You dont have to be sad to play the blues. The sentiment comes from someone who should know of what he speaks blues master B.B. King. "Im very happy playing the blues," says the Mississippi Delta plantation native, who has been in the music business an incredible 52 years. "A lot of people think you have to be unhappy," King says in a telephone interview, "but the blues is something like an ointment. Its good for what ails you."

He believes the genre has a message for everyone. "Blues have stories in it. For people that like the melodic line, theres something to hear. For those who like to dance, it has a beat. For those who like to sit quietly and read, theres a blues for that. There are many shades of blues that fit the universe."

To King, blues is life itself. "Its life as weve lived it in the past, as we are living it today and as I believe we will live it in the future. It tells not only of the suffering of mankind, but of love affairs and anything we would like to happen to us. And it also warns us about things we dont want to happen."

Kings feels that each time he performs at a new place, he is making friends for the blues. "A lot of people who never had a chance to hear the blues will get that chance. I always like to feel a lot more people would like the blues if they had a chance to hear it."

Even at the age of 75, this Rock & Roll Hall of fame member still sees to it that a lot of people have a chance to hear the blues, playing more than 200 dates a year. He may slow down, but he doesnt want to stop. "Theres nothing else I want to do," he says. King recently told a writer that he will retire "five or 10 years after Im dead." "If youre out there, people never forget you," he reasons. "That is one of the things I believe in today, never being forgotten."

When he recorded his "Let The Good Times Roll the Music of Louis Jordan," King praised Jordan as one of the bridges between rhythm and blues and rocknroll. "He was ahead of his time," he says. "He got people moving with a pulsating beat that they loved." King could be describing himself. Composer of the million-selling "The Thrill Is Gone," he is credited in some circles with introducing white America to the blues. "Most of the white kids have heard about the blues from some of their idols (rockers such as Eric Clapton, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and U2 were among those crediting King as an inspiration). Some of the rock players have mentioned my name and this has caused people to look into it.

"I read where John Lennon once said he would like to play guitar like B.B. King does. That went a long way. Ive had quite a few of the rock and jazz musicians to speak about the blues and a lot of time my name would come up."

This year, King collaborated with Clapton on the album Riding With The King, which includes five King classics. Its the second album of the year for King, whose latest studio album, Makin Love Is Good For You, he produced himself. He wrote five new songs for the album.

When King speaks of music as a universal language, there is no clich involved. He has played in almost 90 countries. Once performing in Russia behind the then Iron Curtain, he told the Soviet people, "Im a musician, not a politician. I came to play music and thats what I enjoy doing around the world." He adds, "We had a good time." "Now when we go back to Russia or to China, its like going back to New York or Memphis or someplace because you have friends there."

King says he is most amazed that he has been able to play to so many young people. "I never dreamed this would happen to me," he says. Does he consider himself a pioneer? "I like to think Ive been somewhat of a pioneer," he says. "Some times Ive had to kind of stick my neck out musically and go into a field that no one has ever been in."