Quotes About B B King

#1. I would love to work with Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits, B.B. King. I'd love to do something with Arctic Monkeys, Miles Kane, and The Last Shadow Puppets. If I got a call from Juliette Lewis or PJ Harvey, or Chrissie Hynde, that'd be a thrill.

Imelda May

#2. I too once belived in the heavier gauge string as a superior tone source. However, thanks to the graciousness of B.B. King I learned that a lighter-gauge string offers superior playing comfort ... try it, you may like it ...

Billy Gibbons

#3. I'd rather be B.B. King. That's the way I started. Let the heavy metal guys play heavy metal, let the others play the other ... I try to do what I do better, not get away from it.

B.B. King

#4. When I was around 7 or 8 my Dad took me to a B.B. King recording session, well, that really did it. Huge and lasting impressions. After all that I pretty much knew playing guitar was something I was going to do because I just had to do it. And I did.

Billy Gibbons

#5. When I got into rap I didn't exactly win any popularity contests. I called myself Dee Dee King, after B.B. King, to the total dismay of my fellow Ramones.

Dee Dee Ramone

#6. When I first started playing guitar, everyone was playing Chuck Berry and B.B. King licks. I decided I was going to find other avenues of expression.

Robby Krieger

#7. The first real thing I heard was Three O'Clock Blues by B.B. King. That's where it all began for me.

Robin Trower

#8. B.B. King will be remembered for his impressive skills on the guitar, that King defined the blue genre.

Chris Matthews

#9. When I was a kid, I always looked up to people like B.B. King and Ray Charles.

Daryl Hall

#10. I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas, and he would play the blues.

Koko Taylor

#11. B. B. King is no match for Johann Sebastian Bach.

Ilana Mercer

#12. I'm not a big blues fan, but I don't know anyone who doesn't dig B.B. King.

Maurice Gibb

#13. When I saw all of the people I have known all these years, when we got together, it was scary because B.B King and I lived in the same place in Nevada.

Ruth Brown

#14. I liked the more sophisticated urban style of blues like Ray Charles and B. B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Lou Rawls; people like that with more of a tendency toward jazz.

Edgar Winter

#15. I grew up in the sixties watching B.B. King and Tito Puente and Miles Davis and Coltrane, everybody, Marvin Gaye, Jimi. And at the same time, with my left eye I was watching Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Mother Teresa.

Carlos Santana

#16. I really do love bluesy-jazzy music, so I love Etta James, B.B. King and Billie Holiday. I love that they have soul in their voices - I think that's something important is having.

Bridgit Mendler

#17. You know I got kicked out of high school and I used to go to Hendrix concerts. I used to go see Marvin Gaye and B.B. King and so here I am on television as an actor playing the part of this really sweet wholesome all American boy. The reality was I had a much different kind of teenage life.

David Cassidy

#18. My father played with Air Supply, Yes, B.B. King and even Sheryl Crow when she first started out, so I've sort of been around the industry for a long time.

Lindsey Haun

#19. When you think of blues, all you think about is crying guitar like B.B. King's guitar. You think about someone crying that their woman's gone. And how bad life is and all that. Why can't it be something happy with the blues? Why can't it have a hip-hop beat to which you can do the dances of today?

Ike Turner

#20. My family was made of good people who did good things with what they were given. What fairness does life show in a time like this? But life is not fair and that is nothing new, so I bottled the pain and loss, and released them through a single tear rolling down my cheek.

B.M. Tolbert

#21. I don't like to feel that I owe anything. I like to feel that I pay my own way, no free lunch.

B.B. King

#22. Religion began as a natural explanation of the universe. The problem started when people refused to accept new evidence.

B.B. King

#23. Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway.

B.B. King

#24. When I was young, I didn't play like I do today. So these kids are starting at the height that I've reached. Think what they might do over time.

B.B. King

#25. Stories and novels consist of three parts: narration, which moves the story from point A to point B and finally to point Z; description, which creates a sensory reality for the reader; and dialogue, which brings characters to life through their speech.

Stephen King

#26. 'She's Dynamite' was a 100 years ago, and I recorded that song because the company thought that it was a great song and it was hot. That was the beginning of rock n' roll, and I guess they thought it would be a BB King version of rock n' roll.

B.B. King

#27. As a sign of utmost gratitude for his contributions to the Indian society in restoring equal rights of the citizens, I confer him (B.R. Ambedkar) the title "Martin Luther King Jr. of India.

Abhijit Naskar

#28. Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there!

B.B. King

#29. I guess you can look at me, and tell I'm the old man. My name is BB King.

B.B. King

#30. I don't do much recording anymore, but before I really stopped, I was glad to get five, five cent a record. That's why when I see people today and they complain about what they get, and I picked cotton for $2.50 a day.

B.B. King

#31. I don't try to just be a blues singer - I try to be an entertainer. That has kept me going.

B.B. King

#32. If you turned in a paper with writing on it, you were guaranteed a hook from Jake Epping of the LHS English Department, and if the writing was organized into actual paragraphs, you got at least a B-minus.

Stephen King

#33. Touring a segregated America - forever being stopped and harassed by white cops hurt you most 'cos you don't realise the damage. You hold it in. You feel empty, like someone reached in and pulled out your guts. You feel hurt and dirty, less than a person.

B.B. King

#34. Do I love the road? Honestly? No - but it's how I earn my living. I also don't have the blues, like it's some kind of fever. The blues is my job. It's what I do.

B.B. King

#35. The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn't very interesting.

Stephen King

#36. I thought Eric Clapton was good. He still is. Not only is he good - he's rock's #1 guitarist, and he plays blues better than most of us

B.B. King

#37. My last divorce was in '68. What made it come to a head was a promise. See, I had promised her that the next year I wouldn't work as much. But then I got in trouble with the IRS, and I had to continue working just as much to pay the government. So she said I lied, which is something I never did.

B.B. King

#38. I was glad to see other blues guitarists like Albert King have crossover successes like me. We played in the same places like the Whisky and the Filmore. When Albert made his guitar cry, he could cut you so deep!

B.B. King

#39. Playing the guitar is like telling the truth - you never have to worry about repeating the same [lie] if you told the truth. You don't have to pretend, or cover up. If someone asks you again, you don't have to think about it or worry about it because there it is. It's you.

B.B. King

#40. I used to play quite a good lead guitar, R&B style. Clapton and BB King are heroes.

Philip Kerr

#41. I can't think of anyone I've mistreated. I've always thought that I am my brother's keeper. And I believe there's a 'great spirit' that takes care of all of us.

B.B. King

#42. I don't have a favorite song that I've written. But I do have a favorite song: 'Always on My Mind,' the Willie Nelson version. If I could sing it like he do, I would sing it every night. I like the story it tells.

B.B. King

#43. My favorite country blues player was Big Bill Broonzy. City blues was Freddie King, but I liked them all - Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Ralph Willis, Lonnie Johnson, Brownie McGhee and the three Kings, B.B., Albert and Freddie. Jazz-wise, I listened to Django, Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery.

Alvin Lee

#44. If there was no ladies, I wouldn't wanna be on the planet. Ladies, friends, and music - without those three, I wouldn't wanna be here.

B.B. King

#45. Charlie Christian had no more impact on my playing than Django Reinhardt or Lonnie Johnson. I just wanted to play like him. I wanted to play like all of them. All of these people were important to me. I couldn't play like any of them, though ...

B.B. King

#46. I don't think it's meant for man to know everything at once.

B.B. King

#47. When I do eventually drop, I pray to God that it'll happen in one of three ways. Firstly, on stage or leaving the stage, then secondly in my sleep. And the third way? You'll have to figure that out for yourself!

B.B. King

#48. I'm an old soul. I like the Nat King Cole; Sam Cooke is my favorite singer of all time. But I'm into neo-soul; I'm into R&B. Some of the modern stuff appeals to me, but most of it comes from an older time.

Trai Byers

#49. I have a nice car, a Mercedes. And then I have an old El Camino truck that I'm crazy about. I like to get in that truck and go up in the hills near where I live, in Vegas, and take my camera. That, to me, is Heaven, being out in nature, taking pictures of the wildlife.

B.B. King

#50. The mind is the king of the senses, and the breath is the king of the mind

B.K.S. Iyengar

#51. I never met a woman I didn't like. I love 'em all, in their different ways.

B.B. King

#52. Instead of, "Excellent work."
Try, "I see you circled every single picture that begins with the letter B."

Instead of, "Good job following directions."
Try, "You found your spot in the circle as soon as you heard 'circle time.

Julie King

#53. Playing guitar is like telling the truth.

B.B. King

#54. Leads to Bear Down
Bear Down
gives way to little crown
Crown concedes the Head
then Head produces All
Snip the fruity cord
little King begins to bawl
then grows bored
So begins his fall

B.J. Ward

#55. I was a regular hand when I was 7. I picked cotton. I drove tractors. Children grew up not thinking that this is what they must do. We thought this was the thing to do to help your family.

B.B. King

#56. God's jewels are often sent us in rough packages and by dark liveried servants, but within we find the very treasures of the King's palace and the Bridegroom's Love.

A.B. Simpson

#57. Red for the blood of Christ, green for his everlasting love, blue for heaven above, and old for the King of Kings.

Nancy B. Brewer

#58. Many people leave the country to see beautiful places. I just look out the window and see some of the most gorgeous scenery ever, right here in the USA.

B.B. King

#59. I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions.

B.B. King

#60. Once in a while, the thumb that fits over the neck of the guitar kinda bothers me a little bit, but not that much yet. I figure in time I won't do much because of my age.

B.B. King

#61. I grew up loving Etta James and Aretha Franklin and Al Green and Otis Redding, and I just love old-school R&B. It's just music that moves you and grooves you, and it was very important, I think, for music.

Elle King

#62. Dr. King's famous 'I Have a Dream' speech was delivered at 'The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom,' a call to justice beyond the traditional civil rights movement's focus.

Charles B. Rangel

#63. Cotton was a force of nature. There's a poetry to it, hoeing and growing cotton.

B.B. King

#64. Be loyal to the royal that is in you, for you are the child of a King.

Harold B. Lee

#65. There was a lot of other young players around at that time when I was coming, but there was older people like Blind Lemon, which was one of my favorites. I don't know, just seemed like everybody I heard could play better than me.

B.B. King

#66. I still love the music and it's still plays a part in what I do but I never 'turned my back' on garage. I was always doing R&B with, say, Walking Away. It's wonderful that I was classed as the king of 2-step and a pioneer, but it's had its turn, I think.

Craig David

#67. The problem is that a lot of the blues stations are late on Saturday night, and like a lot of people, I ain't no vampire!

B.B. King

#68. That's the point. Blood is the point.
B-L-O-O-D I-S T-H-E P-O-I-N-T
If I could bleed out the Crapper into the ring, I'd do it.
If I could bleed out everything that's wrong with my life, I'd bleed until I was empty

A.S. King

#69. 40And b the King will answer them, c 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these d my brothers, [6] you did it to me.

Anonymous

#70. I tried to connect my singing voice to my guitar an' my guitar to my singing voice. Like the two was talking to one another.

B.B. King

#71. Albert King wasn't my brother in blood, but he sure was my brother in Blues

B.B. King

#72. I would actually like to play Bobby Brown. To me, he was just the King of R&B at one point.

Lance Gross

#73. Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore.

B.B. King

#74. When you don't have much money, you worry that they'll just put you in the ground someplace and your loved ones won't know where you are.

B.B. King

#75. The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.

B.B. King

#76. If my fans want to do something for me when that time comes, I say, don't waste your money on me. Help the homeless. Help the needy ... people who don't have no food ... Instead of some big funeral, where they come from here and there and all over. Save it.

B.B. King

#77. I just wonder where I was when the talent was being given out, like George Benson, Kenny Burrell, Eric Clapton ... oh, there's many more! I wouldn't want to be like them, you understand, but I'd like to be equal, if you will.

B.B. King

#78. The black agenda, from Frederick Douglas to Ida B. Wells to Martin King, has always been the most broad, deep, inclusive, embracing agenda of the nation.

Cornel West

#79. There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven't yet done.

B.B. King

#80. God made Blues right after he made woman.

B.B. King

#81. I didn't want to disrespect my parents, so I never played blues around the house. But I knew then, same as I know today, that I wasn't doing anything wrong. I think that before they died, they both felt very proud of me.

B.B. King

#82. Sometimes the proprietors of the little juke joints gave me a couple dollars. I loved that. I'd go back next Saturday.

B.B. King

#83. The crowds treat me like my last name. When I go onstage people usually stand up, I never ask them to, but they do. They stand up and they don't know how much I appreciate it.

B.B. King

#84. A guitar is like an old friend that is there with me.

B.B. King

#85. We look at the legacy of Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells and Ella Baker, Malcolm X and Martin King. We have, and part of the struggle now in the age of [Barack] Obama is how do we keep alive the legacy of Martin King?

Cornel West

#86. Music is good for everybody. They say it soothes the savage beast. Well, I think theirs a beast in all of us. So let's get some more music and soothe all the beasts out there.

B.B. King

#87. I'm more careful about my hands than about what I eat and most anything else, because my hands have been my living. My hands have been able to help me learn. My hands have taken me around the world. So I'm very proud of my hands.

B.B. King

#88. I don't care for the music when they're talking bad about women because I think women are God's greatest gift to the planet - I just like music.

B.B. King

#89. I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man.

B.B. King

#90. I've been married twice. Most women would rather not be married to a traveling blues singer.

B.B. King

#91. As for my band, well, my mentors were Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmie Lunceford, and no one had a band more smartly dressed than Duke.

B.B. King

#92. Breath is the king of mind.

B.K.S. Iyengar

#93. I've seen myself on those lists of the 100 best guitarists, and if they think that I'm that good, thank them. Thank God for them. But I don't think so.

B.B. King

#94. A lot of people believe what other people say.

B.B. King

#95. Janis Joplin sings the blues as hard as any black person.

B.B. King

#96. I've always liked ladies all my life. I guess it started with my mom. So every time I saw a pretty lady, I thought, she's pretty.

B.B. King

#97. I gave you seven children, but now you want to give them back.

B.B. King

#98. I don't like anybody to be angry with me. I'd rather have friends.

B.B. King

#99. In our local Baptist church, I sang in the choir and formed a gospel quartet. When our minister caught me messing with his guitar, he taught me three positions - one, four and five. After that, I taught myself to play.

B.B. King

#100. I have not been a good father, but no father has loved his children more. Like my father, I decided the best thing I could do for my kids was work and provide. Fortunately, I've been able to do that. Unfortunately, my work was on the road, and that's meant a life of one-nighters.

B.B. King