WIT & WISDOM OF A BLUES LEGEND
Buddy Guy is more than just a musician. His show is a night of storytelling eclipsed by guitar showmanship intermingled with bits of wit, wisdom and humour. His journey from humble beginnings, playing a homemade two-string instrument made of wire and tin cans to playing for President Obama at the White House. Buddy Guy both entertains and inspires his audience
Buddy Guy Witticisms
I’m gonna play something so funky you can smell it
Nobody ever sat me down and said here’s B-flat and here’s F-sharp. I had to figure that out myself after I started playing with a band. I’m eighty-two years old. Most of the people above me—John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins—I faced them, I watched their hands to see where they were going. They played by ear. And that’s how I play now. I play by ear. I don’t play by the rules
I’ve never missed a gig yet. Music makes people happy, and that’s why I go on doing it – I like to see everybody smile.
When I went to Chicago, I’ll put it like this: I was looking for a dime and I found a quarter
Blues musicians don’t retire. They drop.
Blues is like American Express. I don’t leave home without it.
It’s kind of hard to keep going sometimes but you just have to believe in what you are and what you can do and that’s the way to success
When you catch me playing something at home, it’s somebody else’s stuff where I can what we call steal licks from, and that’s how I taught myself how to play.
Once I was checking to hotel and a couple saw my ring with Blues on it. They said, ‘You play blues. That music is so sad.’ I gave them tickets to the show, and they came up afterwards and said, ‘You didn’t play one sad song.
The images of Buddy performing were photographed at Salle Wilfred Pelletier at Place des Arts as part of the 40th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal in 2019.
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I’ve Got Dreams to Remember
You’re damn right, I’ve got the blues. From my head down to my shoes. I can’t win ’cause I don’t have a thing to lose.
The first guitar player I saw putting on a show was Guitar Slim – I must’ve been 13 years old – he came out riding that guitar, wearing a bright red suit. I thought; ‘I wanna sound like BB King, but I wanna play guitar like THAT.
Sadness is but a wall between two gardens.
Buddy on Khalil Gibran
! can’t learn nothing from listening to me. That’s something I already know.
Your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working overtime.
I love the life I live, I live the life I love
The jazz and blues clubs are like the jazz and blues musicians – they’re disappearing.
No music is unsatisfying to me. It’s all got something in it. It’s like that gumbo that’s in that kitchen there. You know how many tastes and meats are in there? I see my music as a gumbo. When you hear me play, there’s everything in there, everything I ever heard and stole from.
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