“I’m actually better on the guitar than when I started, I think, because I’ve had so much time with it and I still practice and I love to do it and I love to sing.”

You were the one who made things different, you were the one who took me in. You were the one thing I could count on, above all, you were my friend.

Every verse a diamond, every chorus gold, the sound was my salvation. It was only everything, before money became king.

Even the losers get lucky sometimes. Even the losers keep a little bit of pride. They get lucky sometimes.

You get into your late fifties, people start falling like flies all around you. I don’t take life for granted any more. I’m really glad to be here.

You need eagles wings to get over things that make no sense in this world.

I had the radio on, I was driving. Trees flew by, me and Del were singing, Little Runaway, I was flying.

You believe what you want to believe. You see, you don’t have to live like a refugee.

I’ll stand my ground and I won’t back down.

I’m not any happier anywhere than when I’m in the studio. I’m over the moon about it. It keeps me young, it keeps me feeling like I have some purpose.

My sister got lucky, married a yuppie, and took him for all he was worth. Now she’s a swinger dating a singer, I can’t decide which is worse.

I should have known right then it was too good to last, God, it’s such a drag when you’re livin’ in the past

I love history, doesn’t matter what era, I’m fascinated.

I think to be successful you have to work really hard but you also have to have a little bit of luck.

If you don’t run, you rust.

At twilight time the smog makes a rainbow.

Yeah, the world would swing if I were king. Can I help it if I still dream time to time?

Didn’t want to be a star, wanted just to play guitar in this cockamamie business.

I thought Eric Clapton was good. He still is. Not only is he good – he’s rock’s #1 guitarist, and he plays blues better than most of us.

It doesn’t really matter what chords I play, what words I say or time of day it is, as it’s only a Northern Song.

Give me a guitar and I’ll play; give me a stage and I’ll perform; give me an auditorium and I’ll fill it.

The stainless-steel frets were a major breakthrough, because of the amount of playing and bending that I do. I have to get my guitars refretted every couple of months.

I am, and always will be, a blues guitarist.

The first guitar I ever had was a gut-string Spanish guitar, and I couldn’t really get the hang of it. I was only 13, and I talked my grandparents into buying it for me. I tried and tried and tried, but got nowhere with it.

There’s such a wealth of arts and styles within the guitar… flamenco, jazz, rock, blues. You name it, it’s there. In the early days my dream was to fuse all those styles. Now composing has become just as important.