“By the 6th grade I stopped doing ordinary things in front of people. It had been ordinary to sing, kids are singing all the time when they are little, but then something happens. It's not that we stop singing. I still sang. I just made sure I was alone when I did it. And I made sure I never did it accidentally. That thing we call 'bursting into song.' I believe this happens to most of us. We are still singing, but secretly and all alone.” PeopleBelieveLittlesMadeStillsHappensKidsSongI BelieveFrontsSingingOrdinaryThings HappenGradesAll AloneBurstingOrdinary Things Author:Lynda Barry
“Writing is alchemy. Dross becomes gold. Experience is transformed. Pain is changed. Suffering may become song. The ordinary or horrible is pushed by the will of the writer into grace or redemption, a prophetic wail, a screed for justice, an elegy of sadness or sorrow. ... There is always a tension between experience and the thing that finally carries it forward, bears its weight, holds it in. Without that tension, one might as well write a shopping list.” WritingWellsMayMightPainSufferingSongJusticeGraceSadnessChangedBearsSorrowOrdinaryGoldWeightListsHorribleRedemptionTensionCarrieShoppingTransformedAlchemyPropheticDrossElegy Author:Andrea Dworkin
“Song is the licensed medium for bawling in public things too silly or sacred to be uttered in ordinary speech.” SongSpeechOrdinarySacredSillyMediums Author:Oliver Herford
“Dads are most ordinary men turned by love into heroes, adventurers, story-tellers, singers of songs.” MenStoriesSongFatherFamilyHeroDadOrdinarySingersFather SonAdventurerOrdinary ManGreat FatherChristian Father Author:Pam Brown
“I realise I'll have to acquire the ability to speak to my audience in between numbers. I've never had to do that. On the street I only focus on the keyboard settings for my next song, which takes a bit of time and a lot of concentration. So I'll have to develop that new skill, which gives me pause, because I'm afraid I'll say something stupid and disillusion people when they realise I'm an ordinary earthling - in fact, as ordinary as anyone else on this planet.” PeopleGivingFactsSongNextSpeakBitsAbilityNumbersAudienceFocusStreetsStupidPlanetsSkillsOrdinaryGive MeSettingSettingsAcquireConcentrationRealisingPausesKeyboardsDisillusionNew SkillsAbility To Speak Author:Susan Schneider
“When we were making the record, I just decided, at the last second. I thought, "This song ["Ordinary World"] makes a lot of sense, being on the album [Revolution Radio]."” WorldLastsSongRecordsRevolutionOrdinaryDecidedRadioAlbumsOrdinary World Author:Billie Joe Armstrong
“His [Death] voice is cold at first, John. It seems unfeeling. But if you listen without fear, you find that when he speaks, the most ordinary words become poetry. When he stands close to you, your life becomes a song, a praise. When he touches you, your smallest talents become gold; the most ordinary loves break your heart with their beauty.” IfsFirstsHeartSeemsSongSpeakVoiceBreakTalentColdOrdinaryGoldPraiseSmallestBreak Your HeartUnfeelingOrdinary Love Author:Martine Leavitt
“The idea of songwriting is a transformative thing, and what I do with songwriting is take situations that are quite ordinary and transform them in some way. Apart from things like the murder ballads, the songs I write, at their core, are quite ordinary human concerns, but the process of writing about them transforms them into something else.” WayWritingHumansIdeasSongProcessSituationOrdinaryConcernMurderCoreSongwritingBallads Author:Nick Cave