23+ Dave Van Ronk Quotes On Friendship, Out And Death

Dave Van Ronk was an American folk singer and songwriter. He was an important figure in the New York folk scene of the 1960s and was influential in the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. He was known for his unique finger-picking style and for covering a wide range of material from traditional folk songs to blues, country, and jazz. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Dave Van Ronk on love, friendship, life.

Top 10 Dave Van Ronk Quotes

1. Most of what I listen to now is mainstream jazz from 1935 right up to and including early bebop and cool jazz.
2. Honesty is the cruelest game of all, because not only can you hurt someone - and hurt them to the bone - you can feel self-righteous about it at the same time.
3. If you look at music, you see theme, variation, you see symmetry, asymmetry, you see structure, and these are related to skills in the real world.
4. My uncle and my grandfather both worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
5. I think I have more in common with a carpenter than you might think. We're putting things together.
6. You can't be afraid of failure and you can't be afraid of success, because either one gets in the way of your work.
7. I cut myself off from the mainstream of jazz. It stood me in good stead later on, as a musician.
8. There is an apprenticeship system in jazz. You teach the young ones. So even if the musicians weren't personally that likable, they felt an obligation to help the younger musicians.
9. If I do a piece in my living room, if I practice it - and I have the tapes to prove this - it's not going to be as good as doing the same piece in front of an audience.
10. If you asked anybody in my family, they would have very stridently proclaimed themselves middle class. My mother and father were separated, so he doesn't count.

Dave Van Ronk Short Quotes

• I'm an exhibitionist, I was an exhibitionist as a kid.
• I don't think I went a year or so without a record between 1959 and 1979, sometimes two.
• Most blues don't have a beginning, middle, or end. You just cut a couple slices of blues.
• God has a way of telling you when to change your strings.
• I'm a very, very stubborn man.
• When you're working in front of an audience, you have incentive to excel.
• Sometimes you have to forget your principles and do what’s right.
• By the mid-70s, I wanted to get out of the business. I was tired anyway.

Dave Van Ronk Famous Quotes And Sayings

One of my earliest memories... I knew three full verses of the Star Spangled Banner when I was seven or eight years old. And one of the nuns discovered this phenomenon and I was actually sent around from classroom to classroom to do the whole thing. — Dave Van Ronk

In the early 1970s. 1971, '72. The rooms were closing down, record labels weren't signing acoustic acts any more. Although they had been pretty much been getting out of that for some time before that. — Dave Van Ronk

If there was ever any truth to the trickle-down theory, the only evidence of it I've ever seen was in that period of 1960 to 1965. All of sudden they were handing out major label recording contracts like they were coming in Cracker Jack boxes. — Dave Van Ronk

Ian and Sylvia, who, when you got right down to it, were essentially country and western singers. I just recorded his Four Strong Winds. It's a wonderful song. — Dave Van Ronk

And then adds with a laugh, 'but in retrospect I think he may have been more sophisticated than we were.' — Dave Van Ronk

Life Lessons by Dave Van Ronk

1. Dave Van Ronk's work demonstrates the importance of staying true to one's own unique sound and style. He encouraged other musicians to take risks and experiment with their music, rather than trying to fit into a certain genre.
2. His influence on folk music and popular culture is undeniable, and his legacy is a reminder to always be open to collaboration and creativity.
3. Dave Van Ronk's work serves as an example of how one person's passion and dedication can have a lasting impact on the world of music.