"I don't feel comfortable doing interviews. My profession is music, and writing songs. That's what I do. I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it"
About this Quote
Van Morrison’s refusal isn’t shyness; it’s a boundary dispute between art and the machinery that sells it. The line draws a hard, almost combative distinction: music as labor, interviews as noise. In a culture that treats the promotional circuit as part of the job description, he’s insisting on an older model of the artist, where the work is the statement and the self is not a product to be endlessly explained.
The phrasing matters. “My profession is music” sounds like a union card flashed at a pushy foreman. He isn’t saying he can’t speak; he’s saying it’s not the contract. Then comes the sharper turn: “I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it.” That split captures the modern paradox of creativity under media pressure: you’re expected to translate the mysterious, private process into clean, quotable content. Morrison’s subtext is that explanation cheapens creation. Turning songs into interview anecdotes flattens them into intention, into branding, into a narrative the audience can consume faster than the music itself.
Context makes the stance legible. Morrison came up in an era when performers could still be semi-mythic, when scarcity and silence helped build aura. His resistance reads, now, like both protection and protest: protection of the inner room where songs get made, protest against a system that treats personality as the main instrument. It’s also a kind of honesty. He’s admitting that what he offers is the work, not the backstory, and daring us to live without the commentary track.
The phrasing matters. “My profession is music” sounds like a union card flashed at a pushy foreman. He isn’t saying he can’t speak; he’s saying it’s not the contract. Then comes the sharper turn: “I like to do it, but I hate to talk about it.” That split captures the modern paradox of creativity under media pressure: you’re expected to translate the mysterious, private process into clean, quotable content. Morrison’s subtext is that explanation cheapens creation. Turning songs into interview anecdotes flattens them into intention, into branding, into a narrative the audience can consume faster than the music itself.
Context makes the stance legible. Morrison came up in an era when performers could still be semi-mythic, when scarcity and silence helped build aura. His resistance reads, now, like both protection and protest: protection of the inner room where songs get made, protest against a system that treats personality as the main instrument. It’s also a kind of honesty. He’s admitting that what he offers is the work, not the backstory, and daring us to live without the commentary track.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
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