Lavinia Greenlaw Quotes

Song and dance are explosion and interruption, and sometimes the only way to keep up with what's happening.

I was thrilled by discovery, crushed by disappointment, and mortified by any misplaced enthusiasm. I declared allegiance, took a position, and always had a view, not noticing that girls were bemused and boys found me boring. Was a girl not supposed to feel so strongly, let alone want so much to possess and know something for her own sake?

The greatest act of love was to make a tape for someone. It was the only way we could share music and it was also a way of advertising yourself. Selection, order, the lettering you used for the track list, how much technical detail you went into, whether or not you added artwork or offered only artwork and no track list at all, these choices were as codified as a Victorian bouquet.

Too young to bring about change, we brought about disturbance.

I got to know [teen music] as we absorb music in passing but can remember only its seriousness and weight.

Being a woman seemed to mean listening to the music boys liked and neither dancing nor singing along.

Why did girls never play air guitar? Did we sing along because singing was what girls did or was it that girls only sang because they didn't play air guitar? These are not questions I asked myself at the time. I was pushing away such complications.

If I had not kissed anyone, or danced with anyone, or had a reason to cry, the music made me feel as if I had gone through all that anyway.

...loving music didn't have to mean wanting the same song all the time, or believing it perfect, and that what you loved didn't have to add up, let alone define you.

[My mother] believed we could each change the world, but what convinced me this was possible was music.

There are times when we need the rocket fuel of singing and dancing to power us through an act of blind faith. Falling in love is one of those times, when we need to move into a phase of enchantment with enough force so that when things cool and the air clears, we are locked into that person, that love. We fall in love and we sing as we walk down the street; we turn up the music and dance.