If I’m going to sing like someone else, then I don’t need to sing at all.
BILLIE HOLIDAYThe whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
More Billie Holiday Quotes
-
-
The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, going to church, being very happy … it’s sort of a mixed up thing. You just have to feel it.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
When Lester plays, he almost seems to be singing; one can almost hear the words.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I never had a chance to play with dolls like other kids. I started working when I was six years old.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
A kiss that is never tasted, is forever and ever wasted.
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
The only reason they’re out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Don’t be in such a hurry.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
You’ve got to have something to eat and a little love in your life before you can hold still for any damn body’s sermon on how to behave.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can’t sing.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
God bless the child that’s got his own.
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.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you – and kill you the long, slow, hard way.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
I can only sing songs my way. I don’t know any other way.
BILLIE HOLIDAY -
Them that’s got shall get, Them that’s not shall lose. So the Bible says, And it still is news. Mama may have, Papa may have, But God bless the child that’s got his own.
BILLIE HOLIDAY