David Shields Quotes

Drumming is my middle name.

I went back and researched the history of gospel; where it came from, slavery times, communicating with each other without their master knowing what they are saying, and that gospel artists view themselves differently.

I'm a singer who moves like a dancer.

I believe it is in my nature to dance by virtue of the beat of my heart, the pulse of my blood and the music in my mind.

Yes, the audience is so important to Negro music, especially the element of call and response.

Whenever somebody tells me they want me to stop singing, I'm gone.

For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.

Make my skin into drumheads for the Bohemian cause.

Playing drums, for me, is like breathing. It's like thinking. It's like eating. It's like walking.

When it comes down to dance, dance is about movement to music.

I dance as best I can. I try to let the music flow freely through my legs.

I play the drums, I love to sing. I'll make a beat anywhere - on the wall, on the floor - and I can have fun doing just about anything.

Rap comes from the oral tradition. The oral tradition gives voice to those who would've otherwise been voiceless.

Dancing is poetry with arms and legs.

Lyricism was placed into my head in Ireland.

It's the impeded stream that sings

Like writing, reading is a protest against the insufficiencies of life.

Alice thought, No. It wasn't the War and the disgruntled veterans; it wasn't the droves and droves of colored people flocking to paychecks and streets full of themselves. It was the music. The dirty, get-on-down music the women sang and the men played and both danced to, close and shamelesss or apart and wild...It made you do unwise disorderly things. Just hearing it was like violating the law.

I have heard more than once, 'Shut up and sing!' and I get it now.

To hell with the rules. If it sounds right, then it is.

Jazz is the music of unemployment.

I have an instinct for music, or a feeling about it, and I'll have my feelings guide my hands.

Stories are the reproductive organs of language.

I feel like there's no real innovation in having some music. It's more just unique personalities and unique expressions, and you being able to tell your story.

Rapping is talking and communicating, and that's always good.