The 70-year-old Louisiana-born singer-songwriter Lucinda Williams is known for her emotive, heart-on-her-sleeve, rugged, and rough songs. She is as home in a saloon with some rowdy drinkers as she is in a fancy recording studio.
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With such a commanding persona, we couldn’t help but wonder what Williams has to say outside of her music. To satiate our curiosity and yours, we have compiled a list of the 20 best Lucinda Williams Quotes on life, love, her craft, the world at large, and more.
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1. “I’m just like everyone. I like to feel togetherness with someone.”
2. “First thing, I throw on some jeans, a T-shirt and my Keds sneakers and make coffee. That is actually my favorite time of day. That is when I do my songwriting, when I am in writing mode.”
3. “I’m not just a doormat. I’m not just being stepped on all over the place. If you look at the bulk of my material, it’s about trying to find some strength through that.”
4. “I feel a lot more comfortable being me these days. I’m constantly told that my work is good. A lot of fans and a lot of other artists say my songs and albums mean a lot to them. Isn’t that what’s important?”
5. “I’m going to have my moody times.”
6. “I’d rather play a few nights at the Fillmore than play one night at an arena.”
7. “So few people are truly themselves when they’re in the spotlight.”
8. “If you come into success too soon, you’ll burn out and be finished before you know it. If you let the maturation process happen naturally, you’ll be happier with yourself in the end.”
9. “The old jazz singers or old blues singers, you always just saw them kind of sitting down and singing. They weren’t worried as much about their voice sounding perfect. They would make the song kind of fit their voice.”
10. “It’s really about living in your head… just looking out at the world, then going back into your head and tossing around a lot of ideas and coming out with something interesting to say.”
11. “I can speak for most songwriters—those breakup love songs are so easy to write, as far as the inspiration and all that.”
12. “I started writing songs, I guess, when I was about 13 or 14, but I didn’t know if they were good enough yet or anything.”
13. “People let their own hang-ups become the obstacles between them and personal happiness.”
14. “Just because I’m talking about something that might have been a sad or painful situation doesn’t mean that I’m sad or tortured 24 hours a day any more than anybody else is.”
15. “I’m trying to get out of my own way.”
16. “I write first for myself as a therapeutic process, to get stuff out and to deal with it.”
17. “I grew up in a very literate, very independent household where people spoke their ideas and were very supportive of helping each other find their own way.”
18. “You can’t really praise somebody’s work and then criticize the process.”
19. “I’m trying to learn how to tap into the power of my own being. I know it sounds corny.”
20. “I don’t mean to complain. I wouldn’t trade my life for anything.”
Photo by Erika Goldring/FilmMagic
