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I had to pawn my clothes just to pay my rent.

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
Pawn
Pawns
Rent
Explanation
Clothes
Pay

More quotes by 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.
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Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right
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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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The fact of the matter is, you don't give up what's natural. Anything I've fantasized about, I've done.
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It's like Duke Ellington said, there are only two kinds of music - good and bad. And you can tell when something is good.
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I was born with music inside me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me-like food or water.
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Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.
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I heard someone say that all black people got rhythm. Bullshit.
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What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.
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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.
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I never said I was a genius. I never said I was a cornerstone. I've never said I'm a legend in my own time. You never heard me say nothing like that.
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Before I begin, let me say right here and now that I'm a country boy. And, man, I mean the real backwoods! That's at the start of the start of the thing, and that's at the heart of the thing.
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There are many spokes on the wheel of life. First, we're here to explore new possibilities.
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I'm a firm believer in God himself, but that's as far as I can go. I'm not any denomination. I'm not Catholic or Presbyterian or Baptist or Methodist or Jewish or Muslim. I'm none of those things. And I'm sure that's just fine with God.
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.
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Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
Ray Charles
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Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.
Ray Charles
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Crying's always been a way for me to get things out which are buried deep, deep down. When I sing, I often cry. Crying is feeling, and feeling is being human.
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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.
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Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it everything is a blank slate
Ray Charles