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" But I'd play on everything from pop records to a lot of the glam stuff to rock stuff to classical stuff. I used to get called to do all those things, it was great. "
Rick Wakeman
Rock
Everything
Great
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" 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
Long Time
Born
Like
" Since the 1980s, I've been known more for my TV work, I used to host 'Live at Jongleurs' and of course 'Grumpy Old Men,' and so it's really all come from there. It's been a funny career really, there are people that know me now as a TV person, a comedian, an interviewer - I've had people genuinely gobsmacked to find out I am a musician. "
Rick Wakeman
Work
Funny
I Am
" 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
Race
Train
Queen
" I was 65 in May, and when I have just shaved, I see my father. I realise that I now have the same facial idiosyncrasies he had: little twitches here and there, mouth and nose movements, even the way he would tilt his head. "
Rick Wakeman
Mouth
See
Way
" 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
Two
Early
Friend
" I always say that it's about breaking the rules. But the secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place. "
Rick Wakeman
Understanding
Place
Say
" '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
Woman
Good
You
" I'm a Freemason, and we love to celebrate Burns' night: piping in the haggis, the whole lot. "
Rick Wakeman
Whole
Celebrate
Love
" I had joined Yes in 1971. I was a classically trained musician who had worked with numerous artists as a session musician. I played on David Bowie's 'Life On Mars,' Cat Stevens's 'Morning Has Broken' and even on some Des O'Connor records, though I kept that quiet. "
Rick Wakeman
Cat
Broken
Life
" Even the two times that I left, I never really felt like I left the band. It's very bizarre. It's like there's sort of an umbilical cord that stretches between us spiritually. "
Rick Wakeman
Us
Band
Never
" Coming back to Yes is like never having left. Even when I have not been in the band, I have always felt part of it. "
Rick Wakeman
Back
Always
Like
" Actually, I only left twice. I left then, and then rejoined literally two years later for Going For The One. "
Rick Wakeman
Going
Left
Only
" People always said that I hated punk, and that really wasn't true. It was glossed over for many years that I was the guy who found the Tubes and signed them to A&M. English punk was a revolution. "
Rick Wakeman
True
Said
Revolution
" There's a fine line between angry and grumpy. Angry isn't nice, but grumpy is funny. "
Rick Wakeman
Angry
Nice
Line
" But I listen to live recordings of things that I did back in the '70s and then how I've done things since. And there's no doubt about it: if I compare the two, it's like chalk and cheese. "
Rick Wakeman
Cheese
Back
Done
" Touring with Yes was generally great fun, and I got on well with the rest of the guys, but we were like chalk and cheese in many respects. I was unique in the band as a card-carrying Conservative. "
Rick Wakeman
Unique
Great
Fun
" 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
Think
Truth
Enjoy
" 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
Funny
Night
People
" 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
Professional
Three
You
" 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
Day
Thought
She
" I read numerous books - loads in fact - and, as I always do when recording a historical project, immersed myself into the subject matter. I spent many hours at Henry's old homes, such as Hampton Court, and visiting the Tower of London. I read no other books during that period. "
Rick Wakeman
London
Project
Myself
" I am a very extreme sort of character, as I don't do things by halves. "
Rick Wakeman
Am
Things
I Am
" I cut out bread, I don't eat after 6 P.M., and I go on walks, and it's had a great effect. "
Rick Wakeman
Eat
Great
Out
" 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
Hospital
Me
Born
" I like Toronto a lot, it's a good city. The only thing that really annoys me about Toronto is that you're turning Maple Leaf Gardens into a grocery store, which is absolutely nothing short of disgusting. "
Rick Wakeman
City
You
Short
" 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
Children
Me
Money
" I've been married three times and divorced three times. "
Rick Wakeman
Married
Times
Been
" Apparently I'm well-known for my stories, my raconteur tales, that sort of thing. "
Rick Wakeman
Well-Known
Thing
Tales
" I was in and out of Yes six times. Someone once likened it to Liz Taylor and Richard Burton's marriage where we couldn't live with or without each other. There's an element of truth, and I last left in 2005. "
Rick Wakeman
Yes
Marriage
Out
" To play music, you have to understand it. I didn't understand 'Topographic Oceans.' That's why I hardly played on it. It frustrated me no end - and playing the whole thing on tour, I got farther and farther away from it. "
Rick Wakeman
Music
You
Play