I wasn't aware that Track Records were interested in the Bonzos.
I used to help Viv with the chords and melodies sometimes.
I think most musicians do like to have a laugh.
I suppose we all loved those kind of sci-fi movies where terrible things came out of swamps and came to Mars. And there's usually some poor girl. All the guys are trying to desperately handle levers and saying, go to something or other.
I suppose Roger had the license to do anything that fitted the venue.
I see my role in the Bonzos as being the straight man, in many ways.
I mean in recent years, I think you've only got to sell thirty or forty thousand to get a #1.
I mean Gorilla was really our first sort of goes at songwriting.
Eric Clapton always wanted to come out onstage with a stuffed parrot on his shoulder.
But we used to go to flea markets and things, and look for old 78 records that had silly song titles.
But mostly, I wrote songs and Viv wrote songs.
But I remember we sold nearly 18,000 records in one day.
But I mean, again, Zappa's far more musical than the Bonzos ever were.
But Dennis was a really solid musician, and we really needed somebody who could play bass like him.
Because Larry, by then, was a drummer, who would sort of get bored and tired, and rather stand up and blow kisses to people. So we needed the bass to sort of drive along.
As I said, when we needed to move over to rock'n'roll, Sam and Vernon couldn't quite make the shift. So that's when Larry took over on drums, and we needed a bass player.
And Roger was crazy with his robots and everything.
Ladies and gentleman, I've suffered for my music, now it's your turn.
A commitment to human rights cannot be fostered simply through the transmission of knowledge. Action and experience play a crucial role in the learning process.
When one takes action for others, one's own suffering is transformed into the energy that can keep one moving forward; a light of hope illuminating a new tomorrow for oneself and others is kindled.
We are not merely passive pawns of historical forces; nor are we victims of the past. We can shape and direct history.
There are no greater treasures than the highest human qualities such as compassion, courage and hope. Not even tragic accident or disaster can destroy such treasures of the heart.
The reactions of the human heart are not mechanical and predictable but infinitely subtle and delicate.
The gratification of desire is not happiness.
The crucial thing is to arouse the awareness that as a matter of human conscience we can never permit the people of any country to fall victim to nuclear weapons, and for each individual to express their refusal to continue living in the shadow of the threat they pose.
Rather than turning away from the staggering scale and depth of misery caused by war, we must strive to develop our capacity to empathize and feel the sufferings of others.
People need to be made conscious of a very simple reality: we have no choice but to share this planet, this small blue sphere floating in the vast reaches of space, with all of our fellow 'passengers.'
No one can live entirely on their own, nor can any country or society exist in isolation.
Humanity has experienced many revolutionary changes over the course of history: revolutions in agriculture, in science, industrial production, as well as numerous political revolutions. But these have all been limited to the external aspects of our individual and collective lives.
Poems and songs penned as an unstoppable outpouring of the heart take on a life of their own. They transcend the limits of nationality and time as they pass from person to person, from one heart to another.
