Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I'm trying to do more. When I'm singing, I don't want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling. B. B King Audience • Good • Melody • Pretty • Singing • Songs • Story • Storytelling • Things • Think • Trying • You
Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning. B. B King Big • Blues • Brother • College • Guy • High • Higher • Jazz • Learning • Play • School
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 Anything • Blues Around • Doing • Felt • House • Me • Parents • Proud • Think • Today • Wrong
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 Friends • Ladies • Music • Planet • Three • Without
I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man. B. B King Blues • Blues Singer • Guitar • Man • Me • Myself • You
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 Camino • Car • Crazy • Hills Near • Live • Me • Mercedes • Nature • Nice • Old • Pictures • Truck • Wildlife
I'm trying to get people to see that we are our brother's keeper. Red, white, black, brown or yellow, rich or poor, we all have the blues. B. B King Black • Blues • Brother • People • Poor • Red • Rich • White • Yellow
I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions. B. B King Connect • Emotions • Guitar • Human • Wanted
I developed in my head that I'm never any better than my last concert or the last time I played, so it's like an audition each time. You get nervous just before going onstage. I still have that, but I think it's more like concern. You're concerned about the people – like meeting your in-laws for the first time. B. B King Better • Concern • First Time • Head • Inlaws • Last • Last Concert • Nervous • Onstage • People • Think • Time • You
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 Blues • Job • Kind • Living • Love • Road
People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die. B. B King Blues • Die • People • Problems • World
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so. B. B King Anyone • Be Yourself • Care • Doing • Idols • You • Yourself
Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore. B. B King Anymore • Blue • Blues • Play • Then • Tonic • Whatever • You
The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. B. B King Away • Beautiful • Beautiful Thing • Learning • Nobody • You
When people treat you mean, you dislike them for that, but not because of their person, who they are. I was born and raised in a segregated society, but when I left there, I had nobody I disliked other than the people that'd mistreated me, and that only lasted for as long as they were mistreating me. B. B King Born • Me • Nobody • People • Person • Segregated Society • Society • Treat • You
When we went into World War II, I was a tractor driver then. I drove tractors on the plantation. So when they start calling people my age, 18, up, I was one they called. B. B King Age • People • Plantation • Start • Tractor Driver • Up • War • War II • World
Growing up on the plantation there in Mississippi, I would work Monday through Saturday noon. I'd go to town on Saturday afternoons, sit on the street corner, and I'd sing and play. B. B King Corner • Growing • Growing Up • Mississippi • Monday • Plantation • Play • Saturday • Saturday Afternoons • Sit • Town • Work
If you can't get your songs to people one way, you have to find another. B. B King Another • Find • Get • People • Songs • Way • You • Your
I've said that playing the blues is like having to be black twice. Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed. B. B King Black • Black Twice • Blues • Counts • Missed • Music • Never • Said • Vaughan
The blues was like that problem child that you may have had in the family. You was a little bit ashamed to let anybody see him, but you loved him. You just didn't know how other people would take it. B. B King Bit • Blues • Child • Family • Little • Loved • People • Problem • Problem Child
You've heard me call myself a bluesman and a blues singer. I call myself a blues singer, but you ain't never heard me call myself a blues guitar man. Well, that's because there's been so many can do it better'n I can, play the blues better'n me. I think a lot of them have told me things, taught me things. B. B King Better • Blues • Blues Singer • Bluesman • Guitar • Lot • Man • Many • Me • Myself • Taught • Things • Think • You
Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do, and then just go for it. B. B King Everything • Go • Go For It • Me • Songs • Sound • Suit • Try
I bought my first electric guitar when I moved to Memphis; a Gibson with a DeArmond pickup which I used with a small Gibson amplifier. B. B King DeArmond • Electric Guitar • First • Gibson • Guitar • Memphis • Pickup • Small • Used
My wife Martha used to call me Ol' Lemon Face because of my facial contortions when I play Lucille. I squeeze my eyes and open my mouth, raise my eyebrows, cock my head and God knows what else. I look like I'm in torture, when in truth, I'm in ecstasy. I don't do it for show. Every fiber of my being is tingling. B. B King Contortions • Ecstasy • Every • Eyebrows • Eyes • Face • Facial • Fiber • God • Head • Lemon • Martha • Me • Mouth • Ol • Show • Torture • Truth • Wife
Water from the white fountain didn't taste any better than from the black fountain. B. B King Better • Black • Fountain • Water • White • White Fountain
I almost chopped my thumb off once. Just before I left home, I was about ten or eleven years old, and I was trying to open a bone. Can you imagine that? A bone! I was trying to get the marrow out of a bone, and I took the ax, and I went to chop it, and something slipped, and the ax went right down there and damn near cut it off. B. B King Bone • Down • Home • Marrow • Old • Once • Open • Right • Trying • Years • You
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 Big • Fans • Food • Funeral • Homeless • Me • Money • Needy People • People • Something • Time • Time Comes
Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there! B. B King Die • Everybody • Get • Go • Heaven • One • Wants
A lot of people believe what other people say. B. B King Believe • Lot • Other • People • People Believe • People Say • Say
I never wanted to be like other blues singers. I might like hearing them play, but I've never wanted to be anyone other than myself. There are a few people that I've wished I could play like, but when I tried, it didn't work. B. B King Anyone • Blues • Myself • Never • People • Play • Singers • Work
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 Able • Anything • Eat • Hands • Help • Me • Proud • World
I don't think anybody steals anything; all of us borrow. B. B King Anybody • Anybody Steals • Anything • Borrow • Think • Us
The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I'll keep playing until I feel like I can't. B. B King Good • Health • Myself • People • Today • Way
Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin', too. B. B King Could • Jivin • Me • Mother • Nobody • She • Too
I've been married twice. Most women would rather not be married to a traveling blues singer. B. B King Blues • Blues Singer • Rather • Singer • Twice • Women
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 Always • Every Night • Favorite • Favorite Song • Like • Mind • Nelson • Night • Song • Story • Version • Willie
I don't like anybody to be angry with me. I'd rather have friends. B. B King Anger • Angry • Anybody • Friends • Like • Me • Rather
If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money. B. B King Down • Dress • Good • Good Blues Singer People • Money • People • You
I think of guitar players in terms of doctors: you have the doctor for your heart, the cardiologist, then one that works on your feet, your leg. But I believe George Benson is the one that plays all over. To me, he would be the M.D. of them all. B. B King Cardiologist • Doctor • Doctors • Feet • George Benson • Guitar • Guitar Players • Heart • Me • One • Plays • Terms • Think
It seems like I always had to work harder than other people. Those nights when everybody else is asleep, and you sit in your room trying to play scales. B. B King Always • Everybody • Harder • Nights • People • Play • Scales • Trying • Work • You
When I was in the country and I was trying to play, nobody seemed to pay too much attention to me. People used to say, 'That's just that ole blues singer.' B. B King Attention • Blues • Blues Singer • Country • Me • Much • Nobody • Ole • People • Trying
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 Ground Someplace • Know • Loved • Money • Much • Where • Worry • You
I guess you can look at me, and tell I'm the old man. My name is BB King. B. B King BB King • King • Look • Man • Me • Name • Old Man • You
There are so many sounds I still want to make, so many things I haven't yet done. B. B King Done • Many • Many Sounds • Sounds • Still • Things • Want
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 Burrell • Clapton • Equal • Eric • George Benson • Kenny • Talent • Understand • Wonder • You
I don't try to just be a blues singer – I try to be an entertainer. That has kept me going. B. B King Blues • Blues Singer • Entertainer • Going • Just Be • Me • Singer • Try
My mother was a very beautiful lady, I thought. She was very good to me. I guess – she died when I was nine and a half, but if she had lived, I probably wouldn't be trying to play guitar. She wanted me to be known, but as something else. Not a guitar player. B. B King Beautiful • Good • Guitar • Half • Known • Lady • Me • Mother • Nine • Player • She • Something
B. B King
