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Etta James Quotes

Powerful Etta James for Daily Growth

Johnny Guitar... just one of my favorite singers of all time. I met him when we were both on the road with Johnny Otis in the '50s when I was a teenager. We traveled the country in a car together. I would hear him sing every night.

- Etta James

Him, Country, Just One, Johnny

When I sing for myself, I probably sing for anyone who has any kind of hurt, any kind of bad feelings, good feelings, ups and downs, highs and lows, that kind of thing.

- Etta James

Ups And Downs, Bad, Downs, Ups

All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore.

- Etta James

Ice, Like, Things, Ice Cream

I really turned into, you know, the real street kid. I was kind of like a runaway, but I had a mother, you know what I mean, and I had a place to stay.

- Etta James

Kind, Like, Turned, Runaway

The only time that I am really truly happy - when I feel at my best - is when I'm on the stage.

- Etta James

Happy, Best, Feel, Only Time

Now I can stand up on the stage again like I used to after five years of sitting down while I sang.

- Etta James

Used, Like, Again, Sitting

My mother used to play nothing but Billie Holiday.

- Etta James

Mother, Play, Nothing, None

To me, country music is like the blues, but it's something very hip and - I don't want to say commercial - but it's very worldly and good listening.

- Etta James

Listening, Country, Very, Worldly

Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.

- Etta James

Discipline, Blues, Jazz, Open

See, I don't like places where people can't dance - don't like clubs or theatres where a bunch of bourgeois people sit around tip, tip, tipping their fingers.

- Etta James

Like, Fingers, Bourgeois, Tip

And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.

- Etta James

Realized, Started, Reaching, Nerve

My mother always wanted me to be glamorous. When I thought about that, it really fired me up, and once I lost all those pounds, I started to feel really good about myself.

- Etta James

Thought, Fired, Always, Pounds

You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.

- Etta James

Behind, Singer, Need, Fake

I like to shop, but I don't like to go out to dances.

- Etta James

Go, Like, Shop, Dances

I sing the songs that people need to hear.

- Etta James

Need, Sing, Songs, Hear

I talked to the record company about what I had in mind. They said they wanted something lush. I figured the best thing to do was let them hear what I had in mind.

- Etta James

Mind, About, Had, Hear

My mother always told me, even if a song has been done a thousand times, you can still bring something of your own to it. I'd like to think I did that.

- Etta James

Song, Think, Always, Thousand Times

My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble!

- Etta James

Play, I Wish, Tunes, Fanatic

They said that Etta James is still vulgar. I said, Oh, how dare them say I'm still vulgar. I'm vulgar because I dance in the chair. What would they want me to do? Want me to just be still or something like that? I've got to do something.

- Etta James

Chair, Like, Still, Dare

When I'm performing for the people, I am me, then. I am that little girl who, when she was five years old, used to sing at church. Or I'm that 15-year-old young lady who wanted to be grown and wanted to sing and couldn't wait to be smokin' a cigarette, you know?

- Etta James

Church, Wait, Young, Smokin

Long as I was riding in a big Cadillac and dressed nice and had plenty of food, that's all I cared about.

- Etta James

Big, Riding, About, Cared

I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.

- Etta James

Country, Jazz, Show, Gospel

Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.

- Etta James

Sorry, Songs, Most, Blues

Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.

- Etta James

Kind, Always, Even, Comedian

I'm not a braggart, but when I was a little girl people used to come from all over Hollywood to hear me sing.

- Etta James

Hollywood, Over, Come, Little Girl

A few years ago, I thought, I'll never make it. I started to go to the doctor to help me lose weight.

- Etta James

Thought, Lose, Go, Years Ago

People always say 'Etta, you know what your problem is? You're neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.' When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.

- Etta James

Records, Shop, One Or Two, Rack

It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.

- Etta James

Original, About, Battling, Paying

I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.

- Etta James

Kid, Sloppy, Wanted, Wild

What happens is, when I perform, I'm somewhere else. I go back in time and get in touch with who I really am. I forget my troubles, my worries.

- Etta James

Go, Perform, Somewhere Else, Troubles

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