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" I'm always writing or playing because that is my life. "
Rick Wakeman
Playing
Writing
Life
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" My dad died in 1980, and I found out afterwards from mum that my piano lessons, which cost £2 a week, took up nearly a third of his income. "
Rick Wakeman
Cost
Out
Piano
" 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
" I am a very extreme sort of character, as I don't do things by halves. "
Rick Wakeman
Am
Things
I Am
" 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
" 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
" My eyes are green, and in one of them there is a splash of brown - apparently it is not a colour, but a freckle! Sometimes I notice that one eyelid droops more than the other. "
Rick Wakeman
Sometimes
Colour
Eyes
" 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
" 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
" I've been married three times and divorced three times. "
Rick Wakeman
Married
Times
Been
" 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
" There must be something wrong with the mirrors in our house because every single one I gaze into makes me appear somewhat overweight. "
Rick Wakeman
Me
Wrong
Gaze
" I am a Yes fan, ultimately. I've been a member of the band, but I was always a fan of the band first. "
Rick Wakeman
Yes
Always
Fan
" I'm a Freemason, and we love to celebrate Burns' night: piping in the haggis, the whole lot. "
Rick Wakeman
Whole
Celebrate
Love
" 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
" 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
" I joined Yes in July 1971. I had heard Yes live, as Strawbs had supported them at a gig in Hull. I thought they were amazing - incredibly different. "
Rick Wakeman
Live
Thought
Different
" 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
" My life revolves around music and always will. I need to be a part of music and not an observer. "
Rick Wakeman
Need
Will
Always
" Apparently I'm well-known for my stories, my raconteur tales, that sort of thing. "
Rick Wakeman
Well-Known
Thing
Tales
" 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
" 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
" 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
" 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
Place
Music
You
" 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
Respect
Deep
Faith
" I avoid preset sounds wherever possible, and all the sounds I use I have edited. "
Rick Wakeman
Possible
Wherever
Use
" 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
" I had just left Yes and had done a concert at Crystal Palace, South London, with a choir and orchestra playing my solo album 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth' when I had my heart attack. That day, I hadn't been to bed for four days. I don't remember much. I felt very numb during the day and airy, which is the best way to describe it. "
Rick Wakeman
Best
Heart
Journey
" 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