Jim Capaldi Quotations

Next to the drawing - I'm not really even trying to write a song - I had written a letter and this character who had become Mr. Fantasy.

I was half asleep lying there writing this lyric in my head at about 3:30 in the morning. I woke Steve up with this idea and then we went into the living room where there was a little upright piano and finished the song. I wonder where that piano is now?

I always felt from a very early age that whatever one's role in life is, we all have our own particular style, our own particular character.

There I met Gordon Jackson and Dave Meredith who were playing in local bands.

We loved everything. We wanted to be able to do anything.

But then you have to write a song, so at that point, I picked up the reins and started to write lyrics.

We all ended up jumping up and down, hugging each other when Ali won;cause Ali is the greatest.

We all ended up jumping up and down, hugging each other when Ali won; cause Ali is the greatest.

This was an important part of my life. But it was also sad that we didn't play there, cause we had such alot of fans that were waiting for us and Brazilians are great people. It's now my second home.

They gave it to us for about five bucks a week, and we just went there to live. Probably the first band that ever did that back then and it became the famous cottage.

This kind of music was just hitting England, so we were getting this following in clubs in Birmingham just cause we were trying to do something different.

You try to be moody when you're young and it had a good ring to it.

I just was very enthusiastic and was quite forward, open and upfront with people and they would just like live along side my energy.

Because I would just tell everyone it was going to be great and just put that belief in them.

The States are great. I'd like to go just to see life, see things and hear people talk. It's like a circus where different acts go on at the same time.

You have to have a strong title. It's got to say something.

I like to hear songs which can lay it all on, songs which can look at the dark side as well as the bright side, sometimes they can be as strong as each other. Love and hatred are close.

For me, naming bands was the forerunner to really writing lyrics, because I work off titles.

Guys would hang out in groups just to be with the music.

I think you do better when you are really up for it, cause passion goes up.

If you have words and want to write music for them, the words hit you with a feeling which you can't really describe in words, and so what you do is to put music to them and in this way you make contact with the words, through the musical thing. It happens when two feelings come together and they do something together and they compliment each other.

I turned everybody on so, psychologically, I guess I was pushing the boundaries creativity.

I have always had a tremendous amount of energy and any band I was ever in from the age of fourteen, I would always be the one who would describe the future and vibe everyone up.

I have to confess that a strong contributing factor was that I had just taken what was probably the first acid ever made, given to me by a guy called Johnny Fellows, who had just returned from America.

It's a sort of philosophy you cook up for yourself. You probably write things the same as everybody else, but it's your own personal way of saying things.

Mr. Fantasy was the only song that was scribbling on a piece of paper.

So the name of a group has to say something. The name has to be strong.

We all had a desire and appreciation for such a wide range of music.

If you take the time away, you take the character away.

Everything that Traffic ever did, I'd give Steve a complete lyric, titled, written out with the verse, the bridge, the shape and rhyme and then Steve had to figure out how the meter of the words would fit musically.

We played at a club called, the Elbow Room. Don Carlos, the nightclub owner, was very hip and a very important person who made a big impact on my life.

You know, I had the ability like a catalyst to really get everybody hyped up.

It's strange the way people hear and see things. Like going to films - —violent films. To me, seeing violence in a film makes me hate the violence. But there's beauty in violence if it's put over the right way.

After that, I specifically started writing lyrics. I would like sweat and think and get it all together.

Far From Home was also my idea from a magazine I'd seen.

Traffic was very, very free. It was great.