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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.

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
Start
Country
Right
Real
Mean
Heart
Backwoods
Thing
Begin
Men
Boys

More quotes by Ray Charles

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Sometimes my dreams are so deep that I dream that I'm dreaming.
Ray Charles
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Just like you can buy grades of silk, you can buy grades of justice.
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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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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.
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Live each day like it's your last, 'cause one day you gonna be right
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There's such a thing as too much happiness and sadness. What I'm after is contentment.
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
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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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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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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.
Ray Charles
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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.
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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Dreams, if they're any good, are always a little bit crazy.
Ray Charles
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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.
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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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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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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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.
Ray Charles
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I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of
Ray Charles
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Sighted people, you gotta deal with them.
Ray Charles