Aging Artists Quotes

That's one of the problems in being a songwriter and living a long time. What you eventually end up doing is you start imitating yourself.

Why isn't there any 50-year-old MCs killing it? I'm 46. Am I the only one? I can't wait to get to 50. I'm going to let everybody know it! I'm going to wear a shirt that says 'I'm 50.'

I don't know of any artist who started off in the 50's who's making it now with new material.

I hope I don't just do the exact same thing my whole life. I also feel like it's really hard to make comedy. It's almost impossible for comedy filmmakers and directors to stay relevant as they get older.

Most artists lose their voice, their hair, and their bands. That's not going to happen to me.

I like being a rapper and cursing and getting paid. But at some point I feel like I'm going to be an old angry ass man, who is going to run the school board or city council.

For some reason, it seems like pop writers, it's like they just get worse or something over time. And then you're really jealous of movie directors whose careers seem to grow and they'll be 70 years old and still doing these incredible jobs. I'm going to reverse that, I hope.

I always use the Rolling Stones as the whipping boy for this, but they still play old songs as 90% of their set, and we would die if that were the case.

Many talents preserve their precociousness right into old age.

I don't think rock 'n roll is necessarily a young man's game. I think Neil Young is just as rock'n'roll now as he was in his 20s. I'd like to think we can still be edgy and challenging.

I remember when I was younger, I read that Jay-Z was 33 and I was just like, 'Damn! This dudes really still goin for it?' It's just so rare that you see any rapper over 30 doing anything interesting.

You also said in Rolling Stone that your look is based on mine. The look I chose, I chose on purpose at a time when my record company were encouraging me to do what you have done. I felt I would rather be judged on my talent and not my looks. I am happy that I made that choice, not least because I do not find myself on the proverbial rag heap now that I am almost 47 yrs of age.. which unfortunately many female artists who have based their image around their sexuality, end up on when they reach middle age.

You look at most artists, the arc of their career, there's a definite decline at the end. And that decline could set in at any time. In your 50s, or your 60s and 70s if you're lucky. Time goes by fast, and you've got to be busy all the time.

I feel like a lot of artists, when they're on their fourth record, they're perceived as the old guys. At least in this day and age. I like that people perceive us as just getting started because that's how we perceive ourselves.

You can't write masterpieces in your 80s and be happy too.

When you're young, the goal is to have a hit. You get a little older and the goal becomes to get to make another record.

The music business can be very cold. And it doesn't honor its elders.

Nobody went out to pasture, and a lot of people are doing their best work. Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Sting are at the top of their game. I mean, Tony Bennett is the coolest guy I ever met! We have to figure out how to break out of this age ghetto.

There's nothing more tragic than artists from the 70s still doing art from the 70s.

I do think you get lonelier and lonelier being an artist as you get older.

As performers grow older, I reckon there are two ways they can go. They can either be up there, playing more deeply from their guts than ever, or they can be phoning it in so crassly that it leaves a lump in your throat as you leave the venue at the end of the show.

Most artists over 40 or 50 don't get played on the radio. It's a young people's game. I was ready for that.