Quotes from Steve Winwood

Here we were supposedly changing the world for the better in the Sixties, but as we get 40 years further down the line, we realise that some of those changes such as the drugs probably weren't all that great or sensible. It was all about social experiments.

One man puts the fire out, the other lights the fuse.

The mother of invention in music is necessity, not Frank Zappa!

A lot of people think that the music was responsible for a lot of changes in the Sixties, but I think the music came out of it. The music wouldnt have happened without the social changes.

I think a lot of people came into rock n' roll to try to change the world. I came into rock n' roll to make music.

It could be my British need for discipline that makes me admire the American appetite for freedom and passion.

If nothing is the way it seems, then this life is just a haunted dream.

When the rhythm and night ride, no heart can hide.

Half of us is easy, the other half is hard. Even though we do our best, we end up being scarred.

Time is a river rolling into nowhere. We must live while we can, and we'll drink our cup of laughter.

In some respects I'm quite easily led, so I have to make sure I've got my own space, and that I feel comfortable in my working environment. It's very important for me to work with the right collaborators, as I can easily get led into a corner where I'm not comfortable.

All through the kind of late '80s and '90s, every A&R record company man was saying, 'Now what we want is another record like 'Back in the High Life.' And, of course, that's not the way to make music at all. That's the tail wagging the dog.

Music is a science, in many ways it's mathematical.

The finer things I feel in me, the golden dance life could be.

To make a living from doing something I love is fantastic. As long as people want to listen to me, I'll keep doing it. In fact, to tell you the truth, even if no one did want to listen to me, I'd still be doing it!

When life is too much, roll with it, baby.

While there is time, let's go out and do everything.

In life you can get a feeling which is part of a person, the same as in the songs. Music is almost our representation of our fantasies and so our songs are representations of our fantasies.

Punk was more based on social change than on music, so it didn't bother me too much. It wasn't really a musical threat.

I got thrown out of music school for even listening to Fats Domino and Ray Charles. I was asked, 'What kind of music do you like to listen to?' and I said, 'Well, I do like Paul Hindemith and Igor Stravinsky but I also like Fats Domino and Ray Charles,' and they literally said, 'Either forget about that or leave.'

My goal has always been to make classic records, classic albums. Sometimes the recording process and the era it was recorded in means the production leans in a particular way, but to me they are all part of the same process.

One of my problems is I'm not really sure if I slot into rock or not. I've always tried to combine world music, folk, jazz, blues and rock, and have done since Traffic.

Listening to music for me is like homework. Music will give me enjoyment, but as soon as it's giving me that enjoyment, I want to analyse it, and then it becomes work. Why does it sound like that? How?... then I dissect it.

Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine.