What Muddy Waters did for us is what we should do for others. It's the old thing, what you want written on your tombstone as a musician: 'He passed it on.'

I don't like to go into the studio with all the songs worked out and planned before hand ... you've got to give the band something to use its imagination on as well. That can make a very ordinary song come alive into something totally different ... the X-factor - so important in rock and roll - which is the feel.

What's the big deal about still working? Retirement age is sixty-five, and that's at a normal job - and I ain't there yet.

I have no idea what the audience makes of me.

The Beatles were basically a vocal band.

Rock and roll ain't nothing but jazz with a hard backbeat.

Everybody starts by imitating their heroes. For me it was Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters.