Robbie Robertson Quotes & Sayings

At a young age I thought, 'Wow, that fiddle thing, that's pretty cool. That mandolin is great. These drums, I like these drums ... ' They were Indian drums. And I was saying, 'But that guitar. That guitar. Girls are going to like that guitar.' — Robbie Robertson

Chuck Berry told me if it wasn't for Louis Jordan, he wouldn't have probably ever even got into music. That Louis Jordan changed everything and made him want to become a musician. — Robbie Robertson

It's extraordinary that revolutions taking place around the world were sparked by communication on the Internet. — Robbie Robertson

Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do. — Robbie Robertson

Say a prayer for the lost generation, who spin the wheel out of desperation. — Robbie Robertson

I asked Bob Dylan to paint the album cover for 'Music from Big Pink.' He said, 'Yeah, let me see what I can come up with.' — Robbie Robertson

While I was there, I was just gathering images and names, and ideas and rhythms, and I was storing all of these things - which I didn't realize I was doing - but I was storing them all in an attic in my mind somewhere. And when it was time to sit down and write songs, when I reached into the attic to see what I was gonna write about, that's what was there. — Robbie Robertson

I do not have yearnings to get back on a bus. If it means getting on a bus, I don't want to do it. — Robbie Robertson

Music should never be harmless. — Robbie Robertson

One of the greatest live recordings, I think, in the history of the world is Ray Charles in Atlanta ... And they didn't even have a big mobile recording thing set up. The word on the street was they only had like two microphones, one for the band and one for him. Perfect recordings. I think it's mono. — Robbie Robertson

Some people love some music, and they hear it a year later and they think, 'What was I thinking?' — Robbie Robertson

Some bands today have the experience of really working together and honing their craft. And other bands are very much like, 'I just got a guitar for Christmas, let's start a band.' And you can hear the difference. — Robbie Robertson

I always like to keep one hand in the tepee and the other hand in the synagogue. Wouldn't it be great if there was a combination of the two? You could go to synagogue, and it would be really hot in there. — Robbie Robertson

There's a thing that has happened in the U.S. where the spirit has been beaten so badly and so you feel no unity in the voice of the country. — Robbie Robertson

When I was 14 years old, I had the opportunity to meet Buddy Holly. I asked him how he got that big, powerful sound out of his guitar amp. He said, 'I blew a speaker and decided not to get it fixed.' — Robbie Robertson

I come from a family who prided themselves, both sides, on memory. And I was told growing up, constantly, that I was born with a really good memory. — Robbie Robertson

I don't believe it's all for nothing. It's not just written in the sand. — Robbie Robertson

When you look at that period when Warhol and the Velvets and the Stones were doing things, it was this intersection of art and music. And then it went away. — Robbie Robertson

By the time I was 13, I was the only one in London, Ontario, who knew how to play rock n' roll. — Robbie Robertson

I thought of a lot of people from the same era when I was making a lot of records that had continued making a lot of records. A lot of it didn't seem terribly inspired. — Robbie Robertson

It would be nice to abandon the verse-chorus-bridge structure completely, and make it so none of these things are definable ... Make up new names for them. Instead of a bridge, you can call it a highway, or an overpass ... Music should never be harmless. — Robbie Robertson

My mother is extraordinary. She understood me and never tried to hold me back. — Robbie Robertson

Sixteen years on the road is long enough. Twenty years is unthinkable. — Robbie Robertson

Do you know what a skin walker is? It's a thing in Indian mythology. There are certain people born with this gift, and they're able to actually get inside you and mess with your feelings and with your mind. And if a skin walker chooses to get a hold of you, there's not much you can do. — Robbie Robertson

Lord please save his soul, he was the king of rock and roll. — Robbie Robertson

Record making is an extraordinary experience. — Robbie Robertson

I admire those old road dogs, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan. That's their life. — Robbie Robertson

Boy, do I got some stories to tell. — Robbie Robertson

A lot of people from my generation can't write songs anymore, or it's really hard and it's an unpleasant experience. I don't feel that way at all. — Robbie Robertson

I don't like overt traditionalism. — Robbie Robertson

You never know what could be interesting tomorrow. — Robbie Robertson

It's easy to be a genius in your twenties. In your forties, it's difficult. — Robbie Robertson

I love traditional music. But in any culture around the world, there is the historic and cultural music and everything that's been passed down and passed down, and hopefully you take that, and then you take it, you know, the next distance, and then somebody else takes it the next distance. — Robbie Robertson

I've always been in love with that Delta-flavored music ... the music that came from Mississippi and Memphis and, especially, New Orleans. When I was 14, I was in a wanna-be New Orleans band in Toronto. — Robbie Robertson

It's a bit of a sore spot, the Thanksgiving in Indian country. — Robbie Robertson

I haven't been to many music events where somebody was performing and it actually made me cry. — Robbie Robertson

When people get together that come from different musical backgrounds, a lot of times there's is a good ... it's very enjoyable to say somebody, let me turn you on to some things, and the other person does the same thing. And they play you stuff that maybe you weren't that familiar with and likewise. — Robbie Robertson

I remember from my earliest years people speaking, you know, in a certain kind of rhythm and telling stories and sharing experiences in a way that was different in Indian country than it was other places. And I was really struck by this and obviously very affected by it, because it's always come out in my songs. — Robbie Robertson

I wanted to develop a guitar style where phrases and lines get there just in the nick of time, like with Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper. Subtleties mean so much, and there is a stunning beauty in them. — Robbie Robertson

I'm really lucky because I found myself in a position where I can do whatever I want to do. I can make records, produce records, make movies, or I can do nothing. I'm not a slave to the dollar. — Robbie Robertson

For years after 'The Last Waltz,' I got all kinds of silly movie offers - or, maybe, not silly, but parts that are not my calling ... lots of offers to play some wonderful boyfriend. — Robbie Robertson

I was a storyteller for The Band. It was never, 'Hey guys, here's a song about what happened to me.' I was always more comfortable writing fiction. — Robbie Robertson

I love the idea of having a kid who says, 'Yeah, of course I knew about Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash when I was nine years old.' — Robbie Robertson

The rock concert experience for people was really pretty stupid, you know, at the time. People would go to concerts not with the idea of listening at all. — Robbie Robertson

I never really had a teenage experience. I went from childhood to maturity, and in some ways, it short-circuited me emotionally. — Robbie Robertson

Bob Dylan is as influential as any artist that there has been. — Robbie Robertson

Confused by the big city blues, he didn't know who's life he's leading. Put yourself behind the wheel, see if you can get that feel. — Robbie Robertson

The Beatles tried to do some tours and found it to be completely pointless and became a non-touring band after that, and with very good reason. — Robbie Robertson

Working on 'The Last Waltz' introduced me to Martin Scorsese, and I had been a movie bug since I was a young kid. — Robbie Robertson

My thirst for knowledge and experience comes from the idea that once you learned something, it was time to learn something else. I missed out on a formal educational process, so I'm making up for that. — Robbie Robertson

The road has taken a lot of the great ones: Hank Williams, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Janis, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis. — Robbie Robertson

A lot of times when you're making a record, you put your head down and charge forward until you're done. You just hope that the ideas hold up, because you're kind of lost in your own storm. — Robbie Robertson

You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared. — Robbie Robertson

Some music is supposed to be disposable; that's OK. A lot of music is fun for today, but it isn't supposed to be timeless; it's supposed to be trendy. — Robbie Robertson

I play guitar quite a bit, because I'm always in search of something. I don't play to jam, but because I'm fishing. I'm looking for something, that I hope you can never find. If I do find it, I'm afraid I won't have a need to do this any more. — Robbie Robertson

I'm not an activist. — Robbie Robertson

I don't want to be one of those people saying, 'Remember when things were better?' — Robbie Robertson

The kid at 9 or 10 who knows who Billie Holiday is ... that's the coolest thing ever. — Robbie Robertson

In Americana, the facts and the dreams seem to be all the same to me. — Robbie Robertson

Time is not kind to everything. — Robbie Robertson

I am fascinated by the places that music comes from, like fife-and-drum blues from southern Mississippi or Cajun music out of Lafayette, Louisiana, shape-note singing, old harp singing from the mountains - I love that stuff. It's like the beginning of rock and roll: something comes down from the hills, and something comes up from the delta. — Robbie Robertson

Everybody grows in their own way. — Robbie Robertson

I could never be a movie star and get up at 7:30 to be at someone else's studio. — Robbie Robertson

Give us the strength, give us the wisdom, and give us tomorrow. — Robbie Robertson

I like to work on records when I feel inspired, not because it's expected of me. — Robbie Robertson

There's a bookstore in New York where you could buy scripts, and I got addicted to them because they were easy, quick reads ... and the pictures were so vivid. — Robbie Robertson

My mother was a Mohawk, born and raised on a reservation, and when I was a kid, she would take me there to visit her relatives. — Robbie Robertson

One of the things I feel very strong about is the achievement of the Band really being a complete band. — Robbie Robertson

My mother told me when I was a toddler and in the crib that they would have music playing, and the thing when I lit up was boogie-woogie or something out of the Louie Jordan period of sometimes big bands, and then all kinds of things. — Robbie Robertson

The native music of North America, the original-roots music of this country, is also the underworld music of this country. — Robbie Robertson

Think about the number of people who do film music, make records and have a Native American heritage - and I may be the only one on the list. — Robbie Robertson

When I was younger, I thought I was too young to really be personal. I thought that what I was feeling and thinking might be half-baked. — Robbie Robertson

In a lot of groups, you can change a musician, and it doesn't mean anything. — Robbie Robertson

To find a new star in the sky is pretty hard. — Robbie Robertson

I really have to feel a sense of freedom in my storytelling. — Robbie Robertson

People think I left The Band and spoiled this whole thing, and that's not what happened. Nobody broke up The Band. Nobody ever said, 'That's it, we're done.' — Robbie Robertson

Musical revolutions, I don't know how many I've been through. — Robbie Robertson

After the 'Last Waltz' concert, it just seemed very healthy to me to put making a record as far out of my mind as I possibly could. — Robbie Robertson

When you make a record, your own record, and you don't even recognize it yourself, it's hard to think if anybody else is going to recognize. — Robbie Robertson

The direction is going the right way for respect for aboriginal people in North America, and all we can do is stand up and say, 'Please do it faster.' — Robbie Robertson

People go through periods when things are dark and cloudy, and they talk dark and cloudy. — Robbie Robertson

I've been really fortunate that I've been at a lot of critical crossroads in my musical journey. When I look back, there are some pretty interesting things to look at. — Robbie Robertson

I try not to think the song to death. The main criteria is if it's working on an emotional level. — Robbie Robertson

Music isn't necessarily made to last, and there's always been disposable music. — Robbie Robertson

I think, some countries, you have to be dead to have your picture on a stamp. — Robbie Robertson

I'd always thought Cage's 'Root of an Unfocus' would be great in a movie. — Robbie Robertson

The Band was rebelling against the rebellion. The rebellion went to a place where it became too obvious, too trendy, like you were just following the pack. So it was our choice to get off the bandwagon - no pun intended - and do things that were in our background and what was the most honest thing to do. — Robbie Robertson

The Band is probably the ultimate example of people taking all kinds of music, from gospel to blues to mountain music to folk music to on and on and on and on and putting them all in this big pot and mixing up a new gumbo. — Robbie Robertson

Making a noise in this world making a noise in this world you can bet your ass, I won't go quietly making a noise in this world. — Robbie Robertson

When I was playing with Bob Dylan in, like, 1966, I was, like, 20 years old. — Robbie Robertson

I don't know - it's a bit of a mystery of how things come about when they do. I don't have a scientific explanation for it. Sometimes when you're writing a song, you don't know where you're going. — Robbie Robertson

If I can play one note and make you cry, then that's better than those fancy dancers playing twenty notes. — Robbie Robertson

I feel so lucky to have been in a group where it was a real band. This wasn't a singer and guitar player and some other guys. — Robbie Robertson

We need to have a taste factor in our life. It isn't about what's popular; it's about what's really good. — Robbie Robertson

Once you establish a foundation of knowing what the greatest recording artists of all time were ... Wouldn't you want your kids to know this stuff? — Robbie Robertson

I think the world of Chuck Berry. — Robbie Robertson

I'm always optimistic. — Robbie Robertson

You fog the mind, you stir the soul. — Robbie Robertson

That whole lifestyle - make a record, do a tour: I know how to do that. It doesn't interest me. — Robbie Robertson

I think that there's always great music being made. Always has been, always will be. — Robbie Robertson