Quotes from John Waite

I liked Western country, like cowboy songs, when I was a little kid. Then I developed a taste for Hank Williams and those sort of songs as I got a little bit older.

There's that Bob Dylan quote: 'He who's not busy being born is busy dying.' That's a great line. And I really believe that.

I tend to scribble down notes, lyrics or just random thoughts on pieces of paper, backs of cigarette packs, sometimes on my shirt cuff.

There's an easy way to tell if you have a good song. You get hit in the head with a message, and you get hit in the feet with a rhythm. You're beaten up with music. It's a beautiful thing when that happens.

It was a free-for-all; the BBC wouldn't play anything so we had pirate radio playing the African-American music and the Beatles and greats like Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson and Motown's Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and Otis Redding.

I thought my wife and I would grow old together, but it just didn't work out.

Country was always in the background, but now it's the voice of the people. That's what the people want to sing, you know? I'm really thrilled to be a part of it.

Missing You' almost didn't get on the No Brakes' album, because the record company said, 'The album's finished. We don't need any more songs.'

I've been away writing songs and recording and doing albums that are much more obscure.

Rock seems a little bit redundant now because it really is what country is. It's the voice of America and rock 'n' roll used to be that.

I was hanging around New York, getting used to being on the street. I didn't have any friends I didn't know anybody at that point.

Music can have a real timeless quality - and, really, it's all about energy.

You might be talking to someone who relates a song to losing a friend and you end up talking in the most intimate way. You can get so engaged that you end up in this existential conversation.

The Babys - all their biggest hits happened in the 70s.

I mean, I really hung in there for as long as I could. I was working 18 hours a day on songs and singing.

It' always so sad to see people spend the rest of their careers just trying to repeat the formula.

I like imperfection.

So much of your life is wrapped up in the songs. All the twists come back, and you go back to that place when you were singing it. It's like reading your own diary and being in a time machine.

After Bad English, I made three albums back-to-back that I still think is my best work, but it wasn't meant to be toured.

When we're out touring, we often go to clubs to see people play. The alternative is to go back to the hotel And that's no good.

People wanted to know where I was and what I was doing. Was I still recording? Was I touring? Was I putting a band together? Was I writing songs? Was I even still singing?

The silence of the room is as important as the music.

You know, I still find music as inspiring and exciting as I did when I was 15.

Marty Robbins was one of the first singers that really hit me hard.