When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you.
I never plan anything, which is probably the difference between Mick and myself. Mick needs to know what he’s gonna do tomorrow and I’m just happy to wake up to see who’s hanging around. Mick’s rock and I’m roll.
What Muddy Waters did for us is what we should do for others. It’s the old thing, what you want written on your tombstone as a musician: ‘He passed it on.’
And then I think we realized, like any young guys, that blues are not learned in a monastery. You’ve got to go out there and get your heart broke and then come back and then you can sing the blues.
