Dr. John

Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer and songwriter.

Dr. John at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Quotes

• I was criticized by some people for my first album because they said I was taking sacred music. They knew nothing about what I was doing. That was no sacred music; that's music I wrote. I patterned it around voodoo church music, but it wasn't exactly the music of the lyrics of nothing'.
  • Cited in: Dave Thompson. Bayou Underground: Tracing the Mythical Roots of American Popular Music, 2010. p. 132

• Well, I like to think about what Louis Armstrong and also Duke Ellington said about music. There'are only two kinds of music: good and bad... And, I would like to think about my music as being good.
  • 10 Questions for Dr. John, Time interview by Tim Morrison at YouTube, 10 Sept. 2010, 0.30/6.08 min. Dr. John in answer to the question "How would you describe your own music."

Misattributed

• When the voice and the vision on the inside is more profound, and more clear and loud than all opinions on the outside, you've begun to master your life.
  • Misattributed at azquotes.com to Dr. John, accessed 02.10.2022
    • Quote is by Dr. John Demartini, see also managemagazine.com, Dec. 6, 2018