As the years went by and technology came in, I used a lot of technology.

Working in bars back then, in the '50s, to get a job you had to play all kinds of music. There'd be customers come in and yell jazz tunes at you and yell rock 'n' roll tunes at you and polkas and rhythm and blues and country music.

People have heard my music, but all my famous songs were made famous by somebody else... But that was my goal.

I was a late bloomer in the music business.

When they say, 'Well, you gotta do some interviews on TV,' I went, 'Oh, I like to watch TV, but I don't wanna be on it.'

There's a couple of songs of my own I wished I'd have never put out, that, you know, I'd like to burn. But with the advent of digital and computer, nothing goes away any more, you know.

What my whole object was is not to really sell records. I was trying to sell songs.

I sing and play guitar, but songwriting is how I pay my rent. And so I didn't really need a lot of publicity to get people to record the songs.

That's kinda what happened to me: I listened to jazz, country, R&B, rock 'n' roll. And when I sat down to write a song, I had all these influences comin' through.

I make my living writing songs and, you know, I'm not a show biz kind of guy.

If a guy came up and said 'we got a polka band and we're going to play polkas next Saturday night' I'd play polkas.

I'm not a household name.

Basically, I'm just a guitar player that figured out I wasn't ever gonna be able to buy dinner with my guitar playing. So I got into songwriting, which is a little more profitable business.

I remember when I made my first album, I was 32 or 33 years old and I thought I was way too old then.

I'm so old, I can remember before rock 'n' roll come along.

What's really nice is when you get a check in the mail.

I've never sold a lot of records.

I think it goes back to me being a recording mixer and engineer. Because of all the technology now you can make music yourself and a lot of people are doing that now. I started out doing that a long time ago and I found when I did that I came up with a unique sound.

I stopped a lot of people who wanted to shove me into the real big time. Your ego wants to say, 'Hey, I'm somebody, man,' but I knew there were many days when I just wanted to be John Cale.

Clapton was just picking up ideas. He picked up some of mine like I picked up some from the people before me.

Send me the money and let the younger guys have the fame.

I've always enjoyed being a Gypsy.

I'm a great believer in freedom of speech.

I consider myself a songwriter... I guess the business end is my songs and the fun part is playing the guitar.

Yes, I've been down the pike and back. And through the years, I've heard different songs with scatting in it, and it was - always cracked me up as kind of a funny style of music, you know? When I did it, it kind of cracked me up as a comedy kind of routine.

Probably the only thing that I really don't like about being an old guy is so many of the people who understand what we know are gone.

That's one of the problems in being a songwriter and living a long time. What you eventually end up doing is you start imitating yourself.

If you write songs long enough, you run out of material that's original to yourself.

Oh, I'm not a very good singer, and that's 'cause I was always embarrassed about my singing.

I was mainly a songwriter; I really wasn't much of a performer.

There are entertainers and there are musicians, and I never was an entertainer.

All record companies want big-selling records, and my music is a little too raw for commercial success.

People are familiar with my songs, especially through Eric Clapton. But I have a hard time drawing a crowd, because I have been a songwriter.

I didn't really get any success till I was 30 years old. I played music when I was young fella, but I didn't really get any success till I was about 30 years old.

Yeah, Lynyrd Skynyrd, I knew all them guys.

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.

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.

Sometimes the simplest forms of music are the hardest to play. Especially for musicians that are accomplished.

Nobody really produces my albums.

I guess if I'd have more of a producer attitude, maybe I'd sell more records. But I'm basically a songwriter.

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.

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.

I've always tried to come up with something that would catch your ear.

I'd say writing songs is, for me, as much playing the tape recorder as it is playing guitar or writing words.

I figure that most people will remember me for the songs I wrote.

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.

I played a lot of nightclubs in and around Tulsa till I was about 22, 24 years old, then I started travellin' around.

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.

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.

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.