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Let the world call me a fool,But if things are right with me and you,That's all that matters.And I'll do anything you asked me to.
Waylon Jennings -
Honesty is something you can't wear out.
Waylon Jennings
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It was all devastating. I'd never dealt with losing anyone close to me, and I didn't know where to put it in my life. I was very young then. Buddy taught me so much in such a short time.
Waylon Jennings -
Now, I don't know how they judge all that, but if anybody in the world deserves to be in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Ritchie Valens does.
Waylon Jennings -
But Buddy was an upper. He was happy. He loved music, and he was really happy. I don't know... I don't believe in reincarnation at all, but if all that stuff is true, then he might have been on his last time around.
Waylon Jennings -
Because Ritchie Valens WAS the real deal. He was only starting, but in the time he spent in the business, he made big impact. I don't know if anybody could have made a bigger one.
Waylon Jennings -
Chet loved artists. He did. But he was caught up in the system. He had two hats. He had to have 'em because he did two things: he was an artist, and he was an executive.
Waylon Jennings -
But you know, the system almost destroyed itself while it was goin' on trying to destroy us.
Waylon Jennings
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Cuz I was never pretty anyway and never cared anything about that.
Waylon Jennings -
Jessi is a great person. She really is. She's been a friend to me all through all my bad times, and she's understood what I was doing. She came up with that one saying, which was great.
Waylon Jennings -
Besides that, I felt guilty. I thought for some reason... I was alive, and Buddy and those boys were dead, and I didn't know how, but somehow I'd caused it.
Waylon Jennings -
Now, I was on drugs, and that didn't help a whole lot. He hated that. That was part of where Chet and I had problems, so I take complete blame for that.
Waylon Jennings -
I mean, I think we're put here on earth to make your own destiny, to begin with. I don't think there's anything you can do this way or that way to change anything.
Waylon Jennings -
And the whole thing is that you're treated like a step-child. Here it was down here, everything in the black, because they were stealing, basically. Stealing from us old country boys down here.
Waylon Jennings
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I love Johnny Cash, and I respect Johnny Cash. He's the biggest. He's like an Elvis in this business, but no, he's never been the rebel.
Waylon Jennings -
I was king of the mountain for a long time, well, I don't want that no more. I like to perform every once in a while for people who want to see me, and cut albums of music that is what I'm really about.
Waylon Jennings -
But ya know what, I am a part of something that happened. I'm a part of the music that happened. My voice is one more instrument, is what it is. So that's the way I feel about people who play on sessions.
Waylon Jennings -
Finally, my manager negotiated a deal where I got to produce my own records.
Waylon Jennings -
We did an album one time called White Mansions, about the civil war, but it was written by a guy from England. His looking at it from over there and it not being a part of his history made it so he could be objective.
Waylon Jennings -
Don't ever try and be like anybody else and don't be afraid to take risks.
Waylon Jennings
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Mainly what I learned from Buddy... was an attitude. He loved music, and he taught me that it shouldn't have any barriers to it.
Waylon Jennings -
A lot of times they don't want to hear it. But you know, if some good is done to you, you should pass it on.
Waylon Jennings -
So I'm not very popular here with those inside the system, as you might guess. I never wanted to be.
Waylon Jennings -
I didn't aim at anything except good music.
Waylon Jennings