Memphis Quotes

• That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station.

  Johnny Cash

  Dream, Growing Up, Air

  "Music's Man in Black". Academy of Achievement interview, www.achievement.org. June 25, 1993.

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• God bless the boys from Memphis, blue suede shoes, and Elvis.

  George Jones

  Boys, Shoes, Blue

  Song: Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes

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• Memphis is in a very lucky position on the map. Everything just gravitated to Memphis for years.

  Steve Cropper

  Years, Lucky, Maps

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• I'll stay in Memphis.

  Elvis Presley

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• Growing up in Memphis and listening to all kinds of music and dreaming... So that was one of the first times I wrote a complete song and set it to music and the whole bit. From then on, I was busy with it.

  William Bell

  Dream, Song, Growing Up

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• The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival.

  Ida B. Wells

  Character, Men, White Man

  Ida B. Wells (2013). “Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells”, p.52, University of Chicago Press

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• When I got outta High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis, Memphis.

  Elvis Presley

  School, Boys, Boots

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• I sang in church growing up. Memphis is the blues capital of the world, we like to say.

  Justin Timberlake

  Growing Up, Church, World

  Justin Timberlake, Susan Black (2003). “Justin Timberlake”, Omnibus Press& Schirmer Trade Books

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• The many sounds of Memphis shaped my early musical career and continue to be an inspiration to this day.

  Justin Timberlake

  Inspiration, Careers, Musical

  "For the record: quick news on distributed, o-tow, Guns N'Roses, Madonna, Simple Plan, Jack Johnson & more", www.mtv.com. November 07, 2003.

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• Walking in Memphis, I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale. Walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel?

  Marc Cohn

  Travel, Feet, Way

  Song: Walking In Memphis, Album: Marc Cohn

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• I used to go down every year for the remembrance of Elvis' birthday. Memphis State College invited me to sit in the auditorium and speak to the people for one of those Elvis days.

  Otis Blackwell

  Birthday, Redneck, College

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• Mississippi begins in a lobby of a Memphis, Tennessee hotel and extends south to the Gulf of Mexico

  William Faulkner

  Tennessee, Mexico, Hotel

  William Faulkner (2011). “Essays, Speeches & Public Letters”, p.11, Modern Library

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• My parents were working in a hospital in Memphis. But I didn't live there for any length of time that I remember. The first thing I remember is the town in Mississippi that I live in now, Charleston.

  Morgan Freeman

  Parent, Firsts, Towns

  "New Again: Morgan Freeman". Interview with Graham Fuller, www.interviewmagazine.com. February 10, 2016.

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• Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don't know why-the lyrics had no meaning.

  Elvis Presley

  Real, Men, Records

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• I hitchhiked, took trucks 'n' trains - anything that would pick me up. I stopped in Memphis for about six months and they found me and come got me. Stayed about a month an' split again.

  John Lee Hooker

  Pick Me Up, Six, Splits

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• I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas and he would play the blues.

  Koko Taylor

  Kings, Years, Play

  "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

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• Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.

  Lisa Marie Presley

  Dad, House, Excitement

  "A New Life, Album for Lisa Marie Presley". www.elle.com. April 25, 2012.

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• When working abroad you work pretty hard, but with time off, this is the greatest job in the world. You drive. You explore Memphis, or wherever you've landed, or go and see Dr John, or the Californian landscape. And, yes, I've had a few good meals.

  Toby Jones

  Jobs, Meals, Drs

  "Toby Jones: ' So Robert de Niro booked us a table at El Bulli'" by Euan Ferguson, www.theguardian.com. August 18, 2012.

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• I've always been in love with that Delta-flavored music the music that came from Mississippi and Memphis and, especially, New Orleans. When I was 14, I was in a wanna-be New Orleans band in Toronto.

  Robbie Robertson

  New Orleans, Band, Toronto

  "POP MUSIC : Robertson Rides Rock Train Again". Interview with Robert Hilburn, articles.latimes.com. September 29, 1991.

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• I grew up Southern Baptist, so my experience was fairly conservative. Not archly so, but I think Memphis - when you get to certain parts of Memphis - are more liberal for sure. But I grew up, until I was about 13 or 14, in a section called Whitehaven, and then we moved to a suburb called Germantown - which is a pretty conservative area.

  Chris Parnell

  Thinking, Southern, Baptists

  Interview with Kenneth Plume, www.ign.com. January 21, 2003.

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• When I came out of the military, I had a club in Memphis and I started using the The Bar Kays as my club band. They were still only in the middle school - but I'd take them on the road with me on the weekends, sometimes.

  William Bell

  Military, School, Weekend

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• I was born in Memphis. There was music all around me, really deep and special music. I heard all these great masters at a young age.There was a great genius in my town, Phineas Newborn, who is one of the greatest pianists ever on the planet. He took me under his wings at about 9 and he put me on the right track.

  Charles Lloyd

  Wings, Track, Age

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• Judging from what looks like the popularity of this classic wrestling show is that the people like what they have grown to know and love here in Memphis

  Jerry Lawler

  Wrestling, People, Judging

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• Growing up in Memphis, I have always admired St. Jude's for the magnificent work they do.

  Ginnifer Goodwin

  Growing Up, St Jude, Magnificent

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• I was always drawn to the roots music, bluegrass, blues, early rock - Sun Records, Elvis [Presley]. And I still love that music to this day. Memphis never gets the credit. It's much more musically rich than Nashville ever will be. Nashville manufactured that hokey-hillbilly image way back.

  Steve Young

  Nashville, Roots, Rocks

  Interview with Gordon Ames, www.outlawmagazine.com. May 2, 2012.

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