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I have to say I owe my career to the master composers of the Great American Songbook who have written such high-quality songs - the best popular music ever composed.

Tony Bennett

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Tony Bennett
Age: 98
Born: 1926
Born: August 3
Actor
Autobiographer
Jazz Musician
Painter
Recording Artist
Singer
New York City
New York
Anthony Dominick Benedetto
Anthony Dominick Tony Benedetto
Anthony Benedetto
Music
Career
Ever
Careers
Composers
Great
Written
Composed
Quality
Composer
High
Popular
American
Master
Song
Masters
Best
Songs

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Luckily for his audiences, Bennett doesn't tire of singing I Left My Heart. ... that song made me a world citizen. And when I do it, it always feels like the first time.
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What I really search for is something that I really love hearing, something that's my own private game: If I find a song I really like, I try to do a definitive version.
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I'd like to have every gentleman and lady in this room commit themselves to get our government to legalize drugs. So they have to get it through a doctor, not just some gangsters who sell it under the table. Let's legalize drugs like they did in Amsterdam. No one's hiding or sneaking around corners to get it. They go to a doctor to get it.
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I always feel the audience is my best teacher.
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It helps to know there is going to be continuity.
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There's always something every night that I learn from reacting to what the audience is reacting to. You learn what to leave out, what to put in, if you need a little more comedy or more drama.
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Every city I go to is an opportunity to paint, whether it's Omaha or Hawaii.
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I think if you have a passion for what you do then there are no limitations on how long or how much you can accomplish.
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Someday, when I'm awfully low, and the world is cold, I will feel a glow just thinking of you, and the way you look tonight.
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I think in all of the arts there are just certain people that have a gift. I think it's a certain spirituality, it's a God-given gift that just certain individuals have.
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The young people look great on television. They’re youthful and have a lot of zip and energy, but when you see them live, they can only do about 20 minutes because they haven’t got the training to hold an audience for an hour and a half or so.
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That song helped make me a world citizen. It allowed me to live, work and sing in any city on the globe. It changed my whole life.
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I have been very fortunate to have been able to make a living from what I love to do best - performing and singing for people.
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I know the history of the record business so well because I followed Billie Holiday into the record studios. It was so primitive compared to the sophisticated business today.
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I don't look down to an audience. I look up to them. They respond to quality.
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We're in an era where the demand is for immediate hits that are destined to become obsolescent. Six months later, everyone forgets the artist and the tune. It's become like a con job. Producers, engineers, lawyers and accountants all make money, but the artists don't.
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Sometimes the teacher would tell me that if you're singing a love song and you just don't feel it with a person or something you've experienced, just think of a dog or cat that you love.
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The bottom line of any country is: what did we contribute to the world? We contributed Louis Armstrong.
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More than anybody else I’d like to thank Count Basie for teaching me how to perform.
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I've taken stuff from people, too. You know though, if you steal from one person, you're just a thief. But if you steal from everyone, that's research.
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