“
The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.
”
”
B.B. King
“
You only live but once, and when your died your done, so let the good times roll.
”
”
B.B. King
“
We all have idols. Play like anyone you care about but try to be yourself while you're doing so.
”
”
B.B. King
“
Brother raises a hand against brother and son against father (how terrible!) and the father also against son. And moreover it is a continuity-matter, for if the father did not strike the son, they would not be alike. It is done to perpetuate similarity. Oh, Henderson, man cannot keep still under the blows.... A hit B? B hit C?--we have not enough alphabet to cover the condition. A brave man will try to make the evil stop with him. He shall keep the blow. No man shall get it from him, and that is a sublime ambition.
”
”
Saul Bellow (Henderson the Rain King)
“
The Blues? It's the mother of American music. That's what is is - the source.
”
”
B.B. King
“
If music serves to convey feelings through the interaction of physical gestures and sound, the musician needs his brain state to match the emotional state he is trying to express. Although the studies haven't been performed yet, I'm willing to bet that when B.B. King is playing the blues and when he is feeling the blues, the neural signatures are very similar. (Of course there will be differences, too, and part of the scientific hurdle will be subtracting out the processes involved in issuing motor commands and listening to music, versus just sitting on a chair, head in hands, and feeling down.) And as listeners, there is every reason to believe that some of our brain states will match those of the musicians we are listening to.
”
”
Daniel J. Levitin (This Is Your Brain on Music)
“
David’s mouth dripped open slowly. He stood with his heels dug into my carpet, a dashed hope, a broken dream. No amount of money could top the priceless look that gathered on his face like an unmade bed. His eyebrows crumpled and furrowed like disheveled sheets. His lips curled into an acidic smirk. Confusion and shock collided in the cornea of his dilated pupils. He was a B.B. King song, personified. His entire body sang the blues.
”
”
Brandi L. Bates (Quirk)
“
In the evening they went to say good-bye to Bilbo. 'Well, if you must go, you must,' he said. 'I am sorry. I shall miss you. It is nice just to know that you are about the place. But I am getting very sleepy.' Then he gave Frodo his mithril-coat and Sting, forgetting that he had already done so; and he gave him also three books of lore that he had made at various times, written in his spidery hand, and labelled on their red backs: Translations from the Elvish, by B. B.
”
”
J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings, #3))
“
The blues was bleeding the same blood as me.
”
”
B.B. King
“
There have been nights
I’ve shared a twin bed with him
and still couldn’t get close enough.
Then there have been nights
spent in a king bed where I’ve felt
as though his annoying ass was still
in my personal space.
We e b b and f l o w.
But there’s no one else I’d rather
crash into every night when
the tide hits its inevitable peak.
”
”
Alicia Cook (Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately)
“
When I play, I don’t pay attention to the individual notes. The notes become the melody. The melody becomes the rhythm. The rhythm is the harmony. Whether I play the blues or boogies, concertos or cantatas, I forget about me. I’m Bach. I’m Beethoven. I’m B.B. King. And the music is me. I’m a three-year-old in Italy, running though a field of daisies. I’m a turquoise-backed African sunbird, soaring over the desert savanna. The music slips out and shines like gold. I’m a tiger running through the jungle, strong and powerful. I’m a panther, dark and mysterious. I am so strong. I am in complete control of this world. Chords. Arpeggios. Cadenzas. Sharps and flats. Major chords. Minor scales. Harmony.
”
”
Sharon M. Draper (Blended)
“
Everybody g-g-goofs it. But it's not an eh-eh-exam. You just go through it the b-b-best you can
”
”
Stephen King (It)
“
The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take it away from you.
”
”
B.B. King
“
Nobody loves me but mama, and she may be jivin too.
”
”
B.B. King
“
MONEY, MUSIC, and lust inspired Riley in equal measure.
”
”
Daniel de Visé (King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King)
“
To me, singing is like talking. If it ain't natural, it ain't right.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I could see the blues was about survival.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
Once upon a puppet, she spun a tale to the mad king. - The Peer
”
”
B.B. Reid (The Peer and the Puppet (When Rivals Play, #1))
“
I'd solo on my guitar; then sing; then solo; then sing some more. one stopped when the other started. That way I felt a continuity, not a conflict, like a wheel that keeps turning. Both sounds - guitar and voice - were coming out of me, but they issued from different parts of my soul.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
As a little kid, blues meant hope, excitement, pure emotion. Blues were about feelings. They seem to bring out the feelings of the artist and they brought out my feelings as a kid. They made me wanna move, or sing, or pick up Reverend's guitar and figure out how to make those wonderful sounds.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
For all the hard times and tough challenges I faced during different periods of my life, I think I was lucky or blessed or both. When things looked bleak, a good guide would appear to set me straight. Someone once asked me about the villains who got in my way, the bad guys who wanted to trip me up or take me out. I don't remember any. Maybe it's my nature to remember the good and forget the bad, or maybe it's my destiny to lock onto the righteous for help.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I learned another thing from the hurt my cousin gave me - never to give that kind of hurt to anyone else. My revenge was to change a bad feeling into a good one. If I'm working with you and I sense you're feeling a little insecure, I try to make you feel great. That's how I get rid of my old hurt. If I don't do that, my hurt grows and makes me mean and vengeful. But if hurt can change to kindness - that's something Mama showed me - the world becomes a little less cruel.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I struggle with words. Never could express myself the way I wanted. My mind fights my mouth, and thoughts get stuck in my throat. Sometimes they stay stuck for seconds or even minutes. Some thoughts stay for years; some have stayed hidden all my life. As a child, I stuttered. What was inside couldn't get out. I'm still not real fluent. I don't know a lot of good words. If I were wrongfully accused of a crime, I'd have a tough time explaining my innocence. I'd stammer and stumble and choke up until the judge would throw me in jail. Words aren't my friends. Music is. Sounds, notes, rhythms. I talk through music. Maybe that's why I became a loner, someone who loves privacy and doesn't reveal himself too easily.
My friendliness might fool you. Come into my dressing room and I'll shake your hand, pose for a picture, make polite small talk. I'll be as nice as I can, hoping you'll be nice to me. I'm genuinely happy to meet you and exchange a little warmth. I have pleasant acquaintances with thousands of people the world over. But few, if any, really know me. And that includes my own family. It's not that they don't want to; it's because I keep my feelings to myself. If you hurt me, chances are I won't tell you. I'll just move on. Moving on is my method of healing my hurt and, man, I've been moving on all my life.
Now it's time to stop. This book is a place for me to pause and look back at who I was and what I became. As I write, I'm seventy hears old, and all the joy and hurts, small and large, that I've stored up inside me...well, I want to pull 'em out and put 'em on the page. When I've been described on other people's pages, I don't recognize myself. In my mind, no one has painted the real me. Writers have done their best, but writers have missed the nitty-gritty. Maybe because I've hidden myself, maybe because I'm not an easy guy to understand. Either way, I want to open up and leave a true account of who I am.
When it comes to my own life, others may know the cold facts better than me. Scholars have told me to my face that I'm mixed up. I smile but don't argue. Truth is, cold facts don't tell the whole story. Reading this, some may accuse me of remembering wrong. That's okay, because I'm not writing a cold-blooded history. I'm writing a memory of my heart. That's the truth I'm after - following my feelings, no matter where they lead. I want to try to understand myself, hoping that you - my family, my friends, my fans - will understand me as well.
This is a blues story. The blues are a simple music, and I'm a simple man. But the blues aren't a science; the blues can't be broken down like mathematics. The blues are a mystery, and mysteries are never as simple as they look.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
i don't want to give the impression that I fault my father. I don't. The truth is that he's one of my heroes. He's monumental to me. I believed - and still do - that a man must stand in the door of his home and let the wolf get him before the wolf gets his family. The wolf never got my father or his family, and I admire Daddy's guts. He never slacked off work or lied to me or shrugged his responsibilities. He dealt with his family from a distance, but was available, when needed. Eventually I'd do the same. I don't know whether I was copying him or whether, by coincidence, my work, like Daddy's, simply kept me away. All I know is that in many ways, big and small, I've followed my father.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I wasn't taught to hate white people. That dead body hanging from the platform broke the heart and wounded the spirit of every black man and woman who passed by. But I suspected that it also hurt right-thinking white people. Both parents had spoken well of fair-minded white people - my namesake, Jim O'Reilly, and Flake Cartledge - so I knew better than to blame a whole race for the rotten deeds of a few. When some blacks talked about whites as devils, I could see the source of their wrath. I could still see the dead man outside the courthouse on the square. But I couldn't turn the fury into hatred. Blind hatred, my mother had taught me, poisons the soul. I kept hearing her say, 'If you're kind to people, they'll be kind to you.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
What are you doing here?” I said without turning around. I’d known the moment they entered the room but had been too far gone to stop. “Watching,” they said at the same time. “That was fucking intense,” Z groaned. “Why were you watching?” It wasn’t the first time they’ve watched me fuck, but this was different. This was Mian. “Because we want our turn,” Lucas answered. I finally turned on my back to face them. “That’s not going to happen unless she wants it,” I answered confidently. She’d never want it. They broke out in smiles at the same time. “We figured you’d say that.” Lucas laughed. “So,” Z drawled. “You and her?” I looked down at her comatose form. The sharp pain in my chest was answer enough. “It’s not possible.” “Says king of making the impossible possible,” Lucas argued.
”
”
B.B. Reid (The Bandit (Stolen Duet, #1))
“
Fifty Best Rock Documentaries Chicago Blues (1972) B. B. King: The Life of Riley (2014) Devil at the Crossroads (2019) BBC: Dancing in the Street: Whole Lotta Shakin’ (1996) BBC: Story of American Folk Music (2014) The Weavers: Wasn’t That a Time! (1982) PBS: The March on Washington (2013) BBC: Beach Boys: Wouldn’t It Be Nice (2005) The Wrecking Crew (2008) What’s Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A. (1964) BBC: Blues Britannia (2009) Rolling Stones: Charlie Is My Darling—Ireland 1965 (2012) Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back (1967) BBC: The Motown Invasion (2011) Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil (1968) BBC: Summer of Love: How Hippies Changed the World (2017) Gimme Shelter (1970) Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017) Cocksucker Blues (1972) John Lennon & the Plastic Ono Band: Sweet Toronto (1971) John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky (2018) Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon’s “Imagine” Album (2000) Echo in the Canyon (2018) BBC: Prog Rock Britannia (2009) BBC: Hotel California: LA from the Byrds to the Eagles (2007) The Allman Brothers Band: After the Crash (2016) BBC: Sweet Home Alabama: The Southern Rock Saga (2012) Ain’t in It for My Health: A Film About Levon Helm (2010) BBC: Kings of Glam (2006) Super Duper Alice Cooper (2014) New York Dolls: All Dolled Up (2005) End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones (2004) Fillmore: The Last Days (1972) Gimme Danger: The Stooges (2016) George Clinton: The Mothership Connection (1998) Fleetwood Mac: Rumours (1997) The Who: The Kids Are Alright (1979) The Clash: New Year’s Day ’77 (2015) The Decline of Western Civilization (1981) U2: Rattle and Hum (1988) Neil Young: Year of the Horse (1997) Ginger Baker: Beware of Mr. Baker (2012) AC/DC: Dirty Deeds (2012) Grateful Dead: Long, Strange Trip (2017) No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) Hip-Hop Evolution (2016) Joan Jett: Bad Reputation (2018) David Crosby: Remember My Name (2019) Zappa (2020) Summer of Soul (2021)
”
”
Marc Myers (Rock Concert: An Oral History as Told by the Artists, Backstage Insiders, and Fans Who Were There)
“
Hendrix was twenty-one and unknown. He sought an audience with B.B., who told him “about entirely new approaches to the guitar, and the powerful effect the Hawaiian and country and western pedal-steel guitars had had on him,” and how he had “achieved a cry that sounded human, that had emotion, that sang,” David Henderson writes in his Hendrix biography. B.B. pointed to his fat hands, and he explained how Jimi could use his long, supple fingers to make his guitar sound “like a woman singer’s vibrato,” like Lucille. That little chat “put enough in Jimmy’s ears to keep him occupied for months, years.
”
”
Daniel de Visé (King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B. B. King)
“
B.B. King played the guitar like a king. And the rest of us listened like his subjects. When the instrument was within his grip, his strumming fingers took on the motion of prestidigitation, churning out rhythms into your ears and rolling in visions into your eyes. He forfended the guitar like a soldier would do to his one arm in a graceless battle.
”
”
Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu
“
The Thrill Is Gone"
The thrill is gone
The thrill is gone away
The thrill is gone baby
The thrill is gone away
You know you done me wrong baby
And you'll be sorry someday
The thrill is gone
It's gone away from me
The thrill is gone baby
The thrill is gone away from me
Although, I'll still live on
But so lonely I'll be
The thrill is gone
It's gone away for good
The thrill is gone baby
It's gone away for good
Someday I know I'll be open armed baby
Just like I know a good man should
You know I'm free, free now baby
I'm free from your spell
Oh I'm free, free, free now
I'm free from your spell
And now that it's all over
All I can do is wish you well
”
”
B.B. King
“
Louise, who at twenty-three could easily look like a sixteen-year-old boy, wore trousers, a vest, and a tie. Joan wore a chic dress with a nipped-in waist and wide skirt, her red hair in a wavy, shoulder-length pageboy. The juke box in the bar was a good one, with Ray Charles singing “Hey Now” and new records by B. B. King, whose performances on Beale Street were a Memphis sensation. The most popular song of the night, hands down, was Kitty Wells strumming “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” Wells was from Nashville, and the burgeoning country music industry in their home state was a subject of fascination for both women. Louise, intrigued by the fashion for cowboy costumes and yodeling, could do a fair imitation of Hank Williams. Louise had a new swagger that Joan hadn’t seen in her before. She was more assertive and suffered fools even less. When a pretty young woman stopped by their table to compliment Joan’s hair and flirtatiously ask, “Why don’t you cut it short?” Louise sent her on her way with a proprietary growl, saying, “Leave her alone. She’s not gay.
”
”
Leslie Brody (Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy)
“
Everyone reading this must believe me when I say Prince possessed genius. Unprecedented genius. Think back to Elvis, the cat some folk say invented rock and roll. Elvis was cool. Elvis had a look. He sang. Worked his pelvis. Drove the girls crazy. Would never dis Elvis for borrowing from black music 'cause he publicly acknowledged his masters. He loved him some B.B. King. He respected Ray Charles. He covered Ray's songs. But if they call Elvis the King, they're gonna have to call Prince the World Emperor. I say that cause, unlike Prince, Elvis did not write. Elvis did not arrange. Elvis did not play killer guitar. And when I say that Prince wrote and arranged, I mean he wrote and arranged literally thousands of songs under so many different names that he forgot half of them. And when I say Prince played guitar, I mean he blended the styles of all the guitar gurus and then added a fantastic flair all his own. He did more than arrange. He created a sound that, nearly half a century later, sounds as fresh as it did when Grand Central was tearing the roofs of every school auditorium in the Twin Cities.
”
”
Morris Day (On Time: A Princely Life in Funk)
“
(PuzzleBoxGPL) Inventor, Jonathan Roy McKinney
>Unique 1<
>Diadem Ring Circlet 8, 6, 1<
>Mana Pi Sphere Abstracter 14, 2, 6, 2<
>Golden Items 5, 3<
>Hexagonal Prism 9, 5<
“PuzzleBoxGPL ingots rainbow facets Inna hash table, forges prefixes, suffixes, and finds randomized objects Inna standard normal distribution, inspired by Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo, SNES'S Secret Of Mana, LOTR, B2B/B2C Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and Blockchain, given the five pointed star binds the hexagon Inna Model View Projection Matrix, it halves the coins Inna three-dimensional P2P hashing scheme.
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all...”-LOTR. Given that the one ring was forged from one too many golden ingots, it was forseen that Sauron's deception poisoned all the land and covered it in a sickened darkness for the one ring that finds them, and one ring that binds them, for they were all deceived...I before E except after C.
”
”
Jonathan Roy Mckinney
“
(PuzzleBoxGPL) Inventor, Jonathan Roy McKinney
>Unique 1<
>Diadem Ring Circlet 8, 6, 1<
>Mana Pi Sphere Abstracter 14, 2, 6, 2<
>Golden Items 5, 3<
>Hexagonal Prism 9, 5<
“PuzzleBoxGPL ingots rainbow facets Inna hash table, forges prefixes, suffixes, and finds randomized objects Inna standard normal distribution, inspired by Blizzard Entertainment’s Diablo, SNES'S Secret Of Mana, LOTR, B2B/B2C Business Intelligence, Knowledge Management, and Blockchain, given the five pointed star binds the hexagon Inna Model View Projection Matrix, it halves the coins Inna three-dimensional P2P hashing scheme.
"Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all...”-LOTR. Given that the one ring was forged from one too many golden ingots, it was forseen that Sauron's deception poisoned all the land and covered it in a sickened darkness for the one ring that finds them and one ring that binds them, for they were all deceived...I before E except after C.
”
”
Jonathan Roy Mckinney
“
The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you
”
”
B.B. King
“
I could see that Bukka was born to be a bluesman, and I wondered if the same was true of me. I worried that I didn't have his talent - or the talent of someone like Blind Lemon or T-Bone. I felt something beautiful inside Bukka's soul. Even if I didn't follow his style, I was moved by his sincerity. He loved telling stories, and used his blues to tell them. His blues was the book of his life. He sang about his rough times and fast time and loving times and angry times. He'd entertain at a party for two hundred people with the same enthusiasm as a party for twenty. Bukka gave it his all. His music had a consistency I admired. Like all the great bluesmen, he said, I am what I am. I wondered if I could be that steady and strong.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
The great jazz instrumentalists taught me how to sing and interpret a song. they showed me how a horn can have as much personality as an actor.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I wanted to sustain a note like a singer. I wanted to phrase a note like a saxist. By bending the strings, by trilling my hand - and I have big fat hands - I could achieve something that approximated a vocal vibrato. I could sustain a note. I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions. By fooling with the feedback between my amplifier and instrument, I started experimenting with sounds that expressed my feelings, whether happy or sad, bouncy or bluesy. I was looking for ways to let my guitar sing.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
It angers me how scholars associate the blues strictly with tragedy.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
The blues was bleeding the same blood as me. The blues didn't have to explain the mystery of pain that I felt; it was there in the songs and voices of singers like Lonnie Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, in the cries of their guitars.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
I'm a fan first. I believed Duke Ellington when he said there's no bad music, just some of it is presented badly. As a kid, hanging around Church Street, the presentation of music was so powerful, I couldn't help but jump for joy. I had discovered art, or truth, or whatever you want to call it; I had seen a light I'd follow forever.
”
”
B.B. King (Blues All Around Me: The Autobiography of B.B. King)
“
Good music doesn't care what genre it is!
”
”
Eric Dahl (B.B. King's Lucille and the Loves Before Her)