--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't…" description: "\"Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is accumulated from me playing on the piano, an..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png" --- # Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do… ![“Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is accumulated from me playing on the piano, and then this little creature just appears.” quote by Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png) > “Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is accumulated from me playing on the piano, and then this little creature just appears.” [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The speaker describes music as an emergent creature that arises from personal expression, suggesting that art is both a product of and a partner to the creator. **In simple terms:** Music feels like a living thing that grows from one's playing. Key Takeaway Art emerges from personal expression and takes on its own life. Themes creativity music self-expression emergent art Mood reflective wonder Type personal reflection artistic metaphor When to use this quote - composing a song - improvising on piano - watching a painting evolve - writing a poem Key Concepts artist‑audience relationship the autonomy of artistic output Practical Applications - allow spontaneous improvisation - record sessions for later reflection Questions to Reflect On - How does the creator’s intent influence the perceived autonomy of a work? - Can art ever be truly detached from its maker? ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Melody](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/melody/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Piano](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/piano/) ## Related quotes > [I left Northwestern University after a year and was in New York playing piano in a little bar on 58th Street, and I didn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-beatty/i-left-northwestern-university-after-a-year-and-was-in-new-york/) [Warren Beatty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-beatty/) > [I grew up painting and playing piano so when I was a little kid I thought I was going to be an artist or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mike-shinoda/i-grew-up-painting-and-playing-piano-so-when-i-was-a-little-kid-i/) [Mike Shinoda](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mike-shinoda/) > [Shawty's like a melody in my head. That I can't keep out.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/iyaz/shawty-s-like-a-melody-in-my-head-that-i-can-t-keep-out/) [Iyaz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/iyaz/) > [When the uniqueness of a place sings to us like a melody, then we will know, at last, what it means to be home](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-gruchow/when-the-uniqueness-of-a-place-sings-to-us-like-a-melody-then-we-will/) [Paul Gruchow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-gruchow/) > [When I first picked up an instrument, nothing really happened. I played piano when I was a little kid. I hated it so much,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-bridgers/when-i-first-picked-up-an-instrument-nothing-really-happened-i-played/) [Phoebe Bridgers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-bridgers/) > [I play piano, a little Gershwin, before debates.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michelle-wu/i-play-piano-a-little-gershwin-before-debates/) [Michelle Wu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michelle-wu/) > [I did a concert at five years old in the garden of one of the church members, and we raised some money to buy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/al-jarreau/i-did-a-concert-at-five-years-old-in-the-garden-of-one-of-the-church/) [Al Jarreau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/al-jarreau/) > [I started out with piano when I was little. That, for songwriting, is my favorite instrument.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-foster/i-started-out-with-piano-when-i-was-little-that-for-songwriting-is-my/) [Mark Foster](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-foster/) > [And I've played piano since I was little, so I was originally the piano player in the band.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-corr/and-i-ve-played-piano-since-i-was-little-so-i-was-originally-the/) [Caroline Corr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-corr/) > [Yeah, I don't like, um, I'm not interested in rock 'n' roll piano. I find it a little grating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-zevon/yeah-i-don-t-like-um-i-m-not-interested-in-rock-n-roll-piano-i-find/) [Warren Zevon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-zevon/) > [Please do not shoot the pianist. He is doing his best.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/oscar-wilde/please-do-not-shoot-the-pianist-he-is-doing-his-best/) [Oscar Wilde](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/oscar-wilde/) > [I studied chord theory and started playing the piano.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/flea/i-studied-chord-theory-and-started-playing-the-piano/) [Flea](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/flea/) > [The things I do outside of playing the piano are done out of an inner necessity, not just because I want to try my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-hough/the-things-i-do-outside-of-playing-the-piano-are-done-out-of-an-inner/) [Stephen Hough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-hough/) > [I spent thousands of thousands of hours playing the piano, and by thousands of hours, I mean playing in cover bands or wedding bands…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-minchin/i-spent-thousands-of-thousands-of-hours-playing-the-piano-and-by/) [Tim Minchin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-minchin/) > [When I was playing piano, it was like, 'I'm going to write a song using all the white keys.' My music director, who knew…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-tesh/when-i-was-playing-piano-it-was-like-i-m-going-to-write-a-song-using/) [John Tesh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-tesh/) ## More by Agnes Obel > [There was a band very early on in our class, and I played in that band and as a teenager, I continued. It was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/there-was-a-band-very-early-on-in-our-class-and-i-played-in-that-band/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [With 'Philharmonics,' I had to do a lot of interviews, and it was like I was corrupting something. In many ways, I've said everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/with-philharmonics-i-had-to-do-a-lot-of-interviews-and-it-was-like-i/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I love Denmark. But it is a very safe place, and it is easy to let the state look after everything for you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-love-denmark-but-it-is-a-very-safe-place-and-it-is-easy-to-let-the/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I don't have a classical-music mentality. I haven't been taught that way, and it doesn't fit my character, either.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-don-t-have-a-classical-music-mentality-i-haven-t-been-taught-that/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I really believe it's not bad to look back within music. I don't mean retro, but using your own memories to make a song…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-really-believe-it-s-not-bad-to-look-back-within-music-i-don-t-mean/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [On the last album, I didn't want to disturb the melody with too many stories. This time, I wanted to know if I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/on-the-last-album-i-didn-t-want-to-disturb-the-melody-with-too-many/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I don't have a daily routine at all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-don-t-have-a-daily-routine-at-all/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [It's always difficult to know if a song needs more than piano, and I worry about my tendency to go in a sparse direction.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/it-s-always-difficult-to-know-if-a-song-needs-more-than-piano-and-i/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [My parents were very relaxed about music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/my-parents-were-very-relaxed-about-music/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [What I discovered in Berlin was this immense freedom because it felt like you could start any kind of project and nobody would care...…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/what-i-discovered-in-berlin-was-this-immense-freedom-because-it-felt/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [The best thing about Berlin was that I got to be surrounded by people who pursue their ideas for themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/the-best-thing-about-berlin-was-that-i-got-to-be-surrounded-by-people/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I love the conversation between film and music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-love-the-conversation-between-film-and-music/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I'm not into having a pedigree dog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-m-not-into-having-a-pedigree-dog/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [My mum is a big collector of art.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/my-mum-is-a-big-collector-of-art/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) > [I'm very happy that I got introduced to music only as something you got pleasure from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/i-m-very-happy-that-i-got-introduced-to-music-only-as-something-you/) [Agnes Obel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) [Explore all 31 Agnes Obel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/) ## More Creatures quotes > [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/) [Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/) > [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/) [Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/) > [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/) [Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/) > [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/) [Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/) > [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/) [Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/) > [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/) [Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/) > [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/) [Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/) > [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/) [Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/) > [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/) [Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/) > [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/) [Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/) > [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/) [Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/) > [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/) [John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/) > [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/) [Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/) Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is accumulated from me playing on the piano, and then this little creature just appears.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Agnes Obel" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-me/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Creatures" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-me/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d2/agnes-obel-19920_creatures_sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-h_112271.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Sometimes I feel like a melody doesn't have anything to do with me, but it's just something that comes, is…” — Agnes Obel", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Agnes Obel", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/agnes-obel/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Sometimes I feel like a melody...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-me/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/agnes-obel/sometimes-i-feel-like-a-melody-doesn-t-have-anything-to-do-with-me/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```