Viv Albertine Quotes

Viv Albertine

Profession : Musician

Birth : December 1, 1954

My mother was so ignorant of what could have befallen me and was probably so exhausted - she was one of the first generation of single parents as well - that it was all a bit overwhelming. So the naivety of parents meant we did have a certain amount of freedom.

Viv Albertine

I absolutely wasn't going to write a book if it was just going to be about punk.

Viv Albertine

If you've written something that moves you and frightens you, you just can't take it back.

Viv Albertine

I think I function well in most parts of my life but possibly not in that emotional side of my life.

Viv Albertine

I can always go back to Jane Austen. 'Mansfield Park' is full of wise aphorisms and relevant observations of people.

Viv Albertine

I didn't have many role models or interesting women to get stirred up by until Yoko Ono came along.

Viv Albertine

I like to smell a book before I start it. I fold over the pages, write comments in the margins, leave it on the bed next to my pillow when I fall asleep.

Viv Albertine

I read a lot when I was young. All the obvious, all the greats, from 'Le Grand Meaulnes,' 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' 'Fear and Loathing,' 'Catcher in the Rye,' 'The Bell Jar,' 'The Female Eunuch,' 'Valley of the Dolls,' 'The Feminine Mystique,' Tom Wolfe. Then, film took over for me. Film was so exciting in the '70s.

Viv Albertine

If you are an autodidact, you probably do write more in the rhythm of speech rather than having learnt prose.

Viv Albertine

Strive to be different and better than what is already out there if you are creating - Benjamin Clementine does that.

Viv Albertine

I always love a song about London or about places. I think Britain could do with more of them; America is so good at that.

Viv Albertine

During my childhood and teenage years, everything I knew was at war. My mother and father were at war. My sister and I were at war. I was at war with my atypical nature, desperately trying to fit in and be normal. Even my genes were at war - the cool Swiss-German side versus the hot-headed Corsican.

Viv Albertine

It's amazing what your brain can do when all your senses are heightened.

Viv Albertine

I'd like to be with someone kind who can hold a conversation and is in my age group. If that's too much to ask, I'll do without.

Viv Albertine

Finding another person to love is finding another person to lose.

Viv Albertine

A lot of the men I've dated have been incapable of even basic kindness.

Viv Albertine

It's me who fixes the roof, unblocks the drain, and changes the plug. I'm Spartacus.

Viv Albertine

We're so tribal in Britain about music. But my music - my guitar playing, the rhythms, et cetera - just express my personality, because I'm self-taught.

Viv Albertine

Punk was such an exciting time because there were no rules. You could go and knock on Sun Ra's door - and he was in the phonebook, under Ra!

Viv Albertine

Girls were nothing in the '70s.

Viv Albertine