Black people lived right by the railroad tracks and the train would shake their houses at night. I would hear it as a boy and I thought: I'm gonna make a song that sounds like that.

I always knew I was a man, always felt that I was a man, always wanted to be a man.

I try to be a guide for people, to make their darkness bright and to make the pathway light, and never to condemn or control or criticize.

My true belief about Rock 'n' Roll--and there have been a lot of phrases attributed to me over the years--is this: I believe this kind of music is demonic. ... A lot of the beats in music today are taken from voodoo, from the voodoo drums. If you study music in rhythms, like I have, you'll see that is true. I believe that kind of music is driving people from Christ. It is contagious

But I'm a rock 'n' roll singer; that's my livelihood, my occupation.

I also think that what's wrong with all of us is that we don't show enough love toward each other.

I am the architect of rock n' roll. I have to be a fan of all its forms.