Creativity Quote by Eddie Floyd

There is a whole universe of soul-music hierarchy packed into that offhand “I never thought I’d get a chance.” Eddie Floyd isn’t just reminiscing; he’s admitting awe. In a genre where swagger is currency, Floyd chooses understatement, which is its own flex: he doesn’t need to inflate the moment because the names do the work. Wilson Pickett isn’t presented as a peer on a call sheet, but as a force of nature you’re lucky to stand near, let alone harmonize with.

The line also sneaks in a little corrective to how we talk about “legends.” We tend to freeze artists into singular brands - Pickett the raw shouter, Floyd the songwriter-singer behind “Knock on Wood.” Floyd’s “but we did” punctures that museum glass. It’s a reminder that soul was built in rooms where collaborators crossed paths, swapped parts, and chased the take. The miracle isn’t celebrity proximity; it’s access to the chemistry that made the records feel like live wire.

Intent-wise, it reads like gratitude without self-pity: a working musician recognizing a door that rarely opens, especially for Black artists whose careers were shaped by fickle labels, regional scenes, and the roulette wheel of radio. The subtext is bluntly human: even the people who helped invent the sound still carry a fan’s disbelief when they meet another pillar of it. That’s why it lands. It’s not mythology; it’s communion.