The last time I busked in Central Park was about a year ago. Money-wise I had the worst day ever. I sang and played for over an hour, and made about $5. I stood on a little hill up above a statue of a Polish guy on a horse. I did alright over there once before. This time, no one wanted to give me money. At one point I had gone through about five songs with no one giving me even a penny. I thought I was trying pretty hard. And I kept changing up the songs, trying to find one that felt good to me, and would make other people feel good.
People were just walking by perfectly happy, enjoying the beautiful day, not paying much attention. I started to feel pretty miserable at one point. Part of me wanted to quit, but I hated to quit just like that, so I decided that as soon as someone gave me so much as one penny I would just finish the song, pack up and go. So I did one, then, two, then three more songs and I didn't get anything.
Then I started to feel a little better, and I decided fuck it, if no one gives me anything then I would keep playing until the sun went down whether anyone appreciated it or not. For a brief moment I thought: "Well maybe I just suck today," but I talked myself out of it. Half the time when I think I really suck someone tells me it's great, so what does that matter?
At some point I decided to play all Dylan songs, and I got a little audience who were sitting on a grassy lawn across the fence from where I was playing. Finally someone who was passing by gave me a dollar, and then someone else in rapid succession. That was it for the night. But I was feeling so good that I did about five more songs.
