So, my records really didn't sell, but musicians started picking up on my sound and my songs and cutting my songs and that turned into a gold mine.
— J. J. Cale
Working in bars back then, in the '50s, to get a job you had to play all kinds of music. There'd be customers come in and yell jazz tunes at you and yell rock 'n' roll tunes at you and polkas and rhythm and blues and country music.
Sometimes the simplest forms of music are the hardest to play. Especially for musicians that are accomplished.
Yeah, Lynyrd Skynyrd, I knew all them guys.
People are familiar with my songs, especially through Eric Clapton. But I have a hard time drawing a crowd, because I have been a songwriter.
I was mainly a songwriter; I really wasn't much of a performer.
That's one of the problems in being a songwriter and living a long time. What you eventually end up doing is you start imitating yourself.
I consider myself a songwriter... I guess the business end is my songs and the fun part is playing the guitar.
I basically make my living writing songs, so I've been able to go around in my trailer. If I got tired of a place, I could move on and roam around. It's a nice environment for writing songs, as opposed to sitting at a recording studio console all day.
Clapton was just picking up ideas. He picked up some of mine like I picked up some from the people before me.
I was a late bloomer in the music business.
What's really nice is when you get a check in the mail.
I'd like to have the fortune, but I don't care too much about the fame.
I'm a background person.
I try and manufacture recordings to sound spontaneous. Then, some things are spontaneous.
On the 'Escondido' album, I think it took us a month to make that album.
I generally, you know, I don't - I don't really scat. I'm - I'm basically a songwriter so you need a little lyrics that rhyme and stuff.
What my whole object was is not to really sell records. I was trying to sell songs.
I guess if I'd have more of a producer attitude, maybe I'd sell more records. But I'm basically a songwriter.
We used to say when we were 20 years old, that when you reach 30, you gotta hang up your guitar and get a real job.
There's a couple of songs of my own I wished I'd have never put out, that, you know, I'd like to burn. But with the advent of digital and computer, nothing goes away any more, you know.
All record companies want big-selling records, and my music is a little too raw for commercial success.
Oh, I'm not a very good singer, and that's 'cause I was always embarrassed about my singing.
Probably the only thing that I really don't like about being an old guy is so many of the people who understand what we know are gone.
Music is a kind of magical thing, and you can't make magic every time, but you try. Every once in a while it has that magic, and the audience knows that. I probably miss it more than I hit it, but I think that's what all musicians try for.
I've always enjoyed being a Gypsy.
I stopped a lot of people who wanted to shove me into the real big time. Your ego wants to say, 'Hey, I'm somebody, man,' but I knew there were many days when I just wanted to be John Cale.
I've never sold a lot of records.
I'm so old, I can remember before rock 'n' roll come along.
Basically, I'm just a guitar player that figured out I wasn't ever gonna be able to buy dinner with my guitar playing. So I got into songwriting, which is a little more profitable business.
People have heard my music, but all my famous songs were made famous by somebody else... But that was my goal.
If a guy came up and said 'we got a polka band and we're going to play polkas next Saturday night' I'd play polkas.
You don't really need a lot of hype and to be famous to sell songs.
When Eric Clapton cut 'After Midnight,' he sold so many records and it was so big at the time, I decided that I would pursue the songwriting thing. I was 34 years old at that time. I'd been down the pike and back before I had any success at all.
Nobody really produces my albums.
From the first album I'm playing bass on a lot of the tunes, and piano on a lot of 'em, and drums, and guitars. I did that on almost every album.
I didn't really get any success till I was 30 years old. I played music when I was young fella, but I didn't really get any success till I was about 30 years old.
There are entertainers and there are musicians, and I never was an entertainer.
If you write songs long enough, you run out of material that's original to yourself.
Yes, I've been down the pike and back. And through the years, I've heard different songs with scatting in it, and it was - always cracked me up as kind of a funny style of music, you know? When I did it, it kind of cracked me up as a comedy kind of routine.
I'm a great believer in freedom of speech.
Send me the money and let the younger guys have the fame.
I think it goes back to me being a recording mixer and engineer. Because of all the technology now you can make music yourself and a lot of people are doing that now. I started out doing that a long time ago and I found when I did that I came up with a unique sound.
My music's gotten much more famous than me.
I remember when I made my first album, I was 32 or 33 years old and I thought I was way too old then.
I'm not a household name.
As the years went by and technology came in, I used a lot of technology.
I tried to play anything people would hire me to play, because I was a musician.
I make my living writing songs and, you know, I'm not a show biz kind of guy.
