I don’t think I’m singing. I feel like I’m playing a horn, What comes out is what I feel.
BILLIE HOLIDAYYou can’t copy anybody and end with anything. If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
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I’ve been told that nobody sings the word ‘hunger’ like I do.
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The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
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I can’t stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
If you copy, it means you’re working without any real feeling. No two people on earth are alike, and it’s got to be that way in music or it isn’t music.
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Love is like a faucet, it turns off and on.
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A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
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There’s no damn business like show business – you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
In this country, don’t forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There’s no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it’s the worst kind of hell for those who love you.
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I never hurt nobody but myself and that’s nobody’s business but my own.
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Don’t threaten me with love, baby. Let’s just go walking in the rain.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
They think they can make fuel from horse manure – now, I don’t know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it’s sure gonna put a stop to siphoning.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Sometimes it’s worse to win a fight than to lose.
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When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
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All dope can do for you is kill you… the long hard way. And it can kill the people you love right along with you.
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And when you’re poor, you grow up fast.
BILLIE HOLIDAY