Artie Shaw, as quoted in "The Hard Life of a Jazz Man" (19 April 2016), by Andy Hollandbeck, The Saturday Evening Post and "Music Is a Business" (2 December 1939), by Bob Maxwell, The Saturday Evening Post
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My job is to play music, not politics, and my only obligation is to the people who pay to listen to me. I don't attempt to ram hackneyed, insipid tunes down the public's throat just because they've been artificially hypoed to the so-called 'hit' class. This policy of trying to maintain some vestige of musical integrity has, naturally, earned me enemies, people who think I'm a longhair, impressed with my own ability.

— Artie Shaw on Music

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "My job is to play music, not politics, and my only obligation is to the people who pay to listen to me. I don't attempt to ram hackneyed, insipid tunes down the public's throat just because they've been artificially hypoed to the so-called 'hit' class. This policy of trying to maintain some vestige of musical integrity has, naturally, earned me enemies, people who think I'm a longhair, impressed with my own ability." in the context of "Artie Shaw, as quoted in "The Hard Life of a Jazz Man" (19 April 2016), by Andy Hollandbeck, The Saturday Evening Post and "Music Is a Business" (2 December 1939), by Bob Maxwell, The Saturday Evening Post" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Quote Image
Source: Wikiquote: "Music" (S) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Artie Shaw

About Artie Shaw

Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American jazz musician, clarinetist, composer and band leader, and was also an author of both fiction and non-fiction writings.