Everybody started callin' my music rock and roll, but it wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playin' down in New Orleans.Collection: Music
Some people say music's good for the soul and I believe that's right.Collection: Music
There are a lot of people that have followed my career, and that's something I'm really thankful for.Collection: Thankful
Teens always heard my music with their hearts. The beat was just happy. It didn't have color or hidden meaning.Collection: Music
I don't know why music should make people want to fight. It always makes me happy.Collection: Music
Rock 'n' Roll is just New Orleans rhythm and blues under a new name. It's got that Dixieland beat and that's what sells records.
I play the same for 60 people as I do for 6,000. I used to play in front of 60,000 people. No difference. Just play and sing.
I was lucky enough to write songs that carry a good beat and tell a real story that people could feel was their story, too - something that old people or the kids could both enjoy.
I used to work in a lumberyard and that's where I first heard a number on a jukebox and I liked it. It was a piano number. It was called 'Swanee River Boogie' by Albert Ammonds.
My music is a very simple type, and that's why the kids have no trouble understanding it. They don't want to figure out what a musician does; they want to feel it.
Some 'people' think I'm a great singer. They don't know nothin'. I ain't no singer; I just talk in time with the beat and on pitch. That ain't singin'; that's talkin'.
I have a hard time pleasing myself with my songs. I have to do them over and over until I think I got them right. I'm always finding fault, but the people seem to like them. I always figure I can do something different that I wouldn't have already. I may not be right, but I don't want to be too far wrong.
When I was just starting out, I had $3,700 saved up. I went to Nashville on a job and saw this diamond ring in a window that cost $3,650. I took the money out of my savings account and bought it, 'cause I just had to have it.
My music doesn't cause teen-age riot. There have been fights ever since there have been dances. They just publicize the trouble when rock 'n' roll is playing.
I try to make it so people understand me. I don't try to make it so people don't understand me. I want them to hear the words.
My wife has never been any place I played. She doesn't like ballrooms and, me, I'm crazy about them.
I guess my favorite is 'Blue Monday,' but that wasn't my biggest seller. The biggest was 'Blueberry Hill' and that's the one I get the most requests for. I can't get through a show without doing it once, and sometimes twice.
I love being on stage. I just wish all the musicians would like it like I do. I could stay out there three hours if the sound was good and the people were liking it.
I play my music the same way because people expect it to sound exactly the way it does on the radio.
Well, I wouldn't want to say that I started it (rock 'n' roll), but I don't remember anyone else before me playing that kind of stuff.Collection: Rocks
Everybody started calling my music rock and roll, but it wasn't anything but the same rhythm and blues I'd been playing down in New Orleans.Collection: New Orleans
A lot of fellows nowadays have a B.A., M.D., or Ph.D. Unfortunately, they don't have a J.O.B.Collection: Inspirational
Clean living keeps me in shape. Righteous thoughts are my secret. And New Orleans home cooking.Collection: Home
I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill.Collection: Thrill
I traveled all over for about 50 years, I love a lot of places and I've been a lot of places, but I just don't care to leave home.Collection: Home