Rick Wakeman Quotes

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Rick Wakeman

Profession : Musician

Birth : May 18, 1949

There's a fine line between angry and grumpy. Angry isn't nice, but grumpy is funny.

Rick Wakeman

When I die, I'll probably climb out of the coffin and play the organ at my own funeral!

Rick Wakeman

My life revolves around music and always will. I need to be a part of music and not an observer.

Rick Wakeman

I would have loved to record with Paul McCartney on some of his early solo recordings, wonderful music. Playing some lovely organ, perhaps. I would have loved to record with John Lennon. He was a dear friend. I had lunch with him just two days before he died.

Rick Wakeman

I am a very extreme sort of character, as I don't do things by halves.

Rick Wakeman

I'm hugely fond of Scotland. My daughter, Jemma, was born in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, and it always tickled me that she was so vexed she didn't have a Scottish accent even though she was brought up down south.

Rick Wakeman

I've got an overactive brain. I enjoy work, I enjoy life, and I'm not good at relaxing. I've also never slept very much due to this overactive imagination and my brain constantly thinking.

Rick Wakeman

I didn't enjoy 'Topographic Oceans' at all. It was a double album, and the truth is it was padded out, and I didn't like that. But I was a fan of Yes - still am - and as such, I'm entitled to say what I think.

Rick Wakeman

There are people who think the film 'This Is Spinal Tap' is simply a very funny 'mockumentary.' Well, with Yes, we lived it. Take the hilarious scene in the film in which the bass player is trapped in a giant pod - that actually happened to Alan one night.

Rick Wakeman

I'm a Freemason, and we love to celebrate Burns' night: piping in the haggis, the whole lot.

Rick Wakeman

I bought a racehorse, Tropical Saint, that belonged to the Queen Mother. I used to go down to Banbury and watch him train, but during a televised race, his jockey pulled up and said there was something wrong. They put him in the grass to try and settle him but found him dead in the field.

Rick Wakeman

I'm always writing or playing because that is my life.

Rick Wakeman

My faith is very private to me. It plays an important part in my life, but I do not try and throw my beliefs at others. I have tremendous respect for all faiths and beliefs, but have a deep concern that religion and faith are currently a long way apart from each other.

Rick Wakeman

Sparks is a sporting charity that puts on golf tournaments for sick children, and my animal charities include Oldham Cats and Feline Care, a big cat charity close to me in Norfolk. I'm also a Freemason and the money they raise for charity is phenomenal.

Rick Wakeman

My mother had never had a day's illness in her life and never thought to have checks. Then, at 78, she discovered she had breast cancer and passed away the next year. But if she'd had a check two years before, they could have done something about it, they could have saved her.

Rick Wakeman

'Tales From Topographic Oceans' is like a woman's padded bra. The cover looks good, but when you peel off the padding, there's not a lot there.

Rick Wakeman

The studio is not the place to write. You need to be 75% ready when you go into the studio, and then the music can develop to the next stage.

Rick Wakeman

My earliest professional musical experiences were really as a session player, and every day was an adventure. Three sessions a day, every day, and you never knew who you would be working with until you arrived at the studio.

Rick Wakeman

I've been married three times and divorced three times.

Rick Wakeman

I was born in 1949 - which seems like a long time ago... Actually, it is a long time ago, when I think about it.

Rick Wakeman