Eric Burdon

“Blues was made for the recessed.”

“There are so many times in one's life, when one feels he has nothing more to offer. But no, my river has not run dry.”

“I'm really still a child of the Forties. I still think about it a lot, about the repercussions of armed conflict. Until 1953 we had rationing. We couldn't buy meat, we couldn't buy pleasurable goods like cigarettes and sweets. I didn't starve - my family were lucky - but I knew what it was like standing in line waiting for foodstuffs.”

“In the day-to-day life of a traveling musician, it's easy to miss so many details. The world goes by at high-speed; it will take your breath away.”

“My voice? Yeah, well, I used to drink a lot of beer when I was a kid and I sounded like a drunk in a choir. I don't drink anymore.”

“The basis of everything that I plugged into when I was younger was blues, and it always stayed with me.”

“One of my reasons for living in California is its close proximity to Mexico. The Latin influence is in every corner of the community. My love of Spanish music hasn't wavered since the '50s. I could hear the blues voicing from the Flamanco families and I always dig for inspiration in Latin music.”

“I look upon The Animals, they were a great band initially, we left our mark, but thing was it was a band that couldn't live up to its name so I soldiered on. On one level, it was devastating for a while. On another level, maybe I should thank them for helping me make my own way in my own career.”

“The rock biz is the low end of the creative world. Faces come and go so fast.”

“I was in college, and very disappointed. I majored in commercial art and interior design for three or four years. At that time, it seemed the thing I really wanted to do, production design, just wasn't available in the U.K., so I turned to music.”

“It's more important what you leave to people on this planet. I want my legacy to exist now, currently, not after I'm gone.”

“I used to hang out a lot in jazz clubs, and the groups took to a kid like me who wasn't afraid to get up and sing with a jazz band. Then I started to hang out in rock clubs and learned to carry off different styles.”

“Britain, and my hometown, will always be with me wherever I go and whatever I do - but I prefer to live in California.”

“Everything I do - if I do it, is going to be personal.”

“I always wanted to be a Californian. In my wildest dreams, I always liked California - it's the place where oranges grows on trees! Fruit just falls off the trees.”

“I did have a life before the Animals, and I'm trying constantly to prove that I have a life after the Animals. People tend to forget that I was the frontman with War for two years. People sort of have compartmental memories.”

“Recording - once something's done, it's done, there's not much you can do about it. It's out there and you just have to pray to the gods.”