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Booker T. Jones
Booker T. Jones
Booker T. Jones, LA 1984
Was there a point as a child when you knew for sure that you were going to be a musician?
My parents sang and my mother played the piano, and I was always asking for musical instruments. I got a clarinet when I was ten and then I got a real ukulele—a baritone ukulele. I thought that was the greatest instrument. You could get low tones that would actually rattle your belly. What resonance. It was a hobby, but I knew that I either wanted to be a musician or a physician. I just did much better in music than I did in chemistry.
How did Booker T. and the MGs come about—and what does MG stand for?
Memphis Group. I had another band in high school. We recorded “Green Onions” just before I entered Indiana University. I knew it was getting popular, but I didn’t know it was going to be a big hit. I didn’t know how I was going to pay for my education, and “Green Onions” paid for my first year of school. We had just recorded it; it was all part of making the 10 and 15 dollar gigs.