Bobby Womack

“Nobody could understand why a guy would love his guitar, then all of a sudden turn around and try to destroy it. Jimi was just different.”

“I've got to be honest: I don't listen to any music now. I don't even listen to mine! I like to walk fresh into the studio and have ideas that come straight out of me.”

“I never gave up on music, and I feel like music never gave up on me.”

“Plantation gospel music was the stuff I fell in love with when I was a kid - these beautiful melodies and these hard, hard stories.”

“I know a lot of people who are not here anymore, and I wonder why I'm still here... Not a day goes by that I don't think about Sam Cooke. His presence is so strong and so convincing to me, a true artist, a true talent, who never talked down to people.”

“I started with Sam Cooke when I was 6 or 7 years old.”

“People shout out for songs and I don't even remember writing them.”

“Leave them wanting more and you know they'll call you back.”

“Estee Lauder cologne. Sam Cooke always wore it, and I started wearing it because he wore it.”

“I like to swim, I like to play with my dogs and I love to eat - but I have to start watching that because my suits are getting too small.”

“When I was a kid, during those days, you couldn't use instruments. It was against the pastor's religion, so all the singers would make these instruments with their voices. It was just unbelievable. I couldn't explain it.”

“I'm amazed by the ground that I covered. The music's the number-one thing. And if it isn't, you better quit now.”

“I was hoping I could become a success to give my mother and my father a better way of living.”

“When I want to check out how my life's been, I go through my albums. They steps in my life.”

“I will play my part by singing the spirit into every open heart.”

“You gotta know when it's time to hang up. But when I finally go, let me go out on stage, my perfect ending. Don't let me go when I'm sick or asleep. Let me be in motion.”

“Once upon a time, I could sing three hours. Now, when you see me say 'I'm done,' I'm done; ain't nothing left till the next night.”

“We take things for granted, and because we wake up every day, you start talking about what you're going to do next week. I said, 'Who told you you would be here next week?'”

“You knew the difference between Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles, straight away. Now everyone sounds like each other, and I don't think that's right.”

“People think you have to go through a lot of changes to become a soul singer, You just have to go through life.”