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" 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

Rock

Jazz

American

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

Etta James

Dances

" Most of the songs I sing, they have that blue feeling to it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. "

" That's where it begins and ends for me and these songs were the ones that touched me the deepest. It was like I was laying hold of some part of me that I didn't even know was there until I let it out. "

Etta James

Begins

" But even so, I still get nervous before I go onstage. "

" My mother used to play nothing but Billie Holiday. "

" 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. "

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

" I am so happy that I am alive and can walk. "

Etta James

Alive

I Am

" It feels so good to be happy. "

" 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

Want

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

" 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. "

" 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. "

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

" It's the same thing now. When I go onstage the young people scream and holler as much as the older generation. "

" 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. "

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

" I sing the songs that people need to hear. "

" 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

Girl

People

" I don't care who's playing. Even if it's my favorite artist, I'm probably not gonna go and see him. "

Etta James

Playing

See

" 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. "

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

Etta James

Used

" I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute. "

Etta James

Know

Mean

" When I look out at the people and they look at me and they're smiling, then I know that I'm loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems. "

Etta James

Time

People