Robbie Robertson Quotes
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Sixteen years on the road is long enough. Twenty years is unthinkable.
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Music isn't necessarily made to last, and there's always been disposable music.
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We need to have a taste factor in our life. It isn't about what's popular; it's about what's really good.
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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.'
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Boy, do I got some stories to tell.
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There is an extraordinary collaborative spirit when you are learning and growing.
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Cowboys had guitars. And they sang country 'cause they lived in the country.
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I've been really fortunate that I've been at a lot of critical crossroads in my musical journey. When I look back, there are some pretty interesting things to look at.
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You don't stumble upon your heritage. It's there, just waiting to be explored and shared.
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I saw Ray Charles at Massey Hall.
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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.'
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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.
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Music should never be harmless.
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I love traditional music. But in any culture around the world, there is the historic and cultural music and everything that's been passed down and passed down, and hopefully you take that, and then you take it, you know, the next distance, and then somebody else takes it the next distance.
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One of the things I feel very strong about is the achievement of the Band really being a complete band.
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It's easy to be a genius in your twenties. In your forties, it's difficult.
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I always like to keep one hand in the tepee and the other hand in the synagogue. Wouldn't it be great if there was a combination of the two? You could go to synagogue, and it would be really hot in there.
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The native music of North America, the original-roots music of this country, is also the underworld music of this country.
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I am fascinated by the places that music comes from, like fife-and-drum blues from southern Mississippi or Cajun music out of Lafayette, Louisiana, shape-note singing, old harp singing from the mountains - I love that stuff. It's like the beginning of rock and roll: something comes down from the hills, and something comes up from the delta.
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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.
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People think I left The Band and spoiled this whole thing, and that's not what happened. Nobody broke up The Band. Nobody ever said, 'That's it, we're done.'
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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.
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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.
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Do you know what a skin walker is? It's a thing in Indian mythology. There are certain people born with this gift, and they're able to actually get inside you and mess with your feelings and with your mind. And if a skin walker chooses to get a hold of you, there's not much you can do.