"When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy or Chris Connor, or approaching songs with the kind of mystical lethargy of Billie Holiday, or championing the downtrodden like Lotte Lenya. But I never dreamed of singing in a rock-and-roll band."

3 likes

Source: Rocker Patti Smith, 'Dream Of Life'. Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan, www.npr.org. December 30, 2009.

About the author

Patti Smith

Musician

Patti Smith is a renowned musician and poet, celebrated for her influential work that blends rock music with profound poetic expression.

All quotes by Patti Smith →

Same author

More quotes by Patti Smith

See all →
Patti Smith Musician

"My mission is to communicate, to wake people up, to give them my energy and accept theirs. We're all in it together, and I respond emotionally as a worker, a mother, an artist, and a human being with a voice. We all have a voice. We have the responsibility to exercise it, to use it."

Read quote
Patti Smith Musician

"Where does it all lead? What will become of us? These were our young questions, and young answers were revealed. It leads to each other. We become ourselves."

Read quote