Leon Russell Quotes

I was raised in the Methodist Church, which is a very Germanic, military kind of music they have there. I heard this other music on the radio: Pentecostal. That was right up my street.

- Leon Russell

Other, Very, Which, Germanic

Words have been the most difficult thing for me. Melodies have been the easiest for me; I have more than enough melodies to go around.

- Leon Russell

More, Been, Melodies, Most Difficult Thing

The first canon of my religion is that you shouldn't try to convince anybody to believe like you do.

- Leon Russell

Like, Convince, Anybody, Canon

My chops have always been sort of weak, because the right side of my body was paralyzed a little bit. It was very limiting. I have to design stuff I can play, and it took me a year and a half to figure out how to hold a guitar pick.

- Leon Russell

Play, Been, Very, Chops

One of the features of being a piano player is playing as an accompanist for other people.

- Leon Russell

Piano, Other, Features, Piano Player

When you play with another piano player, it's just second nature to play the parts that need to be played.

- Leon Russell

Nature, Play, Need, Piano Player

I often haven't heard the music since I've recorded it. I don't listen to it. When I do hear it, like at someone's house, I'll listen. I'm probably the most pleased with the stuff I did with New Grass Revival.

- Leon Russell

Music, House, Listen, Revival

I got this book called 'How to Write the Popular Song.' I read that and went through all the things they suggested, and I learned how to do it.

- Leon Russell

Song, Through, Read, Suggested

I played on a few Frank Sinatra sessions.

- Leon Russell

Frank, Few, Played, None

I was on the road with Jerry Lee Lewis when I was 15 - I can't imagine not doing it. That's what I do.

- Leon Russell

Road, Doing, Imagine, Lewis

Apparently I was a Billboard top touring act of 1973, but nobody told me.

- Leon Russell

Top, Act, Apparently, Billboard

Oklahoma was a dry state, and consequently, there was no liquor laws. And I was able to take advantage of that by playing in nightclubs at the age of 14. It was real handy.

- Leon Russell

Dry, Laws, Advantage, Liquor

I'm not as aware of categories in music as some people are. To me it's just music. I'm interested in all kinds of music.

- Leon Russell

People, Some, Kinds, Categories

I'm not so much of a person for causes, unless I specifically - for instance, if it's my cause, or some poor people's, I'll try to help. But you won't find me playing for any peace candidates - or any candidates.

- Leon Russell

Some, Cause, Instance, Specifically

I've always sort of been at odds with radio programmers.

- Leon Russell

Always, Been, Programmers, Odds

I would have to say Sam Cooke is the one I admired most. His artistry and vocal, just the way he did it.

- Leon Russell

Vocal, Artistry, Admired, None

I don't think there's any danger of me playing Indian music. However, I did a song of George Harrison's 'Beware of Darkness' that was kind of like that. That was an illusion. I was playing that on a thumbtack piano, and Jim Gordon was playing tablas. He's an amazing player. That was as close to India as I ever got.

- Leon Russell

Danger, Beware, However, Gordon

When I was in grade school, I had a little duet act with a guy who was a beautiful singer, and somebody recorded it on a wire machine. They played it back for us, and I went, 'I hear Donald, but what is that other ugly voice?' It turned out to be me, of course.

- Leon Russell

Voice, Other, Donald, Duet

Sometimes one misses the sign posts as you're going down the road. They aren't as obvious as they become when you get to the end of the road, so to speak.

- Leon Russell

Sometimes, Going, Sign, Down The Road

I had a band with David Gates. There was just a lot of opportunity at that time. But I left for Los Angeles the week after I graduated high school, and I actually left to try to get into the advertising business. That was really why I went out to L.A. My music career was almost an accident.

- Leon Russell

Career, Week, Almost, Music Career

I have damaged nerve endings on the right side, so my piano style comes from designing stuff I can play with my right hand. And some of it effectively mimics classical stuff.

- Leon Russell

Play, Some, Side, Endings

I belonged to the Columbia Record Club, and that's where my records came from. For some reason, I was in the 'jazz' category. I got Benny Goodman records and Miles Davis, J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, and that kind of stuff. I really was not a jazz guy at all, but I knew some of those names.

- Leon Russell

Reason, Some, Benny, Category

I've always felt I struck out with Doris Day. Her son, Terry Melcher, was a producer I worked for at Columbia, and one day, he asked me to go to her house to play piano on a song she was doing. So I get there, and she has about 30 dogs running around the place - turns out she's a dog rescuer.

- Leon Russell

Play, Doing, One Day, Struck

California always struck me as a police state.

- Leon Russell

Me, Police, Always, Struck

I am happy with what comes, I don't have expectations of any stature.

- Leon Russell

Happy, I Am, I Am Happy, Stature

I scarcely talk to reporters at all.

- Leon Russell

Talk, Reporters, Scarcely

I remember reading 'Catcher in the Rye,' but I don't think I got it.

- Leon Russell

Remember, Think, I Remember, Catcher In The Rye

The Pentecostals had horns, drums, guitars, huge choirs, and screaming and dancing and all kinds of stuff. That was for me.

- Leon Russell

Dancing, Had, Kinds, Guitars

I love bipolar people.

- Leon Russell

Love, People, I Love, Bipolar

I was playing with George Harrison one time, and George loves takes. This song was up to Take 160. I said, 'George, do you want me to play the same thing or 160 different things?' It drove me crazy because, in general, I'm ready to play my part.

- Leon Russell

Play, Part, Same Thing, Different Things

I have a certain amount of difficulty dealing with too much limelight.

- Leon Russell

Difficulty, Dealing, Amount, Limelight

I've grown up on Bob Dylan and all that, but there was a certain standard set up by people before 1955.

- Leon Russell

Before, Standard, Set, None

I started writing rather late in the game. I was fascinated about the story about how Bob Dylan, for 'Nashville Skyline,' wrote between takes. So I'd try to sing new songs off the top of my head. I had rather less than spectacular success on that. But a lot of my songs were done that way.

- Leon Russell

Game, Nashville, Rather, None

I used to write on pads with a pen but had trouble reading the words the next day. Years later, Bob Dylan taught me to just write and write on a laptop computer. Then I'd print that out. When it was time to write a song, I'd go through the pages and sing melodies to words that moved me.

- Leon Russell

Through, Next, Melodies, None

I was with my band at a karaoke bar in Japan when it was very big there, and they got up and made fools of themselves without practicing properly. I didn't understand why they were doing that. It was like they were making fun of the genre by performing badly. But I didn't get up and sing, so I don't know what it feels like.

- Leon Russell

Big, Very, Badly, Fools

The doctor who pulled me out at birth damaged my second and third vertebrae. But without those tugs, I probably would have been a regular guy selling insurance in Texas or something.

- Leon Russell

Insurance, Guy, Been, Regular Guy

I didn't start out to become famous, so when it disappeared, I thought, well, that happens sometimes.

- Leon Russell

Thought, Famous, Sometimes, Disappeared

I am not aware of my public image or what people think of me. I don't evaluate myself that way.

- Leon Russell

Myself, Think, Image, Public Image

Watching yourself on film, if you've never watched yourself on film before, you want to go crawl into bed and stay there for a week.

- Leon Russell

Week, Bed, Before, Crawl

I studied classical music for a long time, maybe 10 years, and I realized finally I was never going to have the hands to play that stuff.

- Leon Russell

Play, Hands, Maybe, Classical Music

I had two parts of my body: my left side, which was strong and somewhat dumb, and the other side was weak and hard to control but perhaps smarter. It gave me a very strong sense of the duality of the plane that we live in.

- Leon Russell

Strong, Very, Plane, Strong Sense

When I was born, I had a birth injury in my second and third vertebrae. It gave me what they called spastic paralysis, which is actually cerebral palsy.

- Leon Russell

Born, I Was Born, Which, Paralysis

It's kind of depressing to make a lot of records and not get the kind of response they deserve.

- Leon Russell

Deserve, Records, Lot, Depressing

My first job in a country band was after I moved to California.

- Leon Russell

California, Country, Moved, First Job

I wish I had gone into industrial plumbing. That's a joke.

- Leon Russell

Wish, I Wish, Industrial, Plumbing

If everybody'd agree to quit using money, I'd be happy to play for free every day for awhile. But I don't play benefits or any kind of fund-raisers. I prefer to play at hospitals, for people who otherwise can't see us. But I can't see playing for causes, whatever the cause may be.

- Leon Russell

Play, Benefits, Hospitals, Awhile

My hobby is silence.

- Leon Russell

Silence, Hobby

Karen Carpenter was just a singularly amazing singer. There was just not anybody like her.

- Leon Russell

Amazing, Her, Singer, Carpenter

I started playing in nightclubs when I was about 14 in Oklahoma.

- Leon Russell

Started, About, Playing, Oklahoma

Actually, I didn't listen to country music very much in Oklahoma. I listened to blues and rock n' roll.

- Leon Russell

Country, Roll, Very, Oklahoma

I used to play on Phil Spector's records, and he liked to use three pianists.

- Leon Russell

Play, Records, Spector, Phil

I really am serious abut catfish farming. I'm very interested in aquaculture.

- Leon Russell

Serious, Very, Interested, Farming

I like the Beatles very much, and there are certain things about the Stones that I like.

- Leon Russell

Like, Very, Certain Things, Stones

There was a period in my life when I was trying to write standards: songs that everybody recorded. I did a pretty good run of it.

- Leon Russell

My Life, Everybody, Period, Recorded

Songwriting was very tough for me... I would go in and sit and hope for inspiration to come, and it was rarely forthcoming.

- Leon Russell

Songwriting, Go, Very, Rarely

My feet are giving out on me. But I have a wheelchair that folds out on my tour bus. I've also got this little tricycle, so if I want to go someplace, I get those out.

- Leon Russell

Feet, Bus, Wheelchair, Someplace

All my writing takes place during the recording of the master tapes. I never do have songs when I start up an album. I actually write them while I record.

- Leon Russell

Start, Album, Tapes, Master

For years and years, I would sit in my studio, and I wouldn't have any inspiration. I'd write one or two songs a year.

- Leon Russell

Studio, Years And Years, One Or Two

When I say I don't get involved in politics, I merely mean that I don't talk to reporters about it.

- Leon Russell

Politics, Mean, Reporters, Merely

I like that old style of country music - it seems to me that a lot of the modern country music is rehashed rock n' roll.

- Leon Russell

Country, Old, Like, Country Music

I'm almost totally politically inactive.

- Leon Russell

Almost, Totally, Politically

I'm happy to have a job. I play a little, write a little, perform some. It's not like it's an engineered, well-manufactured plan or anything. I just do what I do.

- Leon Russell

Play, Some, Like, Engineered

I've avoided the press and a lot of stuff that would have made me more visible just because it's not my style.

- Leon Russell

More, Made, Lot, Visible

All the time I had my success, I didn't know what I was doing. I struggled and struggled and hacked things out without any insight as to why.

- Leon Russell

Doing, Why, Struggled, Hacked

For years, when I was popular, I would face the blank page to write, and I couldn't think of anything that I thought was good enough.

- Leon Russell

Thought, Think, Blank, Blank Page

I'm kind of the Forrest Gump of rock n' roll.

- Leon Russell

Rock, Kind, Roll, Rock N Roll

Both economics and politics are false sciences.

- Leon Russell

Politics, Sciences, False

I was always trying to write standards, songs that anybody can sing. I figured that's where the money was.

- Leon Russell

Money, Trying, Always, Standards

I'm always having people come up to me and say I saved their life - but I don't remember it!

- Leon Russell

Always, Come, Having, Saved

I think probably my main advice to new artists is if you want to be in the music business, you need to be dang serious about it because it's a rough business.

- Leon Russell

Think, New, I Think, Rough

For a couple of years, I'd work from 6 to 11 P.M., then 1 to 5 A.M., and then got up and tried to go to school. That was pretty rough, but I got a lot of experience playing music.

- Leon Russell

Work, Pretty, Couple, Rough

It's like, baseball is a very good game, but it's very difficult to explain to somebody, if you stop and think about it. I just feel my life is like that.

- Leon Russell

My Life, Think, Very, Explain

I started out playing 'Chopsticks.'

- Leon Russell

Out, Started, Playing, Chopsticks

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