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I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind.

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
Immortality
Mark
Behinds
Behind
Leave
Something
Make
Good
Musically

More quotes by 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.
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Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.
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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.
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I don't know what would have happened to me if I hadn't been able to hear.
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I cant retire from music any more than I can retire from my liver. Youd have to remove the music from me surgically—like you were taking out my appendix.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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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 think that most great artists who are extremely known, as I am, would intimidate a lot of people. I don't want to do that to people, but I know I do.
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Music to me is like breathing. I don't get tired of breathing, I don't get tired of music.
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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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I got a cow that went dry and a hen that won't lay, a big stack of bills that gets bigger each day.
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I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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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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Other arms reach out to me, Other eyes smile tenderly, Still in peaceful dreams I see, The road leads back to you.
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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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[On his heroin addiction:] I did it to myself. It wasn't society...it wasn't a pusher, it wasn't being blind or being black or being poor. It was all my doing.
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