To Busk Or Not To Busk

In all my years of singing...I've never busked. At the same time...I've respected
people who do...for being able to face up to its challenges. What prevented me from doing it...was a deep feeling that an artist who had worked long and hard at what he or she did...should not have to perform...in a situation where there was so much traffic around...accompanied by so much indifference. Having coins tossed at you...for me...was the final indignity I could not accept. In my long musical life...it was only for a short while...at the start of it...that I sang old folk songs...or songs written by others. Once I started writing the songs that I sang...there was no chance that I was going to expose these expressions that came from deep inside me...to the indifference that buskers suffer through...I previously mentioned. Perhaps that is why...most of the songs you hear buskers sing are cover songs...that gives them some cover from exposing their deepest selves. I am sure that buskers...if asked...will
give you their own strong reasons for doing what they do. I never have...and never
will busk...but today...I salute the bravery of those who do. It's...once again...
most likely...just a case of...different strokes for different folks.............Quester.