Tweet from @prince: "New music was pouring out of Prince in 1995 and 1996, when he recorded his triple album #Emancipation. "Sometimes I stand in awe of what I do myself," Prince told the @nytimes . "I feel like a regular person, but I listen to this and wonder, where did it come from?" November 19, 2021.
art health music writing

Prince – “Sometimes I Stand in Awe of What I Do Myself”

by Mary

Got a Covid booster yesterday and feeling achy with a mild fever and sore arm today, so a short blog post.

Red bandage with white Walgreens "W" on the arm of Mary Warner, November 20, 2021.
Red bandage with white Walgreens “W” on the arm of Mary Warner, November 20, 2021.

I saw this great quote from Minnesota musician Prince’s Twitter account a couple days ago and had to save it.

November 19, 2021 tweet from @prince: "New music was pouring out of Prince in 1995 and 1996, when he recorded his triple album #Emancipation. "Sometimes I stand in awe of what I do myself," Prince told the @nytimes. "I feel like a regular person, but I listen to this and wonder, where did it come from?"" 
November 19, 2021 tweet from @prince: “New music was pouring out of Prince in 1995 and 1996, when he recorded his triple album #Emancipation. “Sometimes I stand in awe of what I do myself,” Prince told the @nytimes. “I feel like a regular person, but I listen to this and wonder, where did it come from?””

I would never in a billion-and-a-half years ever compare my creative output to the stratosphere of Prince’s creative brilliance, but I actually know what he means by this quote.

As a writer and artist, when I’m immersed in creating something, I’m busy trying to get what is in my head out into the world. I do my best to make each piece my best work, but I have no objective idea about its worth at the point of finishing it.

It’s when I come back to a work years later that I am often startled that a  specific art work or piece of writing actually came out of me. Did I really do this? Often, I’m pleasantly surprised at the quality of the work. Of course, there are pieces that I’d just as soon forget because they are complete crap, but, wow, the ones that worked and hold up over time impress me as though they were made by someone else.

Do you ever feel this way about work you’ve done?

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2 thoughts on “Prince – “Sometimes I Stand in Awe of What I Do Myself””

  1. I had a “wow, I made this with my own hands” moment the other day (I made a cloth doll). I rarely get that feeling, even though I do a lot of clothes sewing. I do understand that retrospective admiration of one’s own work because it happens to me too, but not often after immediately making something.

    1. Congratulations on making a cloth doll, Liz! I’m so glad you had a feeling of admiration for your work right away, but I totally understand not typically feeling it immediately. I need the sense of distance that time provides to analyze what I’ve done and see it in a new light. I do hope you’ll share your doll on your blog.

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