My views on music, and life in general, are completely out of step with everything that’s going on. I’ve always been out of step. The only thing that interests me is history, reviewing the past and making something out of it. – Leon Redbone
I have a visual sense for the music. It has to stay true to a certain sense of period. I rely on a sense of colors and mood in my approach to the arrangement. – Leon Redbone
I got out of the music industry many years ago. I had a charlatan for a producer who I wanted nothing to do with. He’s dead now, so I guess I can’t beat that horse any more. It left a very bad taste in my mouth, so I just went on about my business doing what I do and not involving myself with record companies, except for distribution. – Leon Redbone
I think of these things as obstacles rather than opportunities, because if they were opportunities it means I actually took the business of doing them seriously. To take myself too seriously is the gentle kiss of death. – Leon Redbone
I’m sad and blue, about nobody but you. I told you that I loved you right from the start, you told me the same and now you try to break my little heart. – Leon Redbone
I just do a random roulette wheel version of what I’ve recorded or sometimes tunes I haven’t recorded. It’s a collection of whatever happens, happens. – Leon Redbone
Music doesn’t really require whether the person’s a young person or old person for whatever kind of music it is. – Leon Redbone
I’m not interested in stirring anybody up through music. If you’re going to stir people up, it has to be a thought process that has nothing to do with music. I see music as having to do with an internal thing. Something that stirs you up is external. – Leon Redbone
I extract what I consider the best material from different sources. But often the material I perform comes from a very strange location in history, which are minstrel shows. – Leon Redbone
Lonesome. Lonesome. I know what it means. Here all by my lonesome, dreaming empty dreams. Weary. Weary at the close of day, wondering if tomorrow brings me joy or sorrow. – Leon Redbone
The only thing that interests me is history – reviewing the past and making something out of it. – Leon Redbone
I don’t do anything mysterious on purpose. I’m less than forthcoming, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m mysterious. It just means I’m not inclined to go there. – Leon Redbone
If I had mastered the Spanish language to any extent, I might have gone in that direction. – Leon Redbone
I don’t think music should be played anywhere near politics. The two don’t go together. – Leon Redbone
If you’re not interested in history, if you’re living for the day, you need some sort of cliche hook. I certainly don’t think of myself as a cult anything. It’s a strange thing to even consider pursuing. – Leon Redbone
I think there’s a preoccupation with the American market to make excuses and justify its past. If it isn’t current, it means somebody has to make an excuse for it. If it’s ‘cult,’ it gives it a sense of illegitimate legitimacy. – Leon Redbone
I’ve got a very behind-the-scenes personality. I don’t know how I became a performer. I like to stay discreet, out of the public eye, very low-key. – Leon Redbone
Other musicians are basically personalities who want to make a name for themselves. All I do is sing old songs in the best way I can. What else is there to know? If you were a blacksmith, what would people need to know about you other than whether you can make a good horseshoe? – Leon Redbone
