
“If you hand me a guitar, I'll play the blues. That's the place I automatically go.”
As quoted in "Shred on Arrival" in Guitar World (November 1993).
“If you hand me a guitar, I'll play the blues. That's the place I automatically go.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
John Lennon interview with Rolling Stone magazine (December 1970)
Context: When I was about twelve, I used to think I must be a genius, but nobody's noticed. Either I'm a genius or I'm mad, which is it? "No," I said, "I can't be mad because nobody's put me away; therefore I'm a genius." Genius is a form of madness and we're all that way. But I used to be coy about it, like me guitar playing. But if there's such a thing as genius — I am one. And if there isn't, I don't care.
“I'll tell you one thing, though. It's a terrible thing to be a disappointment to a good woman.”
Upon being asked by Brian Reade if money and success have gone to his head, quoted in "The Awkward Conscience of a Nation" in The Daily Mirror (3 November 2003) - Full text available at Highbeam Research (paysite) http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-109560361.html <!-- an interview http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/content_objectid=13583626_method=full_siteid=50143_headline=-THE-AWKWARD-CONSCIENCE-OF-A-NATION-name_page.html DEAD LINK as of 2007·06·19 -->
2003
Context: I'm going to do damage with it. I'll make sure that my work gets out. That no publisher will ever be able to tell me to take things out. Because I'll put it out myself. The more money I earn, the less they can stop me. Where I come from it's called fuck you money because I don't have to take an ounce of shit from anybody.
My Heart Will Always Be The B-Side To My Tongue (2004), Ultimate Guitar Interview (2008)
On female guitarists, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8EKTGlQp-c, 2016