"It is only in his music, which Americans are able to admire because a protective sentimentality limits their understanding of it, that the Negro in America has been able to tell his story"
- James Baldwin
About this Quote
This quote by James Baldwin speaks with the power of songs in the African American experience. Baldwin recommends that songs is the only way for African Americans to tell their tale, as they are limited by a "safety nostalgia" that avoids them from being totally comprehended. This sentimentality is likely a referral to the racism as well as bias that African Americans have faced throughout background, which has actually prevented them from being seen and listened to in various other ways. Baldwin indicates that songs is a method for African Americans to share their feelings as well as experiences, which Americans have the ability to appreciate it because they are unable to fully recognize it. This quote talks with the power of songs in the African American experience, as well as how it has actually been made use of as a type of expression as well as communication.
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"
"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"
