Creativity Quote by Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman’s line lands like a shrug that doubles as a mission statement. “Always” isn’t bragging so much as a boundary: there isn’t a neat off-switch between the public virtuoso and the private person. For a musician whose career spans prog-rock maximalism, session work, solo concept albums, TV appearances, and the long tail of touring, the quote frames creativity less as inspiration and more as default setting. He’s not claiming some romantic muse; he’s describing a routine that’s become identity.

The interesting subtext is defensive. Wakeman has often been treated as a character as much as a composer: capes, keyboards, excess, the whole prog circus. “Because that is my life” pushes back on the idea that the music is an act you clock into. It’s also a quiet refusal of the modern demand that artists constantly narrate their productivity for content. He’s saying the work is the narration.

Context matters: Wakeman came up in an era when musicians proved themselves through relentless output and chops, and he’s lived through multiple industry collapses where playing - literally gigging - is survival as much as expression. Writing or playing “always” reads like compulsion, yes, but also like steadiness: a craftsperson’s ethic hiding in a rock star’s legend. The simplicity works because it’s unglamorous. It turns a flashy career into a daily practice, and it lets the audience understand that the real spectacle is persistence.