I'll just tell you the way it is. You ask me what time it is and I'm gonna tell you how to build a clock..

My philosophy is the thicker the wood the thicker the sound, the bigger the string the bigger the sound. My smallest string is a 14 gauge..

My uncle gave me a trumpet, but I loved the Louis Armstrong sound and the Harry James sound and I played by ear and I played always soulful or very d….

You know, music is sex. It's a sensual driving mode that affects people if it's played a certain way..

I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me..

I'll never die. I'll just explode, right there before your eyes, onstage..

I almost had to have my leg amputated because of an infection..

I'm constantly being influenced by the soul that's directly in front of me..

Every time I went into the studio some engineer tried to impress me with how they're going to capture my sound with all kinds of tricks. But they lim….

I used to be a mean maniac. Someone once threw a firecracker at a show and I jumped off the side of the stage and whacked 'em on the side of the head..

I don't play pyrotechnic scales. I play about frustration, patience, anger. Music is an extension of my soul..

I always felt people should live with animals..

I've got holes in my guitar..

You can't eat fish. It's 6,000 parts DDT per million all over the world, not counting radiation..

As a little kid I had a girlfriend, and her boyfriend used to beat me up, so then I used to sing these songs, and that's what it's all about. Country….

Jimi was a good guy 'til he got into drugs. That's the way it is. I just tell it like it is..

Every song is like a painting..

Music is an attitude. It's a sensation to the average person, to the human being. And keep it simple, stupid. That's always been my theory..

The kids called me King of the Surf Guitar. I surfed sunup to sundown..

I grew a love for helpless, defenseless things. People would give me lions and jaguars. I had cheetahs, monkeys..

I always wanted a guitar. I always wanted to be a cowboy singer because I also listened to Hank Williams, and he would always sing these neat romanti….