Robbie Robertson Quotes

You fog the mind, you stir the soul.

You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared.

Give us the strength, give us the wisdom, and give us tomorrow.

It would be nice to abandon the verse-chorus-bridge structure completely, and make it so none of these things are definable. ... Make up new names for them. Instead of a bridge, you can call it a highway, or an overpass. ... Music should never be harmless. ... I remember from my earliest years, people speaking, you know, in a certain kind of rhythm and telling stories and sharing experiences in a way that was different in Indian country than it was other places. And I was really struck by this and obviously very affected by it, because it's always come out in my songs.

I've always been in love with that Delta-flavored music the music that came from Mississippi and Memphis and, especially, New Orleans. When I was 14, I was in a wanna-be New Orleans band in Toronto.

Say a prayer for the lost generation, who spin the wheel out of desperation.

We need to have a taste factor in our life. It isn't about what's popular; it's about what's really good.

Bob Dylan is as influential as any artist that there has been.

Boy, do I got some stories to tell.

There is an extraordinary collaborative spirit when you are learning and growing.

At a young age I thought, 'Wow, that fiddle thing, that's pretty cool. That mandolin is great. These drums, I like these drums ' They were Indian drums. And I was saying, 'But that guitar. That guitar. Girls are going to like that guitar.'

I love the idea of having a kid who says, 'Yeah, of course I knew about Billie Holiday and Johnny Cash when I was nine years old.'

making a noise in this world making a noise in this world you can bet your ass, I won't go quietly making a noise in this world.

If I can play one note and make you cry, then that's better than those fancy dancers playing twenty notes.

Time is not kind to everything.

Most of my younger Native American friends are not in any way looking for sympathy, and they're not looking to lay guilt on anybody. They have their dignity, and they do what they do.

Music should never be harmless.

I think that there's always great music being made. Always has been, always will be.

When people get together that come from different musical backgrounds, a lot of times there's is a good ... it's very enjoyable to say somebody, let me turn you on to some things, and the other person does the same thing. And they play you stuff that maybe you weren't that familiar with and likewise.

I wanted to develop a guitar style where phrases and lines get there just in the nick of time, like with Curtis Mayfield and Steve Cropper. Subtleties mean so much, and there is a stunning beauty in them.

People go through periods when things are dark and cloudy, and they talk dark and cloudy.

Musical revolutions, I don't know how many I've been through.

It would be nice to abandon the verse-chorus-bridge structure completely, and make it so none of these things are definable...Make up new names for them. Instead of a bridge, you can call it a highway, or an overpass...Music should never be harmless.

The Beatles tried to do some tours and found it to be completely pointless and became a non-touring band after that, and with very good reason.

There's a bookstore in New York where you could buy scripts, and I got addicted to them because they were easy, quick reads and the pictures were so vivid.

It's extraordinary that revolutions taking place around the world were sparked by communication on the Internet.

The rock concert experience for people was really pretty stupid, you know, at the time. People would go to concerts not with the idea of listening at all.

I play guitar quite a bit, because I'm always in search of something. I don't play to jam, but because I'm fishing. I'm looking for something, that I hope you can never find. If I do find it, I'm afraid I won't have a need to do this any more.

It's a bit of a sore spot, the Thanksgiving in Indian country.

When you make a record, your own record, and you don't even recognize it yourself, it's hard to think if anybody else is going to recognize.

Working on 'The Last Waltz' introduced me to Martin Scorsese, and I had been a movie bug since I was a young kid.

You never know what could be interesting tomorrow.

I don't want to be one of those people saying, 'Remember when things were better?'

I haven't been to many music events where somebody was performing and it actually made me cry.

I think, some countries, you have to be dead to have your picture on a stamp.

I admire those old road dogs, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan. That's their life.

I don't believe it's all for nothing. It's not just written in the sand.

I'm really lucky because I found myself in a position where I can do whatever I want to do. I can make records, produce records, make movies, or I can do nothing. I'm not a slave to the dollar.

I think the world of Chuck Berry.

Lord please save his soul, he was the king of rock and roll.

When I was playing with Bob Dylan in, like, 1966, I was, like, 20 years old.

I come from a family who prided themselves, both sides, on memory. And I was told growing up, constantly, that I was born with a really good memory.

Once you establish a foundation of knowing what the greatest recording artists of all time were Wouldn't you want your kids to know this stuff?

By the time I was 13, I was the only one in London, Ontario, who knew how to play rock n' roll.

I'd always thought Cage's 'Root of an Unfocus' would be great in a movie.

Everybody grows in their own way.

Confused by the big city blues, he didn't know who's life he's leading. Put yourself behind the wheel, see if you can get that feel.

When I was younger, I thought I was too young to really be personal. I thought that what I was feeling and thinking might be half-baked.

I like to work on records when I feel inspired, not because it's expected of me.

Record making is an extraordinary experience.