Roy Wood Quotes

Powerful Roy Wood for Daily Growth

About Roy Wood

Roy Wood (born October 18, 1946) is an influential English musician, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, best known for his work with The Move, Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), and Wizzard. Born in Birmingham, England, Wood grew up in a musically inclined family and developed a passion for music at an early age. He learned to play the trumpet, trombone, and saxophone before turning his attention to guitar. In 1964, Wood co-founded The Move with fellow musicians Trevor Burton, Chris Jenkins, and Bev Bevan. The band quickly rose to fame in the UK during the mid-1960s with hits like "I Can Hear the Grass Grow" and "Flowers in the Rain." Their energetic performances and innovative sound blended elements of rock, psychedelia, and pop, making them a major force in British music. In 1970, Wood left The Move to form Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) with Jeff Lynne and Richard Tandy. ELO's fusion of classical arrangements with pop-rock sounds led to commercial success with albums like "No Answer" (1976), which spawned the hit single "Telephone Line," and "Out of the Blue" (1977), one of the best-selling albums of the decade. Wood's solo career took off in 1973 with the release of the Christmas classic "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday" under the pseudonym Wizzard. The song remains a staple of the holiday season to this day. Throughout his career, Wood has been recognized for his contributions to music, receiving an Ivor Novello Award in 1974 for Outstanding Song Collection and being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Move in 2010. His influential work continues to resonate with audiences today.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing."

This quote, attributed to Socrates (not Roy Wood), emphasizes humility and openness to learning. It suggests that acknowledging one's own lack of comprehensive knowledge is a sign of intellectual maturity and encourages ongoing curiosity and inquiry. In other words, the more we learn, the more we realize how much there is still to discover.

"Music is the language of the spirit. It covers all the emotions."

This quote suggests that music, like a universal language, transcends barriers and communicates our deepest emotions and feelings. It's a powerful medium through which we can express and understand complex human experiences such as joy, sorrow, love, anger, hope, fear, and peace. Music has the ability to stir the soul and resonate on a profound level with its listeners.

"I believe that music should be an expression of who you are as a person and what's happening in your life."

Roy Wood suggests that music is a reflection of one's personal identity and experiences. Music created from this perspective can communicate emotions, thoughts, and perspectives unique to the artist, making it an intimate and engaging expression of their inner world. This quote emphasizes the importance of authenticity in music creation, as each individual's life story imbues their work with a distinctive essence that resonates deeply with listeners.

"You don't really write songs, they come to you - you're just the medium."

This quote implies that songwriting isn't a purely human creative process; instead, it suggests that inspiration or ideas for songs are received or "come" to the writer, and their role is merely to act as a conduit or medium through which these ideas flow. It emphasizes that the artist is not solely responsible for the creation of the work but serves as a vessel for the manifestation of an idea or emotion from beyond themselves.

"The important thing is to keep on reaching for the stars."

This quote by Roy Wood emphasizes the importance of persistent striving towards aspirations, no matter how lofty they may seem. It encourages us not to settle or rest on our laurels, but rather to continue pushing ourselves beyond our current limits and reach for greatness in whatever field we're engaged in. The "stars" symbolize goals, dreams, or ambitions that stretch our abilities and inspire us to grow. This sentiment reminds us to maintain optimism, determination, and a growth mindset as we navigate through life.

I think it was probably down to the fact that we weren't together personally as a band. We weren't pulling in the same direction. I always feel if you're having a good time in the studio it actually comes across on the tape and that was a bit of a miserable album for us.

- Roy Wood

Fact, I Think, Studio, Album

Well, obviously I wanted it to sound as original as possible. I suppose the influences that we had were probably from the actual power point of view we wanted to be like the Who. Vocally we wanted to be like the Beach Boys, whatever was good at the time.

- Roy Wood

Point Of View, Sound, Had, The Who

To me, 'Blackberry Way' stands up as a song that could be sung in any era, really. We do it with the new doing all sort of fanfare things in it and it works really well. It goes down great with audiences.

- Roy Wood

Song, Doing, New, Blackberry

I've always been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde. I always feel that you should keep singles as commercial as possible so that the people can walk down the road and whistle a song. But on the other hand on albums I think you can afford to show people what you can do.

- Roy Wood

Other, Commercial, Been, Down The Road

Even though we didn't actually record it as the Move I had already written a song called 'Dear Elaine', which I subsequently put on the Boulders album. I thought at the time that was probably the best song I'd written.

- Roy Wood

Song, Move, Which, Subsequently

Of course, the wind sort of swept up and the music was flying around in mid air and they were trying to play off it. You had to be there. It was quite funny.

- Roy Wood

Play, Swept, Mid, Wind

The best thing I ever heard was in the '60s. I heard Jimi Hendrix play 'I Can Hear The Grass Grow' after a rehearsal, and it was brilliant.

- Roy Wood

Play, Grow, Brilliant, Hendrix

When we did a lot of that Motown stuff there were four of us on the front line. When we started the evening we'd start from one end of the band and just go along. The lead singer would change all the time. That's the first time that I actually managed to put it into a record.

- Roy Wood

Singer, Line, Put, Evening

When we were first started we were doing a lot of Motown stuff, but actually playing it more in a rock way. Everybody in the band sang and we did a lot of harmonies.

- Roy Wood

Doing, Everybody, Motown, Harmonies

Unfortunately, most of the songs that I write I don't write them with guitar in mind. I just write it as a song and that was probably one of the ones that left an opening for it. The song's all right, I wouldn't choose to sing it now.

- Roy Wood

Mind, Song, I Write, Opening

I named it that because more or less each person from the band used to play in other bands and when we left respective bands other members from those bands all sort of changed round. It was a big sort of move thing. I got it from that, I suppose.

- Roy Wood

Play, Big, Named, Respective

I've always been that way. I'm not very good at reading music but I'm pretty quick at picking things up.

- Roy Wood

Always, Been, Very, Picking

I think we were probably playing live for about 12 months before we got a recording deal.

- Roy Wood

Think, Deal, I Think, Recording

We happened to be in the studio next door and I think Noel Redding came around and said, 'Do you fancy having a sing on this?' We just went and did it and it was great.

- Roy Wood

Door, Next, Studio, Next Door

The first people I ever saw were probably Little Richard and Gene Vincent.

- Roy Wood

People, Richard, Saw, Gene

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