The 60 Best Quotes From Janis Joplin: The Bohemian Side Of Life
Janis Joplin was an important American singer in the sixties who became the first woman to be considered a Rock and Roll star. Also known as the cosmic witch or the white lady of the blues, she was in her time a symbol of the counterculture that stood out for her intensity and her unbridled lifestyle.
Throughout her short life (she would die at the age of twenty-seven) this young singer would make various reflections on various topics. For this reason, and to better understand her thoughts and philosophy, in this article we leave you with a selection of quotes by Janis Joplin
Below we present a series of phrases and reflections from this well-known singer, who expressed in her songs her need to love and be free and reflected in them part of her history and feelings. They mostly talk about aspects and themes such as love, freedom, acceptance of what is different and emotion
1. I just want to feel as much as I can, that’s all the soul is about.
For Janis Joplin, feelings and experience were really important aspects, especially when it came to the search for romantic love.
2. Everyone has to settle for something at some point. You can’t have everything and you can’t continue without endangering your entire life.
This phrase expresses that although we must fight for what we want, we must try to have realistic expectations and not get frustrated by not getting everything we would like.
3. However, you should not settle for less than what makes you happy. Instead of choosing what you think is best, you know you have what you need when happiness comes.
Continuation of the previous phrase, it expresses that the fact of knowing that we cannot have everything we want does not imply that we have to settle for anything: we always have to look for something that makes us happy. We do not have to choose for what we believe will be best but for what we feel fulfills us.
4. It’s hard to be free, but when it works it’s worth it!
Be as one is in our life and Fighting for what we want leads us to feel free
5. On stage I make love to 25,000 different people. Then I go home alone
Loneliness was a frequent sensation in the life of the white lady of the blues. This phrase exemplifies that professional success does not involve personal success and that many people only love a part of us and do not take the rest into account.
6. Do you know the reason why it is thought that only people of color have souls? Because white people do not allow themselves to feel with their soul
The singer was born and raised in a strongly racist environment in which there was racial segregation and persecution and mistreatment of people of color, things that she opposed.
7. Being intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers
The search for knowledge does not necessarily involve finding answers, but asking new questions. One of Janis Joplin’s phrases in which she reflects on wisdom
8. Here I am, friend, to celebrate a party, the best possible while I live on earth. I think that is also your duty
The singer expresses that we should focus on being happy and living in the present and stop worrying excessively about everything that could happen.
9. Don’t put your life in danger. You are all you have
Appreciating and valuing yourself is what this phrase proposes, since we are only going to live one life: ours.
10. I feel so useless down here, with no one to love. Even though I have searched everywhere, I can’t find anyone who loves me, who feels my affection.
Fragment of one of his songs expresses loneliness and the need to love and be loved.
11. What makes you feel good cannot cause you any harm
In this phrase we can see how Janis Joplin sought to find peace in things that made her feel good temporarily. Specifically referred to drug and alcohol consumption which would ultimately cost him his life.
12. I’m buried alive in the blues
The singer expressed her feelings and emotions with all her intensity.
Janis Joplin defended animal rights as well as vegetarianism.
14. You can destroy your present by worrying about your future
Overworrying about what could happen in the future pushes us to forget about living in the here and now.
15. Once, in a green time, a flower fell in love with the sun, the passion lasted an hour and then she withered for her beloved
This brief fragment of a song talks about a fleeting and passionate love that leaves those who really would have wanted something more wounded.
16. I always wanted to be an artist, whatever it was, in the same way that other girls wanted to be stewardesses. I used to read. I painted. I thought
The expression and communication of emotions and ways of thinking and being yourself, of being free, was what Janis had always wanted to do.
17. Freedom is another word for nothing to lose
Although this phrase can be interpreted negatively, it tries to reflect that whoever is free has nothing to lose and everything to gain.
18. Be myself, be the person inside me, not play, that’s what I’m trying to do all the time more than anything in the world, so as not to screw myself or others
In short, the white lady of the blues defended the need to be authentic and live coherently and without harming oneself or others.
19. Here’s the problem: sometimes I have to sleep. But there are so many things happening… Why sleep? I might miss a party
The singer, a symbol of counterculture and rebellion, intended to always be active.
20. When I sing I feel like I’m in love. It’s more than sex. It is the point at which two people reach what they call love for the first time, multiplied by the entire audience. It’s gigantic.
Singing is a great way of emotional expression, establishing intimate communication with whoever listens. In addition, the author of the phrase found comfort in the admiration and appreciation expressed by her viewers.
21. My business is to have fun and enjoy. And why not, if everything ends in the end?
Once again the singer emphasizes the need to live life as we want to live it, fighting to be happy.
22. We do not forgive others because they deserve it, but because they need it. They need it, we need it, we all need it.
Forgiveness and being forgiven is something we all need to both give and receive, even though we may or may not deserve it.
23. You have to do it while you can
Joplin invites us to act, to live, to experiment and pursue our dreams
24. I am one of those commonly strange people
Janis Joplin was always considered strange, suffering from bullying since childhood and suffering from serious self-esteem problems for much of her life.
25. All you really need are feelings
This phrase reflects that in reality, what really matters is what we feel about ourselves, others and life.
26. I am a victim of my own insides. There was a time when I wanted to know everything. It used to make me very unhappy, that feeling. I didn’t know what to do with it. But now I’ve learned to make that feeling work for me
It is logical to want to know everything, but we must be aware that we cannot know everything and that our understanding of the world is limited
27. I want you to count, to count your fingers, my unhappy one, my unfortunate one. My sad little girl. I know you’re unhappy, darling, I know.
Part of one of her songs expresses the feeling of loneliness and need for affection that Janis felt for most of her life.
28. I have looked around and I have been able to understand something: how much we need to be loved. Ambition is not just a desperate search for position or money. It is love, a lot of love.
The need to be loved is something that largely moves us to act (even in ways seemingly contrary to it) to be loved.
29. If you’re getting more shit than you deserve, you know what to do about it. You know, all you need is more music.
With this phrase, the singer intends to show that we should not be influenced by the attacks or opinions of others, but rather that we have to continue being ourselves
30. One of these mornings you are going to get up, get up singing, you are going to spread your wings boy, and rise towards the sky
This phrase It’s part of one of his songs : specifically it is the translation of a fragment of Summertime. Although it can be interpreted as dreaming, it refers to death.
31. If I hold back, I am not good. I’m not good. I’d rather be good sometimes than hold back all the time.
Sexual liberation was some of the ideas that underlie all his work.
32. Yes, feeling good was easy Lord, when I sang the blues.
Blues is one of the genres most linked to religion in the US.
33. Take another piece of my heart.
Chorus of the famous song “Piece of my heart”.
34. Suddenly, someone threw me in front of this rock and roll band. And I decided then and there that that was it. I never wanted to do anything else.
From a very young age he was capable of leading any band that came his way.
35. I know she told you. Baby I know she told you that she loved you
Love and heartbreak were the great themes he addressed in his discography.
36. Oh Lord, Won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
One of his most famous choruses.
37. You know you’ve got it, kid, if it makes you feel good.
His songs were truly suggestive and daring for the time.
38. Guess what, she might be the first hippie pinup girl.
Joplin always wanted to break molds and not pigeonhole herself into a single movement.
39. Cry, baby.
The chorus of “Cry baby” continues to be one of the most remembered of his musical production.
40. I’m tired of all these hippies.
Even as one of the greatest exponents of the Hippie movement, Joplin became fed up with some of its members.
41. I will not quit to be someone’s old wife.
Joplin was a liberated woman ahead of her time.
42. Touching is just feeling. Touching is not necessarily about misery. Touching isn’t necessarily about happiness. But it’s just about allowing yourself to feel all those things that you already have inside of you, but you’re trying to push them aside all the time because they don’t make for polite conversation or anything like that.
A very heartfelt definition of what music is for artists.
43. Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable.
An idea shared by many great blues artists.
44. As it gets closer and more likely, being a star really loses its meaning.
Janis never had the intention of being a star or being famous.
45. You don’t know, baby, no one is ever going to love you.
As happens in soul, some of its songs tell very sad stories.
46. Summer… Child, life is easy.
His version of the song “Summertime and the living is easy” is one of the most recognized.
47. Tomorrow never happens. It’s all the same damn day, man.
48. Nothing, I mean nothing, honey, it’s free
Joplin knew how to talk about life in the US in many of her songs.
49. The more you live, the less you die.
A plea in favor of vitality and the joy of living.
50. Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin. Now, they are so subtle that they can milk you with two notes. They can make you feel like you’ve been told the entire universe. But I don’t know that yet. All I have now is strength. Maybe if I keep singing, maybe I’ll get it.
Janice always compared herself to her great musical idols.
51. Gotta have the ‘umph’. I have to feel it, because if it doesn’t reach me, the audience probably won’t feel it either.
Joplin always knew how to connect with her audience on very intimate levels.
52. My father wouldn’t give us a television, he wouldn’t allow a television in the house.
His childhood was atypical but parental discipline was not bad at all.
53. Texas is fine if you want to settle down and do your own thing quietly, but it’s not for loud people, and I was always loud.
It is evident that in his native Texas he was not able to develop his full potential as an artist.
54. I can’t talk about my singing. I’m in. How can you describe something you’re into?
Sometimes it is difficult to describe things that come naturally to us.
55. Who you are is what you settle for, you know?
Good advice to keep in mind in our daily lives.
56. You don’t have time to wait. You just have to look around and say, “So this is it. This is really all there is to it. This little thing.”
His reflections on life were very influential among his thousands of followers.
57. There’s not going to be any turning point… There’s not going to be any next-month-will-be-better, next damn year, next damn life.
Despite having a generally vitalistic attitude, some of his quotes were also truly pessimistic.
58. There is a light, a certain kind of light. Never ever, never shined on me.
Blues is a genre that addresses religious themes in most of its songs.
59. I think I think too much. That’s why I drink!
Throughout her life, Janis had various addictive behaviors with both drugs and alcohol.
60. You don’t know, you don’t know what it is. No, you don’t know, honey, no, you don’t know. You don’t know what it’s like to love someone
In addition to composing her own songs, Joplin covered very popular songs by great Rock and Soul stars, in this case, the Bee Gees.
