THE INTERVIEW

BB King


The legendary BB King, the most important electric guitarist of all time and world renowned as the king of the blues, was interviewed exclusively for the Forum Website.

How does your music add a happier touch to the blues?
I think it has to do with the way I feel. I think that blues music, like in every other kind of music, has a nice feel and a sad feel and then it has a really happy feel, so I try to portray it that way. Blues is not always sad, not for me. Sometimes you are happy. Sometimes you want to dance--I use the word shaky-boogie. Sometimes you want to sit and just enjoy, maybe have a person by your side. Blues is good for all that.

Where do you get so much energy and enthusiasm on stage?
I try to impress ladies like you! I don't know. I know I have a job I like and when people seem to enjoy what I am doing, I enjoy it even more. When I send something out, it comes back to me stronger. That, I believe gives me energy. I believe that's about it 'cause I love to see people happy.

You make people groove with your music, do you feel the same when you are playing?
Oh yes! I feel the same way. I have a thought: if you do something and you are not happy, people will feel that you are not happy, so they are not happy. For example, if someone gets hurt and you cry, the pain that you feel, I feel it too, but if you are happy, then I am happy.

How did you get your hands on your first guitar, and what made you start playing?
Well, I don't remember when I first put my hands on the guitar. I don't remember when I got my first guitar, but I was so happy to have it. I didn't know much about girls then. The only thing I have found since that time that makes me as happy as having my guitar is looking at you! (he laughs). The area where I grew up was very poor, very poor. I was in my late teens, like sixteen, and we didn't have electric lighting in my home. I had never seen a TV at all. We didn't have telephones. We didn't have restrooms in the house. We used the restrooms outside the house. So, even today I am still learning about lots of the things that people have and I never had. I am happy to see them, happy today that I know about some of the cultures, many of the things I could afford today, but I enjoy being as I am.

Why do you call your guitar Lucille?
I used to play on stage at a place called Arkansas, in the States. Memphis, Tennessee, is a big city and right across the Mississippi river to Arkansas, about 45 miles away, there's a little town called Twist Arkansas. I use to play there quite often, in winter. We get quite cold in winter, so they would take something like a big pail and they would fill it with kerosene. Then they would take fire and light the kerosene. They would set this container in the middle of the dance floor. People would dance around it and never disturb it, but one night two men started to fight and one got over that container and it spilt on the floor and it looked like a river fire, everybody started to run for the front door, including BB King, but I forgot my guitar inside.. When I got outside, I realized I left my guitar and I went for it. That was a wooden building, rapidly burning, it started to collapse around me. So, I almost lost my life trying to save my guitar. The next morning we found out that those two men were fighting about a lady. I never met the lady but I knew that her name was Lucille. I named my guitar Lucille to remind me never to do anything like that again. That's why I called it Lucille.

I assume you've heard some Flamenco, do you think that blues and Flamenco have something in common?
Yes, it is like languages. Many words I hear in your language…we use the same words, different pronunciation. For example, we say: general, you say "general"; we say president and you say "presidente"; so music is the same way. Flamenco has many of the same phrases, much of the same feeling that blues music does, so we feel music. Music is like people--it is all related. You may be what nationality you might be, or he might be, but when we look at them are people. Girls are pretty and men are handsome all over the world--some short, some tall and some in between, but they are all people. I think music is the same way.

What do you like best about playing with Raimundo Amador?
He is an "amigo", not only that he is a great, great musician--he plays beautifully, because he is happy when he plays, that is great!

Do you think that the blues might disappear one day from a lack of interest by the next generations?
I don't think so, no, because I personally believe that blues music is life, as we are living it today, life as we lived it in the past, and life, I believe, as we will live tomorrow, because it has to do with people, places and things. I believe that as long as we have people, places and things, we will always have blues. It will change yes, because each generation has their own ideas about certain things, for example, as I mentioned to you earlier, when I was growing up I had no electricity; you had TV, you had many other things that a lot of the people where we come from don't have. So we have different ideas--you don't have to worry about getting kerosene to light the lamp and then blow it out. All you have to do is turn the switch off and light is gone! And pay the bill! Well of course you have to pay for breathing clean air--fresh air they call it. So you don't live for nothing. You live because it's a generation of people, and in order to live with people, you must have certain responsibilities. Ladies look pretty to try impress men, we do all of that because this is the world we live in.

Is there someone who you think will inherit the enormous legacy of the blues?
There are many, more than time we have to talk about, so many, all of them. It is like food, some people like beans, some like rice, some like bread, some like soft drinks… some like many things. That's the way it is with musicians, each one has something that's different. When you hear Raimundo Amador playing you know that it's him; some people say it is the same with me. Some people say that if you hear one, two notes, that's BB. I don't say that, but a lot of people do. It's like, turn your name when you express yourself. Some people have a certain way of walking and you don't have to see them but you know it's them. Same with music, so there are so many young players that I hear that I know are good, very good. I can't say whether it is a, b, c, d or e, but I think any one of them would make you happy.

You had a tight bond with Ray Charles, do you think he was one of the key figures of soul?
Ray Charles, I think was "mucho" for the music. He was called the genius, I don't know what a genius is, but I know that every musician that I have ever heard praise Ray Charles for what he did, most all the musicians that knew him, were happy with the way he played his music. I'm one of those, people--very happy. He did so much for music. There was a word in the US called "S-O-U-L", not soul, and they claimed he had "mucho", much soul, more than most people. To me, he was like that. Sometimes we would sing certain songs and I cried. I don't know whether I cried because I was happy or sad, but I guess most times I was thinking about a lady. I have heard the word "angel", you know, angels have wings. I have only seen pictures of what people say angels are, but when I look at you and ladies, since I have never seen an angel, you are the nearest thing to angels to me. So, when Ray Charles played certain tunes, I think like that. That's happiness for men, "mucho" happiness for men.

Is it talent that makes you become humble and respect the work of others?
Ha, ha! I don't think it's my talent. I think it is the talent of others that make me humble, that make me appreciate how nice things can be, because there are so many things, so many times people praise me for what I have done and I go to myself and I say: What did I do? I just did what I do, nothing special to me; but if you say it, they say it, I accept it because I am glad to hear you say it; but I hear it from other people and I go Oh God, I whish I could do that. People praise me, but I know my limitations better than I can explain to you, so when I hear others play, sing, dance, whatever they do, I praise them. And that makes me humble because I can't do it.

Would you like the blues to be played at your funeral? Which one?
I told my manager that there's a tune played by Fats Domino that he made for Christmas called "Amazing Grace", I think is so pretty. I hope they won't forget that, cause it's a song that I like so much. But it's that particular one, because that tune has been recorded by many people, but Fats Domino has one that makes me feel like I'm floating. Willie Nelson has a song that I like so much called "Always on My Mind", the story in my opinion is maybe I didn't write you, maybe I didn't call you last month, it isn't that I really forgot it, I just didn't get to do it, but she was on my mind. Another by a guy called Lionel Richie is called "Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady" and he goes on to say what the lady means to him. She has been many things, so he says once, twice, three times a lady. I like that. And one that I did called "A Mother's Love", those are my favorite tunes and I hope they think of these tunes, because are the tunes that I like so much.

Before I finish the interview, I would like to say, as I often do, that you women are God's greatest creation, ladies, but we men are close too. You are one we are two. (Smile again and I smile too!).


THE TEST

A place to live / visit
I would say the country where we were born, but I am from the USA, so I say the USA.

The best invention of all time
Airplanes. They move people from place to place in such a short time.

What did you want to be when you were little?
A gospel singer and a Minister.

The names of your guitars
Lucille!!! Only one.

A dream
To marry a beautiful lady like you!

Favorite book
The Bible.

A quote
There's one saying in Spanish that I like very much, and when I leave you I would like to say: "Vaya usted con Dios".

Something that bugs you the most
For men to talk bad about ladies.

You have admiration for...
Everybody I admire, someone I admire more, but I haven't seen anybody I don't admire. I need people on what I call a 0 level access.

What would you ask BB King
I don't know really. You got me there. Maybe I would ask- "Why do you enjoy doing what you do, as much as you do?" and I don't think I can answer that, other than what I said to you before, I love doing what I do!