Somebody said to me, 'Whenever somebody says your name, a smile comes to their face.' That's a great accolade. I strive to keep it that way.
— Clarence Clemons
It used to take a day to get over the partying. But I don't party anymore. I don't miss it, either.
More than 50 percent of kids who play an instrument go on to college, yet music education programs at the inner city public schools who need them most continue to be hit hard with budget cuts.
You had your black bands, and you had your white bands, and if you mixed the two, you found less places to play.
I got into the soul music, but I wanted to rock. I was a rocker.
The first time I ever saw a black audience at our concert, we were in Zimbabwe.
Now that I am much older, I have had a number of sax players tell me I was responsible for them playing sax. Some of them I have admired over the years.
The calm mind allows one to connect with the inner self, the Soul, the very source of our being. That's where the music lives. That's where my music comes from.
Being involved in the well-being and advancement of one's own community is a most natural thing to do.
I do read music, but I prefer playing from the heart.
There'll be no oiling up with this band. The oil has been there for years and it only gets better.
I have no agenda - just to be loved.
I'm a mellow fellow. Nothing much bothers me.
As long as my mouth, hands, and brain still work, I'll be out there doing it. I'm going to keep going 'til I'm not there anymore. This is what's keeping me alive and feeling young and inspired.
I grew up with a very religious background.
It's like Liverpool. Everybody went for the music. All the young musicians seemed to gravitate to Asbury Park.
When I grew up, there was one music: rock n' roll. Somewhere along the line, there was a separation. I don't know why it happened, but it did happen.
It's a matter of choosing what is most important to you and putting that first. Once you have recognized your true purpose in life, this becomes much easier.
In the mental calmness of a spiritual life, I have found that the answers to the whys in our lives are able to come to you. In my music I find the same thing.
I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.
I look forward to working out every day.
Nobody played instruments in my family. My father got that bug and said he wants his son to play saxophone.
To me, the sax is rock n' roll, even though electric guitars kind of pushed it aside for a while.
Rock-and-roll, to me, is very serious because we deal with the young people. We deal with people who need something, and that's the same thing that a preacher does. He feeds you something that you need spiritually in your soul and in your makeup.
I was a born rock n' roll sax player.
When I walk on stage, it's the 'healing floor.' No matter how bad I'm hurting, I get out there and do it.
I found out how great the E Street Band is. The reality of a band that you can't scoop aside, can't put in a corner.
I take my job as a rock and roll sax player very seriously. To do it the way that I must do it, I must be in good condition. The better shape you're in, the harder you can rock.
I like health-conscious cooking, but growing up in the South, I do love southern cooking; southern France, southern Italy, southern Spain. I love southern cooking.
The word spiritual, not the word religious, is the key.
As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song, but I know it was you on sax.'
