I think my interviews were much better than what some of the writers wrote. I just wanted the truth out.
You don't just go to the studio and say, 'I'm going to write a hit.' It becomes a hit when people like your compositions.
I didn't connect with the kids. I was in the studio. I never saw the kids. I hoped they liked it, of course. And then I'd go write some more. And then I'd go buy me a home. Very American.
I always want to play the songs that people want to hear.
I just feel I got my inspiration, education and all from others that came before me. And I added my... I don't even know if I added anything. I played what they played, and it sounded different, I guess.
Chuck Berry doesn't give interviews.
In a way, I feel it might be ill-mannered to try and top myself. The music I play is a ritual. Something that matters to people in a special way. I wouldn't want to interfere with that.
A song is a song. But there are some songs, ah, some songs are the greatest. The Beatles song 'Yesterday.' Listen to the lyrics.
My music is simple stuff. Anybody can sit down, look at a set of symbols and produce sounds the music represents.
I added and deleted according to the audiences' response to different gestures, and chose songs to build an act that would constantly stimulate my audience.
My 12th was my most Christian and most boring year of my life. Try as I did, day after day, to cling to righteousness, I was washed down in suds of sinful surroundings.
I've written songs on everything. Menus. Napkins. Little pieces of paper.
You know, your ears record. You might can sing a song once you hear it.
The media dresses things up. There's a lot of inaccuracy.
If you're going to be mad, at least let the people know what you're mad about.
It amazes me when I hear people say, 'I want to go out and find out who I am.' I always knew who I was. I was going to be famous if it killed me.
What kind of shorts I wear has nothing to do with music.
One of my realizations is that if you revel over joy, you're going to ache over pain and get killed over hurt. Your span of feelings are going to go just as far one way as the other.
A contract is an ask game, and if it asks for an hour, and I submit to an hour, then it's an hour. When I look at a contract, I look at the obligation - where, when, how long, the compensation. If I agree to it, that's the way it is. I have an obligation. They have an obligation.
That's all there was in our house: poetry and choir rehearsal and duets and so forth; I listened to Dad and Mother discuss things about poetry and delivery and voice and diction - I don't think anyone could know how much it really means.
The world has done nothing to me that I haven't done with the world.
I'm thankful for performing as long as I am allowed.
Listening to Nat Cole prompted me to sing sentimental songs with distinct diction.
Rock 'n' roll accepted me and paid me, even though I loved the big bands... I went that way because I wanted a home of my own. I had a family. I had to raise them. Let's don't leave out the economics. No way.
I should have been a son of Einstein.
Don't let the same dog bite you twice.
People said I was king, but I was never king, and I say I'm the prime minister.
I grew up thinking art was pictures until I got into music and found I was an artist and didn't paint.
It's amazing how much you can learn if your intentions are truly earnest.
Of the five most important things in life, health is first, education or knowledge is second, and wealth is third. I forget the other two.
I directed my music to the teen-agers. I was 30 years old when I did 'Maybellene.' My school days had long been over when I did 'School Day,' but I was thinking of them.
If I wasn't a musician, I'd take up the law. They are the rottenest, wealthiest people in America.
Science and religion are both the same thing. They're there; they're life. If it's not science, it's not a fact.
Everything I wrote about wasn't about me, but about the people listening.
Charlie Christian played amplified guitar with Benny Goodman's quartet. He was the greatest guitar player that ever was. But he never looked up from the guitar. But I put a little dance to it. They appreciate seein' something along with hearin' something.
I don't want the bottom, so I have to sacrifice the top.
What the heck is a king? I'm a cog in the wheel.
Maybe it is true what they say, that playing these Chuck Berry songs is easy. But try singing them. The words come out hard, like bullets.
There had to be a market in order for you to be successful in a business. The market had to need your business, or the product of it.
I would sing the blues if I had the blues.
Music is science. Everything is science. Because science is truth.
It's not me to toot my horn. The minute you toot your horn, it seems like society will try and disconnect your battery. And if you do not toot your horn, they'll try their darnedest to give you a horn to toot, or say that you should have a horn.
I eat meat daily. I'm not Jewish. I'm not Arabic. What's the kind of person that doesn't eat meat? That's right - I'm not a vegetarian.
I used to work at Kroger's. When the store opened, you were there. When I worked in an automobile plant, you punched in. So it showed if you were a minute late. If you have a paid job, you show up.
Rather than have joy, I would rather be absent of pain.
If you want to release your aggression, get up and dance. That's what rock and roll is all about.
Music should be made to make people forget their problems, if only for a short while.
I have lots of ambition!
Respect isn't enough. You've got to have a proprietary interest.
