Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by J. J. Cale

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American musician J. J. Cale.

Last updated on December 22, 2024.

John Weldon "J. J." Cale was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and sound engineer. Though he avoided the limelight, his influence as a musical artist has been acknowledged by figures such as Mark Knopfler, Neil Young, Waylon Jennings, and Eric Clapton, who described him as "one of the most important artists in the history of rock". He is one of the originators of the Tulsa sound, a loose genre drawing on blues, rockabilly, country, and jazz.

American - Musician | December 5, 1938 - July 26, 2013

Source: Wikipedia

My music's gotten much more famous than me.

J. J. Cale

I generally, you know, I don't - I don't really scat. I'm - I'm basically a songwriter so you need a little lyrics that rhyme and stuff.

J. J. Cale

I ain't got much to say.

J. J. Cale

People have heard my music, but all my famous songs were made famous by somebody else... But that was my goal.

J. J. Cale

That's one of the problems in being a songwriter and living a long time. What you eventually end up doing is you start imitating yourself.

J. J. Cale

As the years went by and technology came in, I used a lot of technology.

J. J. Cale

I remember when I made my first album, I was 32 or 33 years old and I thought I was way too old then.

J. J. Cale

I'm a recording studio guy, an engineer, a songwriter and a guitar player, in that order.

J. J. Cale

If you write songs long enough, you run out of material that's original to yourself.

J. J. Cale

Probably the only thing that I really don't like about being an old guy is so many of the people who understand what we know are gone.

J. J. Cale

I was a late bloomer in the music business.

J. J. Cale

Music is a kind of magical thing, and you can't make magic every time, but you try. Every once in a while it has that magic, and the audience knows that. I probably miss it more than I hit it, but I think that's what all musicians try for.

J. J. Cale

Send me the money and let the younger guys have the fame.

J. J. Cale

We used to say when we were 20 years old, that when you reach 30, you gotta hang up your guitar and get a real job.

J. J. Cale

Oh, I'm not a very good singer, and that's 'cause I was always embarrassed about my singing.

J. J. Cale

I'm basically a songwriter, man. Songwriters are down in the fine print, you know? And I really enjoy that.

J. J. Cale

I basically make my living writing songs, so I've been able to go around in my trailer. If I got tired of a place, I could move on and roam around. It's a nice environment for writing songs, as opposed to sitting at a recording studio console all day.

J. J. Cale

Yes, I've been down the pike and back. And through the years, I've heard different songs with scatting in it, and it was - always cracked me up as kind of a funny style of music, you know? When I did it, it kind of cracked me up as a comedy kind of routine.

J. J. Cale

Working in bars back then, in the '50s, to get a job you had to play all kinds of music. There'd be customers come in and yell jazz tunes at you and yell rock 'n' roll tunes at you and polkas and rhythm and blues and country music.

J. J. Cale

I'm not a household name.

J. J. Cale

I'm so old, I can remember before rock 'n' roll come along.

J. J. Cale

So, my records really didn't sell, but musicians started picking up on my sound and my songs and cutting my songs and that turned into a gold mine.

J. J. Cale

Widespread Panic discovered a couple of my songs and started doin' 'em on the gigs. They'd take a song and expand it and everybody plays a long time and people really like that. But I made my living as a songwriter so I try to get to singin' and get it over with.

J. J. Cale

Basically, I'm just a guitar player that figured out I wasn't ever gonna be able to buy dinner with my guitar playing. So I got into songwriting, which is a little more profitable business.

J. J. Cale

People said my records were 'funky' and 'muddy,' but the truth is they were just demos.

J. J. Cale

I've always enjoyed being a Gypsy.

J. J. Cale

What's really nice is when you get a check in the mail.

J. J. Cale

I'm an electronic manipulator. Most people think J.J. Cale, he's organic. There ain't nothing organic about me.

J. J. Cale

The only albums that I have personally named were 'number 5,' 'number 8' and 'number 10.'

J. J. Cale

When Eric Clapton cut 'After Midnight,' he sold so many records and it was so big at the time, I decided that I would pursue the songwriting thing. I was 34 years old at that time. I'd been down the pike and back before I had any success at all.

J. J. Cale

Yeah, Lynyrd Skynyrd, I knew all them guys.

J. J. Cale

I make my living writing songs and, you know, I'm not a show biz kind of guy.

J. J. Cale

I'm a great believer in freedom of speech.

J. J. Cale

If a guy came up and said 'we got a polka band and we're going to play polkas next Saturday night' I'd play polkas.

J. J. Cale

On the 'Escondido' album, I think it took us a month to make that album.

J. J. Cale

I guess if I'd have more of a producer attitude, maybe I'd sell more records. But I'm basically a songwriter.

J. J. Cale

I've never sold a lot of records.

J. J. Cale

I think it goes back to me being a recording mixer and engineer. Because of all the technology now you can make music yourself and a lot of people are doing that now. I started out doing that a long time ago and I found when I did that I came up with a unique sound.

J. J. Cale

All record companies want big-selling records, and my music is a little too raw for commercial success.

J. J. Cale

I stopped a lot of people who wanted to shove me into the real big time. Your ego wants to say, 'Hey, I'm somebody, man,' but I knew there were many days when I just wanted to be John Cale.

J. J. Cale

Sometimes the simplest forms of music are the hardest to play. Especially for musicians that are accomplished.

J. J. Cale

What my whole object was is not to really sell records. I was trying to sell songs.

J. J. Cale

Nobody really produces my albums.

J. J. Cale

I'd like to have the fortune, but I don't care too much about the fame.

J. J. Cale

I figure that most people will remember me for the songs I wrote.

J. J. Cale

I was an engineer for a long time. I was a sideman guitar player.

J. J. Cale

I try and manufacture recordings to sound spontaneous. Then, some things are spontaneous.

J. J. Cale

I consider myself a songwriter... I guess the business end is my songs and the fun part is playing the guitar.

J. J. Cale

People are familiar with my songs, especially through Eric Clapton. But I have a hard time drawing a crowd, because I have been a songwriter.

J. J. Cale

Everybody lives in a city, cause there's not too many people in the small towns who can find work.

J. J. Cale

I didn't really get any success till I was 30 years old. I played music when I was young fella, but I didn't really get any success till I was about 30 years old.

J. J. Cale

Clapton was just picking up ideas. He picked up some of mine like I picked up some from the people before me.

J. J. Cale

I'm a background person.

J. J. Cale

I tried to play anything people would hire me to play, because I was a musician.

J. J. Cale

There's a couple of songs of my own I wished I'd have never put out, that, you know, I'd like to burn. But with the advent of digital and computer, nothing goes away any more, you know.

J. J. Cale

I love the rabbits and the squirrels and the birds.

J. J. Cale

There are entertainers and there are musicians, and I never was an entertainer.

J. J. Cale

From the first album I'm playing bass on a lot of the tunes, and piano on a lot of 'em, and drums, and guitars. I did that on almost every album.

J. J. Cale

You don't really need a lot of hype and to be famous to sell songs.

J. J. Cale

I was mainly a songwriter; I really wasn't much of a performer.

J. J. Cale