Best Quotes about Memphis, Tennessee

This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure page for more details.

Last Updated on: 28th August 2021, 06:04 pm

God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career.– Allen Iverson

I got arrested once on stage in Memphis for looking too much like Liza Minnelli.– David Johansen

Museums do not share their collections with other museums unless they get something in exchange. The Metropolitan will deal with the Louvre, but will they send their stuff to Memphis? No.– Eli Broad

I get called ‘Memphis Eve,’ but my first name is Eve. I know Memphis is in there somewhere, but on my passport I’m ‘Eve Sunny Day Hewson.– Eve Hewson

Growing up in Memphis, I have always admired St. Jude’s for the magnificent work they do.– Ginnifer Goodwin

Because I was single, there was a chance I was a homosexual. Because I went to Syracuse, wherever that was, then I was probably a Communist. Or worse, a Liberal. Because I was from Memphis, I was a subversive intent on embarrassing Ford County.– John Grisham

I hitchhiked, took trucks ‘n’ trains – anything that would pick me up. I stopped in Memphis for about six months and they found me and come got me. Stayed about a month an’ split again.– John Lee Hooker

I love Motown, but I’ve obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it’s Stax or Motown, I go Stax.– Justin Townes Earle

No such thing as a hard woman, Memphis,just soft men. With that, I turned, and the others followed me.– Laurell K. Hamilton

Memphis found his smile. ‘You know me, sir. I don’t wear worry.– Libba Bray

Life don’t come to you, Memphis. You gotta take it. We have to take it. Because ain’t nobody handing it to us.– Libba Bray

Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.– Lisa Marie Presley

Walking in Memphis, I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale. Walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel?– Marc Cohn

Memphis are a big part of who I am, but it’s still just a part– Matty Mullins

It’s been a pleasure to bring my talents to south beach now on to Memphis.– Paul Pierce

I’ve got a reason to believe we all be received in Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee.– Paul Simon

She would go to Memphis and this was after our divorce. And I would send her to Memphis to be with him.– Priscilla Presley

Memphis is in a very lucky position on the map. Everything just gravitated to Memphis for years.– Steve Cropper

Most studios in Memphis had a house set of drums; the drummers just brought their own sticks.– Steve Cropper

That was the big thing when I was growing up, singing on the radio. The extent of my dream was to sing on the radio station in Memphis. Even when I got out of the Air Force in 1954, I came right back to Memphis and started knocking on doors at the radio station.–Johnny Cash

God bless the boys from Memphis, blue suede shoes, and Elvis.–George Jones

I’ll stay in Memphis.–Elvis Presley

Memphis is in a very lucky position on the map. Everything just gravitated to Memphis for years.–Steve Cropper

Growing up in Memphis and listening to all kinds of music and dreaming… So that was one of the first times I wrote a complete song and set it to music and the whole bit. From then on, I was busy with it.–William Bell

The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival.–Ida B. Wells

When I got outta High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis, Memphis.–Elvis Presley

I sang in church growing up. Memphis is the blues capital of the world, we like to say.–Justin Timberlake

The many sounds of Memphis shaped my early musical career and continue to be an inspiration to this day.–Justin Timberlake

See also

Best Small Towns in Colorado

I used to go down every year for the remembrance of Elvis’ birthday. Memphis State College invited me to sit in the auditorium and speak to the people for one of those Elvis days.–Otis Blackwell

My parents were working in a hospital in Memphis. But I didn’t live there for any length of time that I remember. The first thing I remember is the town in Mississippi that I live in now, Charleston.–Morgan Freeman

Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don’t know why-the lyrics had no meaning.–Elvis Presley

When I came out of the military, I had a club in Memphis and I started using the The Bar Kays as my club band. They were still only in the middle school – but I’d take them on the road with me on the weekends, sometimes.–William Bell

Judging from what looks like the popularity of this classic wrestling show is that the people like what they have grown to know and love here in Memphis–Jerry Lawler

I spent a few years here in Memphis, in the late ’70s and early ’80s, where I was studying a lot of country blues players and their styles. So it seems like every record I’ll do, I will appropriate these blues styles that I remember.–Alex Chilton

I used to listen to the radio, and when I was about 18 years old, B.B. King was a disc jockey and he had a radio program, 15 minutes a day, over in West Memphis, Arkansas and he would play the blues.–Koko Taylor

Most studios in Memphis had a house set of drums; the drummers just brought their own sticks.–Steve Cropper

She would go to Memphis and this was after our divorce. And I would send her to Memphis to be with him.–Priscilla Presley

I get called ‘Memphis Eve,’ but my first name is Eve. I know Memphis is in there somewhere, but on my passport I’m ‘Eve Sunny Day Hewson.–Eve Hewson

I’ve always been in love with that Delta-flavored music the music that came from Mississippi and Memphis and, especially, New Orleans. When I was 14, I was in a wanna-be New Orleans band in Toronto.–Robbie Robertson

Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.–Lisa Marie Presley

When working abroad you work pretty hard, but with time off, this is the greatest job in the world. You drive. You explore Memphis, or wherever you’ve landed, or go and see Dr John, or the Californian landscape. And, yes, I’ve had a few good meals.–Toby Jones

I grew up Southern Baptist, so my experience was fairly conservative. Not archly so, but I think Memphis – when you get to certain parts of Memphis – are more liberal for sure. But I grew up, until I was about 13 or 14, in a section called Whitehaven, and then we moved to a suburb called Germantown – which is a pretty conservative area.–Chris Parnell

A friend of mine took me to Memphis advised me that I should get in the musicians’ union. He gave me a set of drums and said, Stay on the job, son.–Levon Helm

I was always drawn to the roots music, bluegrass, blues, early rock – Sun Records, Elvis [Presley]. And I still love that music to this day. Memphis never gets the credit. It’s much more musically rich than Nashville ever will be. Nashville manufactured that hokey-hillbilly image way back.–Steve Young

The first time I saw my wife, Marjorie, I was doing stand-up in Memphis, and she was sitting in the front row. Afterward, I walked up and said, “Ma’am, I’m going to marry you one day”. And 15 years later, I did.–Steve Harvey

I’d been to Memphis before, but we stayed out of Memphis early on in the late 70s for obvious reasons. People were very sensitive about Elvis Presley, and my stage name obviously would be provocative to some people in that area at that time.–Elvis Costello

Growing up in Memphis, I have always admired St. Jude’s for the magnificent work they do.–Ginnifer Goodwin

The Faces do not, as some have recently alleged, play badly. They are more than competent, especially at creating a mid-Sixties Rolling Stones-styled groove, as their excellent version of ‘Memphis’ proves.–Jon Landau

I was born in Memphis. There was music all around me, really deep and special music. I heard all these great masters at a young age.There was a great genius in my town, Phineas Newborn, who is one of the greatest pianists ever on the planet. He took me under his wings at about 9 and he put me on the right track.–Charles Lloyd

All inquiry into antiquity, all curiosity respecting the Pyramids, the excavated cities, Stonehenge, the Ohio Circles, Mexico, Memphis,–is the desire to do away this wild, savage, and preposterous There and Then, and introduce in its place the Here and Now.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

I feel a lot of cities are like, you go and you are trying to do your art, and there are so many other artists there who are so brilliant. And it’s kind of like they stomp on the scene, and they are like, “You’re not already Picasso? Get the hell out of here!” And Memphis is like, “Well, you’ll get there one day!”–Valerie June

When Lonnie Mack came out with the guitar instrumental “Memphis” I thought, Oh God, finally somebody we guitar players can relate to !–Richard Betts

Walking in Memphis, I was walking with my feet ten feet off of Beale. Walking in Memphis, but do I really feel the way I feel?–Marc Cohn

All the really great records or people who made them somehow came from Memphis or Louisiana or somewhere along the Mississippi River…And singers like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters gave me the feeling that they were right there, standing by the river.–John Fogerty

Museums do not share their collections with other museums unless they get something in exchange. The Metropolitan will deal with the Louvre, but will they send their stuff to Memphis? No.–Eli Broad

Mississippi begins in a lobby of a Memphis, Tennessee hotel and extends south to the Gulf of Mexico–William Faulkner

It’s funny, when you’re a child you think time will never go by, but when you hit about twenty, time passes like you’re on the fast train to Memphis. I guess life just slips up on everybody. It sure did on me.–Fannie Flagg

Life don’t come to you, Memphis. You gotta take it. We have to take it. Because ain’t nobody handing it to us.–Libba Bray

I’m singing the way that I love to sing, which is like old soul, like old Al Green. I grew up about an hour from Memphis. So all that music that I grew up with – the Stax music and early rhythm n’ blues – I’m doing that. I’m actually getting out from behind my guitar and I’m singing.–Sheryl Crow

For me, Memphis has always been a city that holds a great deal of meaning and also leads me to a lot of thinking. Besides Sun Studio, which helped put rock n’ roll on the map all over the world, the legendary Stax Studio also called Memphis home.–Henry Rollins

After my early days of being a passionate young Elvis fan, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, etc. I got interested in Ray Charles and Ella Fitzgerald. Then I got turned on to the blues. I realized how important it was to our music in England at the time. Everyone was into the blues. Then you start looking at the different kinds of blues, and you follow the journey backwards from Chicago to earlier times back down to the Delta to the Memphis Blues.–Ian Gillan

God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career.–Allen Iverson

When I talk about music in Memphis, it’s a place you can go if you are a beginning artist or anywhere in your career, and you can incubate.–Valerie June

Big train from Memphis, now it’s gone gone gone, gone gone gone. Like no one before, he let out a roar, and I just had to tag along.–John Fogerty

What would we say if the Chinese sent a gunboat with their marines up the Mississippi River claiming they were protecting their laundries in Memphis?–Will Rogers

[William] Eggleston’s photographs look like they were taken by a Martian who lost the ticket for his flight home and ended up working at a gun shop in a small town near Memphis. On the weekend he searches for the ticket – it must be somewhere – with a haphazard thoroughness that confounds established methods of investigation.–Geoff Dyer

From Natchez to Mobile, from Memphis to St. Joe, wherever the four winds blowI been in some big towns an’ heard me some big talk, but there is one thing I knowA woman’s a two-face, a worrisome thing who’ll leave ya to sing the blues in the night.–Johnny Mercer

I remember one night in Memphis, I’d come out of a blackout, and I didn’t know where I was. I’m feeling through the darkness – I was asleep in the middle of a freeway. I went up to this car in the darkness, and it was a cop car.–Ozzy Osbourne

It was special with me being from Memphis and knowing the history of the venue, knowing all of the artists who performed in the Orpheum before me. Even having the idea to approach it was ambitious on my part, but I thought they would turn me down at first.–Yo Gotti

I like New Orleans music, I like Memphis music and I like the way that the sound like those places. I like how there are stars and there are people in those cities that are revered in the community.–Joel Plaskett

See also

Best Scenic Drives in Missouri

I have some that I have become a well-known-even infamous-client of, mostly in Memphis. But a great deal of that is legend and doesn’t have anything to do with truth.–William Eggleston

I was always moved by all of the music. As a young man, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton, Count Basie and all these great musicians would come through our town of Memphis. There wasn’t adequate hotels, so these musicians – the lady who ran the theater knew my mother, who had a large house, and many of them would stay with us. So that was another great blessing, so I’m always around these great geniuses, and to realize their humanity is such a touching thing.–Charles Lloyd

No such thing as a hard woman, Memphis,just soft men. With that, I turned, and the others followed me.–Laurell K. Hamilton

Memphis was almost like going to California. Beale Street was the black man’s street.–Muddy Waters

I find it deeply upsetting when I see justice not being served. How do we as human beings deal with the unknown? The West Memphis Three trial is a joke on so many different levels.–Atom Egoyan

It’s been a pleasure to bring my talents to south beach now on to Memphis.–Paul Pierce

I think it is good for people who are incarcerated or who are bound up one way or the other-people like Lily Kimball and all the prostitues of Memphis. This gal, she needs some wings, and a good song can make that happen.–Ketch Secor

ELVIS PRESLEY was bigger than life. His success was documented and laid out for him. He came to the first show I had in Memphis, and it was very nice. He sort of treated me like an equal, because we were both fresh in the business. We got to be great friends and kindred souls.–Roy Orbison

I got arrested once on stage in Memphis for looking too much like Liza Minnelli.–David Johansen

… so much of what we do now started in 1954 at Sun Records in Memphis Tennessee … those guys were inventing that stuff (Rock & Roll) … you can really tell on some tracks … they were actually afraid at times of what they were playing. But Rock & Roll definitely didn’t come before that time; it started right there–Brian Setzer

Memphis are a big part of who I am, but it’s still just a part–Matty Mullins

I love Motown, but I’ve obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it’s Stax or Motown, I go Stax.–Justin Townes Earle

Sergio Trujillos choreography adds coals to the inferno, with movement that plain just doesnt stop. We know from Jersey Boys that he can capture this style, but in Memphis, he kicks it up towards art, playing with the authentic touches to add some hits of Fosse, or riffs from modern dance that take us just that extra step we need.–Richard Ouzounian

The nation is sick; trouble is in the land, confusion all around…But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century. Something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee, the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.’–Martin Luther King, Jr.

Memphis found his smile. ‘You know me, sir. I don’t wear worry.–Libba Bray

I used to be sick of the backroads of Minnesota. I had to drive 30 miles to get home every day, take the schoolbus for two hours. But to drive through America and see the backroads, from Nashville to Memphis, Lovick to New Mexico, was incredible. It was probably the greatest trip of my life.–Garrett Hedlund

See also

National Parks in Pennsylvania

Memphis—it’s just a bird. Birds fly around, brother. It’s what they do. It’s not following you, and it’s not a sign. Unless you really did give it candy and flowers, in which case you are one strange brother.–Libba Bray

The man on the radio says Elvis Presley’s died. We drove to Memphis, the sky was hard and black.–Bruce Springsteen

I’ve got a reason to believe we all be received in Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee.–Paul Simon

I try to think about Elvis, Memphis, Oprah in the afternoon.–Patty Loveless

Most guys my age have girlfriends and drinking buddies on their speed dial. Me, I have the Memphis CDC.–Mira Grant

I have opinions about the differences between Memphis barbecue and Texas barbecue. Put me in the kitchen and you’ll see how Southern I can be.–Chris Hardwick

I love the South. Although I grew up primarily in Memphis, my family moved around a ton when I was a kid. I guess I never stayed in one place long enough to pick up the accent, but I definitely identify as a Southerner.–Chris Hardwick

I don’t know enough about hip-hop, though I’ve heard some great hip-hop. I just did a thing with Qwest Love – we did a performance together in Memphis at the Folk Alliance Festival, and we had a great jam and a conversation.–Bela Fleck

If someone had said to me ten years ago “Yo, we have this role of this pimp who wants to be a rapper, he lives in Memphis”, I’d be like, “Really?” But then when you read it and you see it, you say “That’s a great role.”–Morris Chestnut

Memphis held onto me until I was far enough along in my art and then it let me go.–Valerie June

Before too long I was playing badly out in some bars around Memphis, but as soon as I learned a few chords I started writing my own stuff.–Bryan Hayes

I taught myself off records, Memphis Slim, them old piano players, then added to it. Yeah, hard and loud, beat it to pieces.–Pinetop Perkins

See also

The Best National Parks in Maine

Sycamore trees were held to be sacred in ancient Egypt and are the first trees represented in ancient art. The sycamore, also, was sacred. Peasants gather around them in rituals. In the Land of the Dead there was a sycamore in whose branches the goddess Hathor lived; she leaned out of it giving sustenance and water to deceased souls. In Memphis, Hathor’s epithet was Lady of the Sycamore.–Larry Gates

Facinating.” He broke into a wide grin. “I’ve discovered something, Khufu. This is not Memphis, Egypt.” Khufu gave me a sideways look, and I could swear his expression meant, Duh. “I’ve also discovered a new form of magic called blues music,” the man continued. “And barbecue. Yes, you must try barbecue.–Rick Riordan

Memphis is in a very lucky position on the map. Everything just gravitated to Memphis for years. –Steve Cropper

I sang in church growing up. Memphis is the blues capital of the world, we like to say. –Justin Timberlake

The many sounds of Memphis shaped my early musical career and continue to be an inspiration to this day. –Justin Timberlake

When I got outta High School I was driving a truck. I was just a poor boy from Memphis, Memphis. –Elvis Presley

She would go to Memphis and this was after our divorce. And I would send her to Memphis to be with him. –Priscilla Presley

Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don’t know why-the lyrics had no meaning. –Elvis Presley

I rap about Memphis and what a dangerous spot that is. –Juicy J

I got arrested once on stage in Memphis for looking too much like Liza Minnelli. –David Johansen

Most studios in Memphis had a house set of drums; the drummers just brought their own sticks. –Steve Cropper

I love Motown, but I’ve obviously always been more of a Memphis soul fan. If it’s Stax or Motown, I go Stax. –Justin Townes Earle

Many cities make music, but no city breathes music quite like Memphis. The songs and sounds that come from here are uniquely American. –Shawn Amos

I bought my first electric guitar when I moved to Memphis; a Gibson with a DeArmond pickup which I used with a small Gibson amplifier. –B. B. King

I get called ‘Memphis Eve,’ but my first name is Eve. I know Memphis is in there somewhere, but on my passport I’m ‘Eve Sunny Day Hewson. –Eve Hewson

Judging from what looks like the popularity of this classic wrestling show is that the people like what they have grown to know and love here in Memphis.–Jerry Lawler

The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival, –Ida B. Wells

The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival. –Ida B. Wells

I used to play – when I first started trying to be professional, I disk jockey from 1949 to 1955 in Memphis, Tennessee, and I was quite popular there as a disk jockey. –B. B. King

The support this city and our fans have shown the Grizzlies made my decision to stay in Memphis an easy one. Memphis deserves a championship team, and I am committed to that. –Jerry West

A friend of mine took me to Memphis advised me that I should get in the musicians’ union. He gave me a set of drums and said, Stay on the job, son. –Levon Helm

I used to go down every year for the remembrance of Elvis’ birthday. Memphis State College invited me to sit in the auditorium and speak to the people for one of those Elvis days. –Otis Blackwell

Anytime I was in Memphis with my dad and at the house, I was happy. That was, like, a given. It was what I lived for. And I still feel the same excitement and warmth.–Lisa Marie Presley

The Labor Department’s Hall of Honor recognizes men and women – like Cesar Chavez, Helen Keller and the Workers of the Memphis Sanitation Strike – who have made invaluable contributions to the welfare of American workers. –Thomas Perez

Seeing the road show of ‘A Chorus Line’ in 1977 at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Memphis was a life-changing event for me: there were gay people, on the stage, and they all lived in New York. –Ira Sachs

The first time I saw my wife, Marjorie, I was doing stand-up in Memphis, and she was sitting in the front row. Afterward, I walked up and said, ‘Ma’am, I’m going to marry you one day.’ And 15 years later, I did. –Steve Harvey

After college, I went to Alley Theatre in Houston to work in their apprentice actor program. I thought I was gonna get discovered. It didn’t happen. I moved back to Germantown, Tennessee, outside of Memphis, and taught at my old high school. –Chris Parnell

See also

Best Scenic Drives in Missouri

The thing about Memphis is that it’s pleasingly off-kilter. It’s a great big whack job of a city. The anti-Atlanta. You go there, and you can’t believe the things people will say, the way they think, the wobbling orbits of their lives. There’s an essential otherness. –Hampton Sides

See also

The Best National Parks in Maine

I try to think about Elvis, Memphis, Oprah in the afternoon. –Patty Loveless

God bless the boys from Memphis, blue suede shoes, and Elvis. –George Jones

Memphis found his smile. ‘You know me, sir. I don’t wear worry. –Libba Bray

God chose Memphis as the place that I will continue my career. –Allen Iverson

Memphis was almost like going to California. Beale Street was the black man’s street. –Muddy Waters

I’ve got a reason to believe we all be received in Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee. –Paul Simon

It’s been a pleasure to bring my talents to south beach now on to Memphis. –Paul Pierce

I have a tattoo that I got in Memphis, and another I got in Dayton. –Colin Donnell

Memphis are a big part of who I am, but it’s still just a part.–Matty Mullins

Growing up in Memphis, I have always admired St. Jude’s for the magnificent work they do. –Ginnifer Goodwin

Mississippi begins in a lobby of a Memphis, Tennessee hotel and extends south to the Gulf of Mexico .–William Faulkner

The man on the radio says Elvis Presley’s died. We drove to Memphis, the sky was hard and black. –Bruce Springsteen

Most guys my age have girlfriends and drinking buddies on their speed dial. Me, I have the Memphis CDC. –Mira Grant

Memphis held onto me until I was far enough along in my art and then it let me go. –Valerie June

No such thing as a hard woman, Memphis,just soft men. With that, I turned, and the others followed me. –Laurell K. Hamilton

When he’s healthy, Zach Randolph for the Memphis Grizzlies has always been somebody that has always been very tough to play against. –Kevin Love

The beginning of the shows are different. One time we’ll say ‘Hello, Denver’. Another time we’ll say ‘Hello, Memphis’. It’s always different. –Lance Bass

When Lonnie Mack came out with the guitar instrumental “Memphis” I thought, Oh God, finally somebody we guitar players can relate to ! –Richard Betts

I taught myself off records, Memphis Slim, them old piano players, then added to it. Yeah, hard and loud, beat it to pieces. –Pinetop Perkins

Life donât come to you, Memphis. You gotta take it. We have to take it. Because ainât nobody handing it to us. –Libba Bray

What would we say if the Chinese sent a gunboat with their marines up the Mississippi River claiming they were protecting their laundries in Memphis? –Will Rogers

I have opinions about the differences between Memphis barbecue and Texas barbecue. Put me in the kitchen and you’ll see how Southern I can be. –Chris Hardwick

Any opportunity I can get to come back to Memphis, I try to get it.–DeAngelo Williams

The beginning of the shows are different. One time we’ll say ‘Hello, Denver’. Another time we’ll say ‘Hello, Memphis’. It’s always different.–Lance Bass

Man, that record came out and was real big in Memphis. They started playing it, and it got real big. Don’t know why-the lyrics had no meaning.–Elvis Presley

See also

Best Small Towns in Colorado

I cannot be anyone else but Memphis. I tried that, and I was not happy with myself.–Memphis Depay

Throughout the ’50s, tons of unknown locals came through Sun to record their demos. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and Jerry Lee Lewis all made their first recordings at the former Memphis Recording Service.–Shawn Amos

I met the Colonel when Elvis was recording some song I’d written for one of his movies. Elvis was just having fun with the gang and all the Memphis boys and Colonel Parker was sitting over here in like a theater seat.–Mac Davis

Leave a Comment Cancel reply