Stephen Malkmus on Parenthood

From a Chuck Klosterman profile of singer Stephen Malkmus.

" "You just do it," he says. "There's not much time for self-absorption. It's great, because it's primal and sort of feels like the reason you're on earth. It's a deep part of life. But on the other hand, it's not that deep. It just happens. It's biology. And I assumed being a parent would be pretty hard, because I'm a pretty selfish person. It's hard for me to sacrifice anything or to take care of other people's needs. Our society is meant to work—or, say, capitalism is supposed to work—when everyone takes a little bit of what they want and gives something else back. But with a kid, it's not like that. There is no give-and-take. In theory, I suppose the idea is that you want to give yourself completely to your child, and then you'll get something back from that experience." He waits a beat and stares at nothing in particular, almost as if he's preparing to say something that will blow me away forever. Instead, I get this: "But that does not seem true when you want to sleep more." Which, I suppose, is about as honest as it gets. "