Quote

I don't sing a song unless I feel it. The song don't tug at my heart, I pass on it. I have to believe in what I'm doing.

Ray Charles

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Ray Charles
Age: 71 †
Born: 1932
Born: September 23
Died: 2004
Died: June 10
Composer
Jazz Musician
Music Arranger
Musician
Pianist
Recording Artist
Saxophonist
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Soul Musician
Vocalist
Albany
Georgia
Ray Charles Robinson
Raymond Charles Robinson Peter
Sing
Unless
Learning
Song
Feel
Feels
Heart
Believe
Pass

More quotes by Ray Charles

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I always stay out of the rehearsal room you know when they first come in. Then once they had chance to play a little bit, then I walk in. Because I've seen guys fall apart.
Ray Charles
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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.
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Music is nothing separate from me. It is me... You'd have to remove the music surgically.
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When I started to sing like myself - as opposed to imitating Nat Cole, which I had done for a while - when I started singing like Ray Charles, it had this spiritual and churchy, this religious or gospel sound. It had this holiness and preachy tone to it. It was very controversial. I got a lot of criticism for it.
Ray Charles
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You got to set your mind right and the rest will come to you naturally. No restrictions, no hang-ups, no stupid rules, no formalities, no forbidden fruit - just everyone getting and giving as much as he and she can.
Ray Charles
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I don't think any of us really knows why we're here. But I think we're supposed to believe we're here for a purpose.
Ray Charles
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Music's been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.
Ray Charles
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Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate
Ray Charles
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I'm not into the money thing. You can only sleep in one bed at a time. You can only eat one meal at a time, or be in one car at a time. So I don't have to have millions of dollars to be happy. All I need are clothes on my back, a decent meal, and a little loving when I feel like it. That's the bottom line.
Ray Charles
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When I'm having a rehearsal and there are new guys who come in to try out for the job, I always let my conductor rehearse them. Because I don't want the guy to get bent out of shape, because I walk in.
Ray Charles
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Just because you can't see anything , doesn't mean you should shut your eyes.
Ray Charles
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Goodbye don't mean gone.
Ray Charles
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The important thing is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.
Ray Charles
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I can't help what I sound like. What I sound like is what i am. You know? I cannot be anything other that what I am.
Ray Charles
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Art Tatum -- he was a genius. And Einstein, not me.
Ray Charles
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There's nothing written in the Bible, Old or New testament, that says, 'If you believe in Me, you ain't going to have no troubles.'
Ray Charles
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Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more, no more, no more, no more. Hit the road Jack, don'tcha come back no more.
Ray Charles
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I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.
Ray Charles
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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
Ray Charles
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The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.
Ray Charles