I’m constantly being influenced by the soul that’s directly in front of me.

I’m going to make people happy. I’m going to make them forget about their cancer. I’m going to make them forget about their diabetes.

I told them if were going to do it were going to do it right, I’m not leaving ’til it’s done. My wife, child and I slept in the studio. We cut these raw.

I don’t like to use the word ‘fans;’ I call them ‘Dick Dale music lovers.’

Dick Dale don’t surf no more.

My aunt played the piano and I used to sit and listen to it.

I’ve never taken a lesson in my life, and I can play every instrument there is. I play by ear, but I can fool anybody into thinking I went to some conservatory of music.

I used to be a mean maniac. Someone once threw a firecracker at a show and I jumped off the side of the stage and whacked ’em on the side of the head.

I like to say, ‘I hit every type of music in a show, and I play the people, not the instruments.’

The ultimate guitar players can play every scale in the book.

I actually first picked up an ukulele before I picked up a guitar.

I’m not one of these guys who is dedicated to playing or performing – that’s just one facet of my life.

You shouldn’t even be writing this story if you haven’t heard me play live. You can’t write with the passion you receive until you see a Dick Dale concert.

I enjoy living like a hermit, but I cannot live like a hermit.

Drums were my first instrument.

My father never put me on his lap and said he loved me.

What we perceive things to be when they come out of our mouth is not what the listener perceives it to be. They think it differently. They’re not your blood. They’re not your mind. You...

I was reading a magazine when I was a little kid, probably about twelve years old, and an ad said that if you sell so many jars of Noxzema skin cream, we’ll sell you a...

I make jokes because humor is the greatest healing factor that there is.

They’re putting cement dust into cattle feed to make the cows heavier; the FDA knows all about it.

Every song is like a painting.

I almost had to have my leg amputated because of an infection.

I’ve been called ‘the father of loud.’

My son now is 22 months old, he’s been playing since he was 12 months old and he gets standing ovations on the drums. He’s been with us since he was 10 weeks old, he’s...

I met Leo Fender, who is the guru of all amplifiers, and he gave me a Stratocaster. He became a second father to me.

Earthlings are confused, insecure. And some Earthlings have no heritage: that’s what leads them to kill each other and rob 7-11 stores.

My mind never left 20, because once it does, that’s when you start to die.

When I first played the guitar without plugging it into an amplifier, the people at Fender were blown away. They couldn’t believe the sound. I said, ‘See, gentlemen, the world is no longer flat.’

I make my guitar scream with pain or pleasure or sensuality. It makes people move their feet and shake their bodies. That’s what music does.

What I play now isn’t surf music. It’s too powerful. I used to go through paper bags; now I go through brick walls. I play hard.

I called it Rockabilly ’cause I was rocking the strums, which you’re not supposed to do.

I have all the rhythm in my left hand, and I use the rhythms that Gene Krupa did on his drums.

I’ve never followed a list in my life, and that’s probably what has created so much nervous energy in my body.

When I start playing I’m just a rollercoaster of sound. I don’t know what’s coming next, I never do, and I sit and sign and talk to the people afterwards.

I learned everything by ear and played all the different instruments. So then I was able to find a guitar. That was, like, in the seventh grade. And then I didn’t know how to put...

Every time I do an album, I say, ‘That’s the last one.’

My philosophy is that on a scale of 1 to 10, I will go to 15. No matter what!

When I played with Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings in Vegas, the guys used to go, ‘Dick, cut it out, man! You’re moving around too much on this stage. You’re making us look bad!’

I may play the same songs night to night, but I never play them the same way.

Whatever you do, don’t take shortcuts. It’s great advice to take and live by.

There’s a saying. If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it and keep it around.

My music is more native than intricate or technical.

If I ever wrote a book, people would never believe it.

When I started surfing, you’d hear this neat rumbling sound when you took off and go for the drop, and when the wave is lipping up over the top of you, it makes this hissing...

Every time I went into the studio some engineer tried to impress me with how they’re going to capture my sound with all kinds of tricks. But they limited the sound and never allowed me...

I always felt people should live with animals.

Nothing could capture the sound of Dick Dale – he was too loud.

As a little kid I had a girlfriend, and her boyfriend used to beat me up, so then I used to sing these songs, and that’s what it’s all about. Country music is all about...

I refuse to bring my son up in a world corrupt as it is now.

When I come onstage, I’m exploding.