Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American musician Clarence Clemons.
Last updated on November 8, 2024.
Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr., also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band.
When I grew up, there was one music: rock n' roll. Somewhere along the line, there was a separation. I don't know why it happened, but it did happen.
I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.
You had your black bands, and you had your white bands, and if you mixed the two, you found less places to play.
Now that I am much older, I have had a number of sax players tell me I was responsible for them playing sax. Some of them I have admired over the years.
It's love. It's two men - two strong, very virile men - finding that space in life where they can let go enough of their masculinity to feel the passion of love and respect and trust. Friendships are based on those things, and you seal it with a kiss.
As long as my mouth, hands, and brain still work, I'll be out there doing it. I'm going to keep going 'til I'm not there anymore. This is what's keeping me alive and feeling young and inspired.
The calm mind allows one to connect with the inner self, the Soul, the very source of our being. That's where the music lives. That's where my music comes from.
Working out has always been a way of life for me.
I'd rather somebody punch me in the face than drop my sax.
Nobody played instruments in my family. My father got that bug and said he wants his son to play saxophone.
It takes a village to run the Big Man - a village of doctors.
I've been thinking about a cookbook. I've been making notes and promising myself I'll do it some day. I have an idea for a cookbook and music together.
All this pain is going to come back and make me stronger.
It's a crazy world, so I meditate for 20 minutes. I also meditate for 20 minutes before a concert.
In the mental calmness of a spiritual life, I have found that the answers to the whys in our lives are able to come to you. In my music I find the same thing.
I don't care about the gold records and all of that stuff. I care about what we do onstage, and the joy that we bring to people.
Money is a hazard.
I always had this vision of what I wanted to do in life.
I look forward to working out every day.
More than 50 percent of kids who play an instrument go on to college, yet music education programs at the inner city public schools who need them most continue to be hit hard with budget cuts.
How many ways can you cut a steak? How many ways can a chord go? I've been in this business so long, I know how to cut it.
I've been pretty blessed. Sometimes it comes in disguise.
There'll be no oiling up with this band. The oil has been there for years and it only gets better.
I love Asbury Park. It's like the Liverpool of America.
Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do.
To me, the sax is rock n' roll, even though electric guitars kind of pushed it aside for a while.
I like health-conscious cooking, but growing up in the South, I do love southern cooking; southern France, southern Italy, southern Spain. I love southern cooking.
The word spiritual, not the word religious, is the key.
Going through all of this physical stuff, it's been a tough job. But I've loved every second of my life.
It's a matter of choosing what is most important to you and putting that first. Once you have recognized your true purpose in life, this becomes much easier.
The first time I ever saw a black audience at our concert, we were in Zimbabwe.
Small clubs aren't as lucrative, but spiritually, they're my favorite places to play. It's a homey kind of thing. I refer to it as the Church of What's Happening Now.
I was a born rock n' roll sax player.
When I walk on stage, it's the 'healing floor.' No matter how bad I'm hurting, I get out there and do it.
I hung out in the Baltimore area a lot. My biggest memory was playing football against Morgan. That was, like, 'Forget about it,' that was a really big thing. They used to kick our butts all the time.
It used to take a day to get over the partying. But I don't party anymore. I don't miss it, either.
I have no agenda - just to be loved.
I'm blessed with nice legs, but I see lots of guys with big upper bodies and pencil legs.
I'll never be rude to another news person. It's a tough job, a thankless job. You really have to get out there and grovel to get your story.
Of all the surgeries I've had, there's not much left to operate on. I am totally bionic.
Through all the hardships and all the operations and all the hospitals, all that stuff each part of my life, there's been some goodness, some greatness that comes in here and helps me to be strong, to continue what I'm doing.
I didn't think I'd ever be a Michael Jackson fan. But... watching him move, watching him dance, is so encouraging for me. Because, in my mind, I can do all that stuff.
I got into the soul music, but I wanted to rock. I was a rocker.
I take my job as a rock and roll sax player very seriously. To do it the way that I must do it, I must be in good condition. The better shape you're in, the harder you can rock.
I have faith in the judicial system.
I grew up with a very religious background.
When I go out before a crowd, I ask God to give me inspiration to be the light.
Sometimes you just do things and let your natural self become a part of what you're doing.
I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.
When a fan says, 'Man, you saved my life; I heard 'Jungleland'... and I cried... and I felt joy in my life again,' that's my hall of fame.
Cooking is an art form, a creative thing.
Rock-and-roll, to me, is very serious because we deal with the young people. We deal with people who need something, and that's the same thing that a preacher does. He feeds you something that you need spiritually in your soul and in your makeup.
It's like Liverpool. Everybody went for the music. All the young musicians seemed to gravitate to Asbury Park.
I know that one day I'm going to die. I want to accomplish as much as I can before I do.
Somebody said to me, 'Whenever somebody says your name, a smile comes to their face.' That's a great accolade. I strive to keep it that way.
As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song, but I know it was you on sax.'
God will give you no more than you can handle.
I found out how great the E Street Band is. The reality of a band that you can't scoop aside, can't put in a corner.