B. B. King Quotes

American - Musician September 16, 1925 - May 14, 2015

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. - B. B. King

The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you. B. B. King

Learning, Beautiful, You, Nobody, Away

Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you. I could play the blues and then not be blue anymore. B. B. King

Blue, You, Play, Blues, Whatever, Then

I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions. B. B. King

Guitar, Emotions, Human, Connect, Wanted

I'm trying to get people to see that we are our brother's keeper. Red, white, black, brown or yellow, rich or poor, we all have the blues. B. B. King

Black, Red, Brother, Yellow, People

People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die. B. B. King

People, World, Die, Problems, Long, Over

Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning. B. B. King

Learning, School, Brother, College, Play

I have a nice car, a Mercedes. And then I have an old El Camino truck that I'm crazy about. I like to get in that truck and go up in the hills near where I live, in Vegas, and take my camera. That, to me, is Heaven, being out in nature, taking pictures of the wildlife. B. B. King

Nature, Car, Live, Crazy, Me, Camera

If my fans want to do something for me when that time comes, I say, don't waste your money on me. Help the homeless. Help the needy... people who don't have no food... Instead of some big funeral, where they come from here and there and all over. Save it. B. B. King

Time, Food, Money, Me, People, Homeless

If there was no ladies, I wouldn't wanna be on the planet. Ladies, friends, and music - without those three, I wouldn't wanna be here. B. B. King

Music, Friends, Three, Without, Here

Water from the white fountain didn't taste any better than from the black fountain. B. B. King

Black, Water, Better, White, Taste, Than

Everybody wants to go to Heaven, but no one wants to die to get there! B. B. King

Die, Heaven, Go, Get, Everybody, Wants

If you can't get your songs to people one way, you have to find another. B. B. King

People, You, Way, Find, Your, Songs

We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so. B. B. King

Yourself, Be Yourself, You, Care, Play

I would sit on the street corners in my hometown of Indianola, Mississippi, and I would play. And, generally, I would start playing gospel songs. People would come by on the street - you live in Time Square, you know how they do it - they would bunch up. And they would always compliment me on gospel tunes, but they would tip me when I played blues. B. B. King

Time, Live, Me, People, You, Hometown

Even now, at 82 years old, if I don't learn something every day, you know what I think? It's a day lost. Now, I don't practice every day. I just take the guitar, swear at it. But I should be swearing at myself. But I fool with music. I'm doing something musically all the time. And my ears are wide open for anything I can hear. B. B. King

Myself, Music, Time, Day, Guitar, Fool

I've put up with more humiliation than I care to remember. B. B. King

Care, Remember, More, Up, Than, Put

Growing up on the plantation there in Mississippi, I would work Monday through Saturday noon. I'd go to town on Saturday afternoons, sit on the street corner, and I'd sing and play. B. B. King

Work, Monday, Growing Up, Street, Play

Sometimes I just think that there are more things to be said to make the audience understand what I'm trying to do more. When I'm singing, I don't want you to just hear the melody. I want you to relive the story, because most of the songs have pretty good storytelling. B. B. King

Good, Singing, Think, You, Understand

I bought my first electric guitar when I moved to Memphis; a Gibson with a DeArmond pickup which I used with a small Gibson amplifier. B. B. King

Guitar, Small, First, Used, Electric

Cotton was a force of nature. There's a poetry to it, hoeing and growing cotton. B. B. King

Nature, Poetry, Growing, Force, Cotton

Do I love the road? Honestly? No - but it's how I earn my living. I also don't have the blues, like it's some kind of fever. The blues is my job. It's what I do. B. B. King

Love, Job, Road, Blues, Fever, Living

Whenever I'm in Kansas City, I think back to all the jazz-blues greats who played the blues here - like Count Basie, Charlie Parker and Jay McShann. I watched those guys jam in different places and heard a lot of things - but I couldn't do what they did. They were too good. B. B. King

Good, City, Think, Back, Blues, Places

I was born on a plantation, and things weren't so good. We didn't have any money. I never thought of the word 'poor' 'til I got to be a man, but when you live in a house that you can always peek out of and see what kind of day it is, you're not doing so well. And your rest room is not inside the house. B. B. King

Good, Man, Day, Money, Live, Thought

Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin', too. B. B. King

Mother, Me, Nobody, She, Too, Could

Growing up, I was taught that a man has to defend his family. When the wolf is trying to get in, you gotta stand in the doorway. B. B. King

Family, Man, You, Stand, Growing Up, Up

I developed in my head that I'm never any better than my last concert or the last time I played, so it's like an audition each time. You get nervous just before going onstage. I still have that, but I think it's more like concern. You're concerned about the people - like meeting your in-laws for the first time. B. B. King

Time, People, Think, Meeting, You, Never

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