to connect them to your main points.

4.3. Attribution and Citation

Always attribute quotes to their original authors and provide proper citations according to the required style guide (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.).

5. Common Mistakes to Avoid

5.1. Overusing Quotes

Relying too heavily on quotes can overshadow your voice. Use them sparingly to support your arguments, not replace them.

5.2. Lack of Analysis

Presenting a quote without analysis or explanation can leave readers questioning its relevance. Always follow up with your interpretation or discussion.

5.3. Misquoting or Taking Out of Context

Ensure that quotes are accurate and not taken out of context, as this can mislead readers and undermine your credibility.

6. Quotes in Different Contexts

6.1. Academic Writing

In academic writing, quotes are used to support arguments, provide evidence, and engage with existing literature. Proper citation is crucial to avoid plagiarism.

6.2. Journalism

Journalists use quotes to provide firsthand accounts, add authenticity, and present multiple perspectives within a story.

6.3. Literature and Creative Writing

In literature, quotes can be used to convey character voices, themes, and stylistic elements. They enrich narratives and provide depth to storytelling.

7. Punctuation and Formatting

Understanding the correct punctuation and formatting of quotes is essential:

Quotation Marks: Always enclose direct quotes within quotation marks.

Punctuation Placement: In American English, periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks, while colons and semicolons are placed outside.

Block Quotes: For longer quotes, format them as block quotes without quotation marks, and indent the entire block.

8. Ethical Considerations

Ethical use of quotes involves accurate representation, proper attribution, and respect for intellectual property. Misuse can lead to plagiarism, which carries serious academic and professional consequences.

9. Tools for Managing Quotes

Utilize tools like citation generators and plagiarism checkers to manage quotes effectively. These tools help ensure proper formatting and originality in your writing.

Conclusion

Quotes are invaluable in enriching content, providing evidence, and conveying complex ideas succinctly. When used appropriately, they enhance the quality and credibility of your writing. Always ensure relevance, proper integration, and ethical usage to maximize their impact.

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