John Fogerty Quotes

"And I now think that Stratocasters and Telecasters are way cool."

"But I think beautiful is simple and elegant, like a ballad with simple harmony."

"Even though I have often recorded alone, I still feel the best music is made by musicians playing off each other."

"Even though James Burton was my idol, I didn't think I could carry his shoes back then."

"I don't know that all the demons have been beaten, but I'm very, very proud of those songs."

"I loved Western Swing and Hank Williams' music, and I now know that it's a 6th tuning that gives you all of those classic licks."

"I stuck with that size because I could bend the strings so well, and somewhere along the line I must have gotten it into my mind that I had small hands, so I was thinking I'd never be able to play a full-scale guitar, but I also felt like I was cheating or cutting corners."

"I thought what I was good at doing was playing real simple guitar licks, since I'd cut my teeth on what Duane Eddy was doing; licks that were simple but had staying power."

"I usually destroy unreleased material. It has a way of coming back to haunt you."

"I went pretty much for one tone, and I knew at that time that I wanted to play a Rickenbacker."

"I work hard at that, but the fact that there are a lot of good songs means there are also a lot of really bad songs I've written that you never hear."

"I wrote that song for my wife, and it's what some guy who's sitting under a tree would be singing to the woman of his life, telling her how wonderful she is. To me, that's more lasting than something that sounds like it belongs on a movie soundtrack."

"I'm like a twenty-two-year-old kid in a new band trying to get noticed and break through, because the vast majority of people have never seen me play live."

"I'm much more energetic now; you might say live performance is my mission."

"I'm now comfortable playing a lot of the old songs, and I've gotten out a lot of the old equipment."

"I've also become much more the musician I've always wanted to be."

"I've studied a lot of great people over the years - Pete Seeger, James Brown - and tried to incorporate elements that I've admired, though I can't say I dance like James."

"In the last two years or so, I've made a conscious decision to play American guitars; I don't know of a more subtle way to say it."

"No, but I've always felt that with true talent, and a commitment to hard work, it is possible to achieve an enduring respect and appreciation. In other words, I don't take my fans for granted."

"Now that I'm older, I like almost anything that's done well, even surf music and instrumentals; I really enjoyed the interviews with the Ventures in your magazine."