Top 18 Mary Chapin Carpenter Quotes

It’s a pretty frantic world that we live in.

You know, that single girl life and that sense of isolation – that doesn’t leave you just like that. And that’s what that song is about. I remember that, and that is imprinted on me, that sense.

It’s a marvelous feeling when someone says ‘I want to do this song of yours‘ because they’ve connected to it. That’s what I’m after.

So I think that if I do feel more freedom right now in my career, it’s not so much because I have less at stake but more a sense that I’ve learned more.

So I came home and I had a resume and everything, but the only job experience I had was just playing in bars and clubs on my summers off. So, I was temping and stuff during the day and playing music at night.

You know, I didn’t have enough money to quit my day job… the myth of the major label deal. Nowadays, you have a tour bus and a stylist and all this stuff. But back then, no way.

I’m a liberal arts junkie.

I think that every new record is a chance to… I think what it is for me is my heart and soul at that moment in time… I’ve always felt that just being able to make a record is a privilege.

Dreamland is a book, but it’s my song in book form. It’s translated itself into a different medium.

When I think of the artists I admire and seek out musically. It’s because I’m curious about where they’re going to go the next time they have a chance to put a record out. It’s not about where I find them on the radio dial, or how many records they’re selling.

My sisters and I were fortunate to travel through Asia and Europe at very young ages. We confronted extraordinary beauty in Athens and unspeakable poverty in India.

I’ve never… when I was having songs on the airwaves, and that sort of thing, I never felt a sense of pressure anywhere except from myself, to do things the way I wanted to do them; to feel authentic; to feel like I was presenting my true self to the world.

I don’t think you need to dumb down to a child, you merely have to be clear, you know?

About age ten, we moved from the place where I was born, moved overseas.

I was a liberal arts junkie and I figured, well, I’ll go work for somebody somewhere. All I knew was that I was going to have to come home and figure it out.

As far as feeling freedom in my career now versus five years ago… I think if I feel any more free it’s simply because of the experiences that I’ve had, and the wisdom I’ve accumulated from that time.

I went to college and I never allowed myself to think for an instant that I would have this chance to do this.

There’s timing. And then there’s also certain people at the record company who worked incredibly hard and were incredibly enthusiastic about what I was doing.