Dar Williams Quotations

Writing 'February' made me realize that breaking form is a way of letting the song be human.

I'm becoming a professional nomad and enjoying that whole part of my life.

The funny thing is musicians often love to go to see visual art because you've got all these pictures to turn into metaphors.

But if you're looking to be spooked by really tall trees then you've got to go to Washington State.

Sometimes life gives us lessons sent in ridiculous packaging.

Sometimes I see myself fine, sometimes I need a witness. And I like the whole truth, but there are nights I only need forgiveness.

If you're looking for can-do, earthy-crunchy attitude then you've got to go to Wisconsin.

How I long to fall just a little bit, to dance out of the lines and stray from the light.

Therapy was the biggest romance of my life.

You'll almost encounter a superstition amongst musicians, people sort of go through strange rituals, what they need to do to write a song.

Arizona is really cool but I couldn't stay there for too long.

But social justice and the environment are very tied together in my head.

I was raised by parents who really admired the religious leaders of the left, as many 60s and 70s liberals did.

Milwaukee one of my favorite cites; I think Milwaukee is #1.

I watch people throw aluminum cans in the trash, and I think of all the stories I've heard about the over-mining of aluminum, the erosion that happens, and the trees that fall down.

And where does magic come from? I think that magic's in the learning.

In the laughing times we know that we are lucky, and in the quiet times we know that we are blessed. And we will not be alone.

I really value people besides parents who nurture kids.

A song versus an album is not like a scene versus a play.

Being told that you are good at banter is like being told that you are a good person.

But I benefit from the taxes I pay because I know how to access the benefits of the taxes.

Everyone has to decide how they're going to appear in their lives, how they're going to put themselves out there to the world.

I try to be careful not to do single concerts where I fly out, do my show, turn around and go home.

But for every price, and every penence that I could think ofIt's better too have fallen in love, then never to have fallen at all

What you do is you build yourself as an artist according to what an audience says about you, as opposed to just submitting a demo tape to someplace and letting a record company take it from there.

What do you love more than loveWhen you question what your desire is forWhen you don't just figureThat you just want more.

I won't forget when Peter Pancame to my house, took my handI said I was a boy, I'm glad he didn't check.

That's what I aspire to, ... Pete Seeger is the one who writes the songs that unite people.

Well I love the way the world is your gardenAnd you plant your seeds and you let them growAnd you take things out of the ground just likeYou take what comes, but you never know.

And if I had a camera Showing all the light we give And showing where the light extends I'd give it to my friends

God looks like a guidance counselor, God's got that smile. God says, 'How could this be? That's really odd I guess I'll have to check my records, silly me, you know, I'm only God.'

There's a marketing scheme that tells you that pregnancy and child rearing will make you into a moron, that your kids are only happy when you're buying them stuff. It's hard being a parent, but I laugh a lot and smile a lot and really enjoy it. The ratio of laughter to sadness is higher. There's part of me that wants to broadcast that. Parenting only affirmed what I already cared about, and that's good

If a war has to happen, a war has to happen.

All the things you treasure most will be the hardest won I will watch you struggle long before the answers come But I won't make it harder, I'll be there to cheer you on I'll shine the light that guides you down the road you're walking on

There's the wind And the rain And the mercy of the fallen Who say, "Hey, it's not my place To know what's right" There's the weak And the strong And the many stars that guide us We have some of them inside us

And you bring your words, But you're just like them, You're unprepared 'Cause you don't know the terrain

They preach that I should save the world. They pray that I won't do a better job of it.

Go ahead, push your luck, find out how much love the world can hold.

Every time you opt in to kindness Make one connection, used to divide us It echoes all over the world

And I'll act like I have faith, and like that faith never ends, but I really just have friends.

The summer ends and we wonder who we are And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car And today I passed the high school, the river, the maple tree I passed the farms that made it Through the last days of the century And I knew that I was going to learn again Again, in this less hazy light I saw the fields beyond the fields The fields beyond the field

"Is it how she moves, or how she looks?" I say it's loneliness suspended to our own like grappling hooks, And as long as she's got noise, she's fine. But I could teach her how I learned to dance when the music's ended.

If you're lucky you find something that reflects you, Helps you feel your life, protects you, Cradles you and connects you to everything.

The first concert I saw was Cheryl Wheeler.

The very best thing you can do is to try to write a song that has some sort of impact.

Sixties folk rock was my original muse and the folk audience-people who listen to music off the beaten track-fostered my career. I definitely don't want to abandon the genre but I also need to make sure I'm Dar Williams first.

Youll almost encounter a superstition amongst musicians, people sort of go through strange rituals, what they need to do to write a song.

There's always people who came 600 miles to hear the song you didn't play.

...we're all in a soup of trying to live by words, and trying to live by poetry. It's both humbling, and really flattering to know that my words are part of all that.

Guiding the ship takes more the your skill. It is the compass inside as the strength of your will.

And the ones that know you so well are the ones that can swallow you whole.

I think music is another language.

But where do we come up with this notion of a woman in which the less space you take up, the more you're worth?

I fear that to fall in love with you is to fall from a great and gruesome height.

The light that stopped the night felt like forgiveness.

I have a sordid past.

The only word for love is everybody's name.

And we looked out to see your enemies and we see that you're looking at us instead.

And we stand for the living, and we stand for the dead,And we looked out to see your enemies,And we see that you're looking all at us instead.

The very best thing for music would be to live next door to a person who listens to loud music so you could mishear music everyday and mutate it to your own means.

So the Christians and the Pagans sit together at the tableFinding faith and common ground the best that they were able.

Are we the fools for being surprised that a silence could end with no sound?

Even a good love song can sort of awaken people. The way we travel and meet one another at the crossroads is important.

I'm thinking about where we are right now in history. The other common theme to this record is that the songs all put stuff I find important out on the table. Less metaphor and more me.

I'm just holding up mirrors at interesting places, I'm trying to capture life at strange angles.

Hey I know where I come fromBut I have a questionShall We the People never come homeFor after all that we've beenAre the dreams to come after?

In the laughing times we know we are luckyIn the quiet times we know that we are blessedAnd we will not be alone.

But I live and I know that I burn as I grow.

I'll keep you wondering what time I'm arriving. You'll drive me crazy with your backseat driving. And I'll talk in my sleep, and you'll steal all the covers. We'll argue it out, and we'll call ourselves lovers. And I'll stay in my body, and you'll stay in your own. Cause we know that we're born and we're dying alone.

But truth is just like time, it catches up, and it just keeps going.

I realized I was writing a lot of songs about interconnectedness,

And the only word for love is everybody's nameAnd that will always stayIt happens every day.

And there's a sunset over the mountainsI shout my scorn to the splendorous skyFor how does this light compare to all the world's suffering.

The green world was . . . unpredictable and chaotic. It was an unmediated place literally represented by the forest, the wilderness, where you learned things you don't necessarily want to know about yourself.

And I build my peace with strength, that's the best weapon you've got.

There's a lot of hype in our culture about what happens when you become a parent,

Am I the habit you're too tired to break? I want you to love me with every step you take.

And as long as she's got noise she's fine, but I could teach her how I learned to dance when the music's ended.