Donald Dunn

“Most of my school friends and even a few of my teachers called me 'Duck.'”

“I always look back and say I should have made more. It should have been more lucrative, but it wasn't.”

“When Elvis sang, it almost sounded like he was whispering. But after you heard the record, his voice was the strongest thing you ever heard. He was incredible.”

“When I was a kid, I used to look in the mirror and pretend I was Elvis.”

“I'm the middle man. I try to keep people happy. I go out of my way to get a smile. That's the way my mother raised me.”

“I knew when I got to play with Al Jackson I would be a better bass player because he was the best drummer in the world. I worshipped him.”

“I try to keep people happy. I go out of my way to get a smile. That's the way my mother raised me.”

“Yes; my brother Bobby used to distribute records at King Records. I had a job there, too, packing records up and shipping them off. But I always wanted to play sessions at Stax, so I figured out a way to do it.”

“I tried the guitar, but it had two strings too many. It was just too complicated, man! Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players, another one wasn't needed. What was needed was a bass.”

“When I heard BB King's 'Sweet Sixteen,' I knew I wanted to play bass because that was the thing that made that record: the bass player.”

“Elvis wore a halo. Otis Redding did, too. You knew you were playing with a star when you played with them.”

“If you've got a good song, it's easy to play. But you can't make a bad song sound good no matter who you have to play on it.”