QUOTES by J. J. Cale
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Where I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it wasn't the south-east and it wasn't the deep south and it wasn't quite the south-west either.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Playing out in a band all the time at least you made money. Even if you have a hit song, it takes about two years to pay.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I cut all my early records in Nashville, so I guess that makes me country. I call it country pop, but my love of the blues is in there, too.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
The music is the same if you go all the way back to the first albums I made or the middle or whatever. The thing that's different is the lyrics.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
If I was strictly an artist, I'd have to learn to dance and get a shiny suit and stuff.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'm basically a songwriter, man. Songwriters are down in the fine print, you know? And I really enjoy that.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I would never ever sing at all if I could get away with it. I had pitch problems, no range. So what I did was manipulate the sound... that way you couldn't tell that I wasn't very good.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'm a recording studio guy, an engineer, a songwriter and a guitar player, in that order.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'm an electronic manipulator. Most people think J.J. Cale, he's organic. There ain't nothing organic about me.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
A lot of people are coming down on people taking old rock 'n' roll songs and making commercials out of them, but from a songwriter's standpoint, I don't mind because it helps pay my rent.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Ask any guitar player - it's hard to feed yourself when you're picking for a living.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'd do the blues all the time if I could, that's what I'm into. But people just don't like to hear it.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Everybody lives in a city, cause there's not too many people in the small towns who can find work.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
All artists are redundant about their own style; they can't escape themselves.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I always wrote for musicians, especially guitarists. I write songs that people who aren't great virtuosos can play.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'm always doing something that ain't happening, and I'm always happening when there ain't nothing going on.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I've stolen licks from just about every person that ever picked up a guitar. We all borrow from one another; it's called legitimate stealing.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
You never know how people are going to find songs for their records. Sometimes people will hear songs on someone else's record and really like 'em.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Songwriting is just like any other kind of writing - it's either fiction or nonfiction. You can even get into philosophy and politics, which I've done on occasion.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Sometimes I make up songs, and they're just strictly fiction. Other times, I draw on things that have happened in my life or friends, women, all sorts of things.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I wanted to be able to play music, and then when I went out in my private life, my personal life, I didn't want to be famous.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
My performing and my singing leave much to be desired, but having other people record my songs is the most flattering thing that can happen.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I was a studio engineer out in L.A. for about six or seven years, and I played sideman for different people, and played in bar bands. I was an old man of 32 when I made my first album.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I played a lot of nightclubs in and around Tulsa till I was about 22, 24 years old, then I started travellin' around.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Oil was the big business in Tulsa and there was quite a bit of nightlife for a small town. You could never make any money, but you could always find a place to play.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I'd say writing songs is, for me, as much playing the tape recorder as it is playing guitar or writing words.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I've always enjoyed playing. If all it meant were to just stand there and play my axe and sing, I could have gone on forever.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
So, my records really didn't sell, but musicians started picking up on my sound and my songs and cutting my songs and that turned into a gold mine.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
I guess if I'd have more of a producer attitude, maybe I'd sell more records. But I'm basically a songwriter.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
Sometimes the simplest forms of music are the hardest to play. Especially for musicians that are accomplished.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
We used to say when we were 20 years old, that when you reach 30, you gotta hang up your guitar and get a real job.
Quote by -J. J. Cale
From the first album I'm playing bass on a lot of the tunes, and piano on a lot of 'em, and drums, and guitars. I did that on almost every album.
Quote by -J. J. Cale