I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.

When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.

Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.

You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.

The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.

I don't think I ever sing the same way twice. The blues is sort of a mixed-up thing. You just have to feel it. Anything I do sing is part of my life.

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.