Clarence Clemons

“I got into the soul music, but I wanted to rock. I was a rocker.”

“As a horn player, the greatest compliment one can get is when a person comes to you and says, 'I heard this saxophone on the radio the other day and I knew it was you. I don't know the song,...”

“Now that I am much older, I have had a number of sax players tell me I was responsible for them playing sax. Some of them I have admired over the years.”

“I was a born rock n' roll sax player.”

“To me, the sax is rock n' roll, even though electric guitars kind of pushed it aside for a while.”

“I'd rather somebody punch me in the face than drop my sax.”

“I wanted an electric train for Christmas but I got the saxophone instead.”

“Nobody played instruments in my family. My father got that bug and said he wants his son to play saxophone.”

“I found out how great the E Street Band is. The reality of a band that you can't scoop aside, can't put in a corner.”

“I'll never be rude to another news person. It's a tough job, a thankless job. You really have to get out there and grovel to get your story.”

“I visualize what I do before I do it. Visualizing makes me better.”

“The first time I ever saw a black audience at our concert, we were in Zimbabwe.”