“You see, to me, the art of music is listening to it, not playing it. The real art of it is hearing it.”

[John] Belushi was an extreme experience even by my standards.

This is the rock ‘n’ roll life, and you had to invent it as you went along. There was no textbook to say how you operate this machinery.

Nobody wants to get old, but nobody wants to die young either.

I looked upon myself, in a sort of romantic and silly way, as like a laboratory.

It’s an addiction and addiction is something I should know something about.

You’ve got the sun, you’ve got the moon, and you’ve got the Rolling Stones.

If you say I’m great, thank you very much. But I know what I am. I could be better, man, you know?

Yes, I’ve been trepanned. That’s quite an interesting experience, especially for my brain surgeon, who saw my thoughts flying around in my brain.

You know, the BBC had not been particularly generous in its deliverance of blues and esoteric kinds of music.

Some people think I’m a mythical genius, others think I’m a junkie madman.

The idea of retiring is like killing yourself. It’s almost like Hari Kari. I intend to live to a 100 and go down in history.

I don’t encourage anybody to do what I do, you know? Why should you? More for me!

You get onstage and make other people feel happy. Make them feel good.

I’ve never had a problem with drugs. I’ve had problems with the police.

You can’t accuse me of anything I haven’t already confessed to.

Anything you throw yourself into, you better get yourself out of.

I didn’t follow the standard rules of bass playing, and many musicians on many different instruments who became noteworthy for their unique or particular style did a very similar thing.

Musicians want to be the loud voice for so many quiet hearts.

Historically, musicians know what it is like to be outside the norm – walking the high wire without a safety net. Our experience is not so different from those who march to the beat of different drummers.

Bob Dylan is quite a songwriter, and a great singer and musician. I won’t bother with comparing myself to him, but I will say that I heard his records at a very young age and I still listen to all his records.

I didn’t write any music at all, and then, I remember Jon Anderson being very insistent saying that there were two kinds of musicians: the ones who wrote music and the ones who didn’t.

I’m 90% performer, 10% musician. I’ve always said that Gossip are a band I would go see, not a band I would listen to.

Like family, we are tied to each other. This is what all good musicians understand.

Musicians now find themselves in the unlikely position of being legitimate. At least the IRS thinks so.