Newsom Quotes & Sayings

I don't think I'm abnormal and I think that lets people down. — Joanna Newsom

San Francisco has long been a leader in the arts, nurturing generations of painters, sculptors, poets, novelists, playwrights, film-makers, and performing artists and innovators of every kind. — Gavin Newsom

I have a recording that I did of instrumental songs. — Joanna Newsom

As Mayor, I will fully support my Arts Commission and its professional selection committees so that they can commission a full range of public art that is daring and, when appropriate, daringly traditional. — Gavin Newsom

My voice in combination with the harp - which, by the way, I use because I've played it my entire life, not to make some statement about the harp - somehow has ... coloured people's interpretations of the music and projected an idea of childlike or fairytale quality or innocence. Which sometimes prevents people from listening to the songs the way I would like them to be listened to. — Joanna Newsom

I fought angrily against seeing particular types of poetic organization because it seemed awful to see my own life and these actual events in that way. But when you put forth an intention into the universe to speak a certain truth and narrate a certain period of your life, you start to see the sorts of symmetries that you are not usually supposed to be able to see until you are on your deathbed and your life flashes before your eyes. And you see exactly why everything happened. And even the most painful things you've ever been through can seem unbearably beautiful. — Joanna Newsom

If I ever met Dolly Parton for sure, I would just not be able to say anything. I love her. — Joanna Newsom

It's the old adage, 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained, ... While this is unique, we consider ourselves unique. — Gavin Newsom

This president [Obama] has done more for the LGBT community than any president in history. It's just an objective fact. And his legacy is secure in terms of the advancement of the rights of the LGBT community, from Don't Ask, Don't Tell to his support for overturning the Defense of Marriage Act, and of course marriage equality, work on HIV and AIDS, and other things. — Gavin Newsom

I want to make music that somehow connects to the things that I love in America music. — Joanna Newsom

I have a deep rooted folk sensibility that I can't get away from completely. — Joanna Newsom

City government can and must help San Franciscans prepare for emergencies in order to avoid tragedy where possible and minimize loss of life and property when emergencies occur. — Gavin Newsom

You should listen to a lot of different music. — Joanna Newsom

I can understand someone not liking the voice or the songs. — Joanna Newsom

As Mayor, I will lead city government, businesses, and community groups to support innovative projects that will make San Francisco streets and public places vibrant and healthy. — Gavin Newsom

But living in uncertain times does not mean San Franciscans must live in fear. — Gavin Newsom

Be willing to make bold decisions and be willing to make glorious mistakes. Learn from your mistakes, but you've got to be willing to make them first. — Gavin Newsom

Livable neighborhoods with a vibrant street life will stimulate our economic life as well. — Gavin Newsom

Failure isn't something to be embarassed about; it's just proof that you're pushing your limits, trying new things, daring to innovate. — Gavin Newsom

I recorded harp first or singing first. I recorded it all together. Part of the reason is that I don't know how to play the songs without also singing. I forget how they progress. I don't think that any of them are verse, chorus, verse, and so on. They are not simple. — Joanna Newsom

I am always trying to write. — Joanna Newsom

I can't play my songs on the smaller harp. I have a Celtic harp. I can't do the key changes. — Joanna Newsom

I've been unaware of how people react to the instrument. People have ideas of what a harp is supposed to sound like, and a lot of them are negative ideas. — Joanna Newsom

Historically, San Franciscans have not valued street trees as much as other communities have. — Gavin Newsom

If the media is sending girls the message that their value lies in their bodies, this can only leave them feeling disempowered and distract them from making a difference and becoming leaders. — Jennifer Siebel Newsom

I played piano for about two years when I was a kid. I didn't play long enough to be really great. — Joanna Newsom

People in San Francisco and the East Bay have shown interest, done interviews, and have come to shows. I guess that the news travels fast out of this island that we are on. — Joanna Newsom

Around eighth grade I decided I wanted to be a composer and that's what I went to college for. Just a few years back, I switched out of composition and into creative writing so I could work with words. — Joanna Newsom

Like any small business owner, I experienced the pressures of building a company from the ground up - developing a business plan, balancing the books, meeting payroll and building a customer base. — Gavin Newsom

And all that we built, and all that we breathed And all that we spilled or pulled up like weeds Is piled up in back and it burns irrevocably And we spoke up in turns 'til the silence crept over me. — Joanna Newsom

The arts can play a vital role in revitalizing neighborhoods, using and improving vacant space, bringing new jobs and new sense of opportunity, and improving public safety by generating more foot traffic and more eyes on the street. — Gavin Newsom

I didn't sing for years and years, but I started playing harp when I was maybe 9 or 10. I had actually wanted to play for years leading up to that, but no teacher in our little town would take me on as a student, because I was too young. — Joanna Newsom

Cultural tourism surveys consistently rate San Francisco's art industry as a core reason for visiting. — Gavin Newsom

The very first Walnut Whales recording was recorded just a few weeks after I had started singing, out of the blue, started singing. And the voice, you can hear how uncomfortable I am with it, and how terrified I am with it. — Joanna Newsom

I am not doing something that it is experimental music in relation to classical music. — Joanna Newsom

There are some mornings when the sky looks like a road. — Joanna Newsom

I didn't really know a lot of the history when I was younger. I didn't realize that the harp is coded in such a specific way in musical circles. It's kind of this society instrument because of its history as a young woman's parlor instrument. — Joanna Newsom

The arts give us our identity as a community; they also draw new people, fresh visions, and renewable economic opportunity to our community. — Gavin Newsom

San Francisco lags behind other communities in providing a vital, vibrant and ecologically sustainable urban canopy, as well as open space in the city. — Gavin Newsom

I am producing sounds that people are not used to hearing from the harp. — Joanna Newsom

I definitely don't subscribe to the theory that more instruments, or more vocal tracks, harmony, or double tracking the voice, is a good thing. People do their early albums very stripped down, then each album becomes bloated. — Joanna Newsom

I have writing songs on my own for about six years. — Joanna Newsom

The six-man inquest jury assembled was composed of local residents, men whose lives strikingly resembled that of the murdered Robert Newsom. — Melton A. McLaurin

You'll know what kind of bird I am when I fly over you. — Tommy Newsom

Families of privilege and money would have harps in their parlors, and their cultured daughters would learn to play. It's got such a strange history. But that wasn't the context that I learned it in, so the inherent friction between that history and the more humanist folk-y history wasn't in my conscience at all. — Joanna Newsom

Accessing capital to start a business can be a daunting process, especially for entrepreneurs who start out with a great idea, but have no real familiarity with the business world. — Gavin Newsom

The signifieds butt-heads with the signifiers
and we all fall down slackjawed to marvel at words
while across the sky sheet impossible birds
in a steady illiterate movement homewards. — Joanna Newsom

I would happy for someone to download my music. — Joanna Newsom

It's totally different. I usually don't tell people about the Pleased if they know me from the harp. And if they are there to see the Pleased, I usually don't tell them about the harp. I am nervous that these people will expect something similar. — Joanna Newsom

There's something fundamental to the harp that has retained its appeal my whole life. It's an instrument I am just in love with. — Joanna Newsom

As Mayor of San Francisco, I will work hard to ensure that, in the event of natural or man-made disasters, San Franciscans are prepared and our City is protected. — Gavin Newsom

The 21st Century has begun as an era of uncertainty, with a heightened focus on security and public safety. — Gavin Newsom

I did spend a year in high school being obsessed with Fleetwood Mac. — Joanna Newsom

We've got to simplify, pull back all these layers of supposed complexity , and get down to the essentials. If we want people to engage with government, we should use the same tools that are getting them engages with companies and institutions in private life. If we want people to care about political issues, we should give them a way to understand and get involved in them. — Gavin Newsom

I don't look at people's expressions, because I still get nervous when I play, especially when I first put the harp up there. I just try to tune - it takes me a half-hour to tune, and I get nervous if I look at anybody when I do it. — Joanna Newsom

San Francisco businesses face many challenges, including high rents, regulatory burdens, and the rising cost of workers compensation insurance and employee health plans. — Gavin Newsom

San Francisco can no longer afford to be a city divided between downtown and neighborhoods, with a downtown that becomes a ghost town when workers go home for the evening. — Gavin Newsom

It broke my heart when I learned the moon had been passing the sun's light off as its own. — Joanna Newsom

People are often afraid for me. They think that I am going to break. I can make it through a set. — Joanna Newsom

Lyrics are very different. There is a clear line between that and a poem. Something that has been a source of great excitement and delight for me is this idea that I get to rhyme. — Joanna Newsom

In the sinking sand,
where we've come to rest,
have I had a hand in your loneliness? — Joanna Newsom

During the 1990s, San Francisco lived through one of the most intense economic booms of its history. — Gavin Newsom

I never thought people would be mortally offended by the sounds I was making. — Joanna Newsom

An arts education helps build academic skills and increase academic performance, while also providing alternative opportunities to reward the skills of children who learn differently. — Gavin Newsom

I wanted to write songs which I think is a different thing. I wanted to write music that is informed by folk music. The chord progressions are obvious references. — Joanna Newsom

The value of an arts education is widely accepted, especially in California. — Gavin Newsom

At a young age, boys learn that to express compassion or empathy is to show weakness. They hear confusing messages that force them to repress their emotions, establish hierarchies, and constantly prove their masculinity ... whether boys and later men have chosen to resist or conform to this masculine norm, there is loneliness, anxiety, and pain, — Jennifer Siebel Newsom

The way that words fit together is always interesting to me. I love words. — Joanna Newsom

We deserve to know light. And grow evermore lighter and lighter. — Joanna Newsom

I started playing harp about fourteen years ago. — Joanna Newsom

Involvement in the arts engages kids in their community, improves self-esteem, reclaims at-risk youth, and builds the creative skills that are required of a 21st century workforce. — Gavin Newsom

In high school, we studied a lot of poetical forms. I was really interested in the math that was involved and the strange live break ups. That gave me a great amount of respect for a rhymed stanza. — Joanna Newsom

The jobs in the greatest demand in the future don't yet exist and will require workers to use technologies that have not yet been invented to solve problems that we don't yet even know are problems. — Gavin Newsom

I have a voice that's obviously untrained - and I think untrainable - so I kind of secreted it away for a long time. Actually, I would write songs with lyrics when I was younger, but I would just sing in my head. — Joanna Newsom

Maybe a good goal would be to just at least always try to create something good. Like something that is connected to love in some way. Like the [musical] equivalent of ... you can make a decision to be kind. You can make a decision to greet people kindly and make jokes with people and connect. — Joanna Newsom

The fire breather is beneath the clover, and beneath his breathing there is cold clay forever — Joanna Newsom

Among the responsibilities of any writer is that, no matter what else, they know what they mean. So, even if no one else knows what you're talking about, you do. The listener can sense that, even if they don't get the literal meaning. The faith that they place in the clues and the connections and the secrets of the lyrics is of the utmost importance. — Joanna Newsom

I am consciously trying not to make it sound Celtic or African. — Joanna Newsom

Last week, our picture window
Produced a half-word,
Heavy and hollow,
Hit by a brown bird.
We stood and watched her gape like a rattlesnake
And pant and labor over every intake.
I said a sort of prayer for some rare grace,
Then thought i ought to take her to a higher place.
Said, dog nor vulture nor cat shall toy with you,
And though you die, bird, you will have a fine view. — Joanna Newsom

I am consciously not trying to bring in World Music elements. The ways that I work and feel are completely different in how they sound than someone playing the Kora in Africa would play it. — Joanna Newsom

The so-called positive press has in some ways been more difficult to swallow than the negative. — Joanna Newsom

I give away CDs at shows if someone wants a CD but doesn't have any money. I wouldn't want to do that forever. — Joanna Newsom

If you distill the essence of everything, what life is about, every single one of us is given a short moment in time on this planet, and we all have one universal need and desire, and that is to be loved and to love. — Gavin Newsom

What a woman does is open doors. And it is not a question of locking or unlocking. — Joanna Newsom

As mayor of San Francisco, I will provide the vision and work hard to make San Francisco a beautiful, well-planned city with excellent housing and transportation options. — Gavin Newsom

Street and park trees provide tremendous benefits to cities. — Gavin Newsom

I had known that people would probably have strange reactions to my voice, because I have kind of an unwieldy, difficult voice, but I never thought that anybody would have a problem with the harp. I just assumed ... C'mon, it's a beautiful instrument. — Joanna Newsom

We can build new housing while preserving the quality and character of adjacent residential districts and ensuring infill development strengthens the surrounding neighborhood. — Gavin Newsom

Well, yeah, I wanted to resist the urge to thicken everything up with instrumentation, because I just felt like I was interested in seeing how the songs did on their own. — Joanna Newsom

San Franciscans know we live in the most beautiful city in the world, a jewel on the edge of the Golden Gate. — Gavin Newsom

I wasn't interested in writing music that wasn't beautiful for me to listen to. — Joanna Newsom

The moment of your greatest joy sustains:
Not axe nor hammer
Tumor, tremor
Can take it away, and it remains
It remains — Joanna Newsom

We are blessed and sustained by what is not said — Joanna Newsom

I wasn't born of a whistle or milked from a thistle at twilight
No I was all horns and thorns sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright. — Joanna Newsom

While I am humbled by the widespread encouragement of so many and hold in the highest esteem those who serve us in federal office, I know that my head and my heart, my young family's future, and our unfinished work all remain firmly in the State of California - not Washington D.C. Therefore I will not seek election to the U.S. Senate in 2016. — Gavin Newsom

It's valid that the Strokes and the Pleased have been influenced by some of the same bands. But it's invalid in the sense that we listen to the Strokes and try to sounds like them. I think that they are a good band. — Joanna Newsom

Never get so attached to a poem that you forget truth that lacks lyricism. — Joanna Newsom

As Mayor, I will use my experience to make San Francisco a place where small businesses can thrive. — Gavin Newsom

We recognize that the arts are an essential part of San Francisco's cultural vitality. — Gavin Newsom

I'm a big Johnny Cash girl. And I love singers like Laura Marling and Joanna Newsom. — Imogen Poots