Buffy Sainte-Marie

I'm not like a professional writer with professional skills. Songs kind of come into my head the same way they did when I was a kid. I say I'm an overgrown kindergarten kid. I work on songs. ”

When somebody says, 'Oh, Buffy, you're such a warrior for peace', I stop them and say, 'No, I'm not really a warrior for peace. What I promote is alternative conflict resolution'. ”

It never occurred to me that I was important enough to have some politician go out of his way to silence me. I only found out about it in the '80s by accident - a broadcaster announced they received letters of commendation from the White House for having suppressed my music. My career was so highly impacted in the U.S. it will never recover. ”

I didn't get into the music business because somebody made me take piano lessons, you know. I got into music because I was a natural writer and had a lot of curiosity about sound. ”

If I'm interrupted, it's just a minor inconvenience, but not a disaster, because it's easy to get back where I was: that is, the paint has not changed consistency; the light has not moved. ”

When I was three, I didn't play with other kids very much; I was kind of isolated. I got used to be being bullied and having to think my way out of situations in the same way that other kids would fight their way out. Then I discovered a piano, and it became my playmate. ”

By looking at the questions the kids are asking, we learn the scope of what needs to be done. ”

I was very unhappy when I used to record and things wouldn't turn out the way I would want to, because I was being such a nice girl. I wouldn't complain when things were going wrong. ”

When I first got famous in the '60s, I got a little too famous, and in order to escape showbusiness, I moved to Hawaii. ”

I'm told I was born in Canada, but I was adopted, and I grew up in Maine and Massachusetts. ”