When we did that kind of stuff our only rule was... Well, we didn't have any rules, really, but my rule, because I was the drinker of the group, was not at any time of the day before the night we're working.

Nobody heard records of you playing whatever the melody was on those low strings. It worked out good, you know, about 25 or 26 million records later. I guess it worked out alright.

If it was Europe, I just picked a country that I hadn't been to, but I didn't try to check up on what was going on in the country or anything like that. I just went and had a good time and met a lot of very nice people who are still my friends.

I just did one movie and there was no career for me, anyway.

There's nothing worse, I guess, than being black in an all-white church or being southern and being a liberal.

The thing I hated about it was that you live in your trailer all the time and then they call you and you do maybe two dozen lines. Then they do that for three hours and you wait and wait and wait, and I don't like waiting.

So I became a producer because I knew one of the reasons was they didn't do them the way I thought was right.