Listen to the mustn'ts, child. Listen to the don'ts. Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.
You don't need a blanket of can't do this, that's illegal, that's unfair, that's unjust, all of these can'ts, all these won'ts never helped anybody.
I was always taught my do's and don'ts:
For do's I did, and for don'ts, I said I won't.
I'm from a small town where everybody always has something to say - you shouldn't sing secular music, you shouldn't do this or do that. A ton of "shouldn'ts."
Money, as it increases, becomes either the master or the slave of ts owner.
Sing, seraph with the glory! heaven is high.
Sing, poet with the sorrow! earth is low.
The universe's inward voices cry
"Amen" to either song of joy and woe.
Sing, seraph, poet! sing on equally!
Writing about our mistakes turns the stupid stuff we've done and cringed over for years into a sort of do's-and-don'ts guide for others. Actually, more of a don'ts-and-don't guide.
There is a particular whir of agitation about female hunger, a low-level thrumming of shoulds and shouldn'ts and can'ts and wants that can be so chronic and familiar it becomes a kind of feminine Muzak, easy to dismiss, or to tune out altogether, even if you're actively participating in it.
I'm telling the story, and if I can't tell the story, I'm not going to sing it. And if I don't agree with the story, and if I got to sing something that portrays me as something I'm not, then I'm not going to sing it either. I didn't even want to sing Aretha Franklin's 'Chain of Fools.'
Some people can sing, and they can sing sing, but Brandy can not only sing sing, but she has a voice and a tone that is unlike any other.
I don't even sing in front of really close friends. It's embarrassing. I don't really sing when I'm alone, either. I just hum enjoyably.
When people give me the choice to either sing or dance, I'd rather dance than sing.
Even if you can't sing well, sing. Sing to yourself. Sing in the privacy of your home. But sing.
You either have to sing about being scorned by a lover or sing about thinking a boy is cute and wanting him to notice you. That's about as edgy as you can get.
Either you can sing, or you can't.
The words are the important thing. Don't worry about tunes. Take a tune, sing high when they sing low, sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune.