“Jeff Lynne is an arranger, and I think it’s probably much easier for him to go ahead and play a part himself than to try to show somebody else what he wants. But it’s hard for me to say; I barely know Jeff.”

Fortunately, as we all know, it’s impossible for anybody but Jimmy Smith to really sound like Jimmy Smith.

I think we’ve always been better live.

Sometimes you work with somebody you’ve never heard of because you just feel like working.

I think I drift toward sad love songs.

I’m playing 10 feet from Mike Campbell every night. I look across the stage, there’s Howie. Tom’s in the middle and we’re playing all this stuff I love. It’s great.

If you call attention to yourself at the expense of the song, that’s the cardinal sin.

We started with Denny Cordell, and he was a great record producer. He knew exactly how to take a band that knew absolutely nothing, and guide you without trying to tell you what to do.

I got to play on a couple of records with the Rolling Stones, and that was really special to me.

Working with Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson takes you up another level.

I try to find little things that you can do to move the song along and things that serve the song.

You can go crazy and play solos in the right place, and that’s great because it can intensify and bring an emotional lift. But the thing is you don’t want to get in the way of the song.

I loved working with Bob Dylan.

It’s an exhilarating play, and you come off tired, but thrilled.

I think I do too, but I’m more of a first position strummer guy with a little bit of filigree work. I could listen to him for hours; I could listen to myself playing solo for about half an hour!

I’ve been playing the drums since age nine.

It is the constant and undying hope for improvement that makes golf so exquisitely worth playing.

Im not one for showing off. But I guess my guitar-playing sticks out.

I am comfortable playing the fool, I think.

I love being on the road, I love playing.

Before the 11th of September, in my discussions with many officials of the United States, some of them are Congressmen, I used to say that “don’t deal with terrorists as playing games.” It’s a different story. You’re going to pay the price if you’re not wise in dealing with terrorists.