Quotes by Ronnie Hawkins

A good band is like a team. You want to have the right balance. It's not always the best people you need, but the right ones for the job.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I almost lost my band over Pat Travers. He had the spirit but he was so cocky. The rest of them couldn't understand why I let somebody like that into the band. Even Al Brisco couldn't handle him and he is the nicest, most easy-going cat. Pat was just a wild punk but I thought he had something.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I am a cross between Carl Perkins and Led Zeppelin.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I don't know who's left to hear us. But if there are people who want the real thing, we've got it. My band rocks, and I plan to keep doing it 'till nobody shows up to see it anymore.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I hope the Canada Pops can play in E and A. I do 'Forty Days' and 'Bo Diddley'. I don't change songs, just bands.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I raced hot rods at the Santa Ana Drag Strip and clocked my fastest time at 71 m.p.h. I thought I was going to be the world's greatest racing driver, but baby, did I get beaten! Cars were backing up faster than I could go forward! I could beat everybody in Arkansas, but believe me, California was a little different.
– Ronnie Hawkins
I spent ninety percent of my money on wine, women and song and just wasted the other ten percent.
– Ronnie Hawkins
It's a rough place, son. In fact, you have to puke twice and show your razor just to get in. Better grow some whiskers if you wanna go to Canada. I don't know how the hell I'm gonna get you into those clubs up there if you keep looking like a damn choirboy. Stick with me, son. Soon you'll be fartin' through silk.
– Ronnie Hawkins
It's Saturday night. Let's get drunk.
– Ronnie Hawkins
My dad was a champion redneck, liked to drink, chase women, fight, and do all those things that rednecks like. My mother was the complete opposite - she was a religious fanatic who never missed church in 40 years and used to give 10 percent of all she earned to the church, which really pissed my dad off.
– Ronnie Hawkins
Rock 'n' roll was two pegs below being a prisoner of war back then.
– Ronnie Hawkins
'The bigtime for you is just around the corner.' They told me that first in 1952 - boy, it's been a long corner. If I don't hit the bigtime in the next 25 or 30 years, I'm gonna pack in the music business and become a full-time gigolo.
– Ronnie Hawkins
We were playing, not for the drunks, but for the musicians, because it was more intellectually challenging. We needed somewhere to put our energy to show that we were growing, and as we started to achieve this, people came to hear us musically.
– Ronnie Hawkins
Wherever there are rock 'n' rollers, we'll play. That's what we've been doing for more than 30 years - rock 'n' roll. It's made me everything from an honorary mayor to honorary member of a motorcycle gang.
– Ronnie Hawkins