If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money.
B. B. KingRead
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.
Interpretation
Embrace your influences but remain true to yourself.
This quote by B. B. King emphasizes the importance of having role models and influences in our lives while also reminding us that authenticity is essential. It signifies that while we can be inspired by others, our unique identity should always shine through in our actions and expressions.
In practice
In a speech about following your passion in music and staying true to your sound.
If you want to be a good blues singer, people are going to be down on you, so dress like you're going to the bank to borrow money.
The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I'll keep playing until I feel like I can't.
Everything I record, I just try to sound like me and come up with songs that suit what I do and then just go for it. I never know what the public's going to like, anyway.
A guitar is like an old friend that is there with me.
I have not been a good father, but no father has loved his children more. Like my father, I decided the best thing I could do for my kids was work and provide. Fortunately, I've been able to do that. Unfortunately, my work was on the road, and that's meant a life of one-nighters.
People all over the world have problems. And as long as people have problems, the blues can never die.
You start out playing rock 'n' roll so you can have sex and do drugs, but you end up doing drugs so you can still play rock 'n' roll and have sex.
Rock 'n' roll offered me a platform to speak what I felt. It also offered me a platform to support my mama and my brothers and sisters - twelve children.
The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.
The idea of being a rock and roll musician sort of suited my talents and mentality. The freedom was great, but then I found out I wasn't free. I'd got boxed in...The whole Beatle thing is just beyond comprehension ... subconsciously I was crying for help.
For me as a songwriter, I love when other people cover my songs.
We are all spirits. We get depressed. But music makes you want to live. I know my music has saved my life.
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