The colored folks been singing it and playing it just like I'm doin' now, man, for more years than I know. I got it from them.

If you let your head get too big, it'll break your neck.

Do the Clam, do the Clam, grab your barefoot baby by the hand.

Later on they send me to Hollywood. To make movies. It was all new to me. I was only 21 years old.

I ain't no saint, but I've tried never to do anything that would hurt my family or offend God...I figure all any kid needs is hope and the feeling he or she belongs. If I could do or say anything that would give some kid that feeling, I would believe I had contributed something to the world.

I'll never feel comfortable taking a strong drink, and I'll never feel easy smoking a cigarette. I just don't think those things are right for me.

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.