I'm the middle man. I try to keep people happy. I go out of my way to get a smile. That's the way my mother raised me.
— Donald Dunn
If you've got a good song, it's easy to play. But you can't make a bad song sound good no matter who you have to play on it.
I try to keep people happy. I go out of my way to get a smile. That's the way my mother raised me.
Yes; my brother Bobby used to distribute records at King Records. I had a job there, too, packing records up and shipping them off. But I always wanted to play sessions at Stax, so I figured out a way to do it.
When I was a kid, I used to look in the mirror and pretend I was Elvis.
I knew when I got to play with Al Jackson I would be a better bass player because he was the best drummer in the world. I worshipped him.
When Elvis sang, it almost sounded like he was whispering. But after you heard the record, his voice was the strongest thing you ever heard. He was incredible.
I tried the guitar, but it had two strings too many. It was just too complicated, man! Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players, another one wasn't needed. What was needed was a bass.
I always look back and say I should have made more. It should have been more lucrative, but it wasn't.
When I heard BB King's 'Sweet Sixteen,' I knew I wanted to play bass because that was the thing that made that record: the bass player.
Elvis wore a halo. Otis Redding did, too. You knew you were playing with a star when you played with them.
Most of my school friends and even a few of my teachers called me 'Duck.'
