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I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

Billie Holiday

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Billie Holiday
Age: 44 †
Born: 1915
Born: April 7
Died: 1959
Died: July 17
Actor
Author
Autobiographer
Composer
Jazz Singer
Musician
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
Lady Day
Eleanora Fagan Gough
Eleanora Harris
Eleanora Fagan
Straight
Jazz
Musical
Singing
Hate
Change
Music
Tune
Way
Tunes

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And when you're poor, you grow up fast.
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God has blessed you when he lets you believe in somebody.
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New Orleans is the only city in the world you go in to buy a pair of nylon stockings they want to know your head size.
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I'm always making a comeback but nobody ever tells me where I've been.
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You can't copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you're working without any real feeling.
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I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
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Lust may be in the heart, though it be not seen by others as guests may be in the house, though they look not out at the windows.
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I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.
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In this country kings or dukes don't amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres.
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Them that's got shall get, Them that's not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that's got his own.
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You've got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body's sermon on how to behave.
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The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.
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All dope can do for you is kill you... the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.
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I can only sing songs my way. I don't know any other way.
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When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing one can almost hear the words.
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In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.
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I never sing a song the same way twice.
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If I don't have friends, then I ain't nothing.
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One day a whole damn song fell into place in my head.
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