Fatherhood Quote by Gordon Getty

"Both parents were very encouraging - especially my father. My father thought the sun rose and set with me. Neither one had a musical background or any musical talent. They liked classical music, but neither could carry a tune"

Gordon Getty, Businessman

About this Quote

Privilege usually gets framed as money, but Getty slips in a quieter, more socially acceptable advantage: belief. The line about his father thinking "the sun rose and set with me" is comic in its exaggeration, yet it lands as emotional fact. It also politely dodges the harsher word for it - indulgence - replacing it with something Americans like to celebrate: confidence as inheritance.

The real work happens in the second half, where he insists his parents had "no musical background or any musical talent". That disclaimer is doing PR. Coming from a Getty, "I made it on my own" can sound like a punchline, so he narrows the claim to a domain where money can't simply buy legitimacy: musicianship. He wants the listener to separate cultural capital from financial capital. His parents may not have taught him technique, he implies, but they gave him permission.

The throwaway detail - "They liked classical music, but neither could carry a tune" - is class-coded without being snobbish. Classical music becomes a household atmosphere, not a skillset: taste as wallpaper. It suggests a family that consumes high culture even if it can't produce it, and that distinction matters for a businessman-composer trying to be taken seriously. Under the warmth is a careful message: encouragement, not pedigree, lit the fuse.

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About the Author

Gordon Getty (born December 20, 1934) is a Businessman from USA.

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