When the night has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we see. No, I won’t be afraid, no, I won’t be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me.
BEN E. KINGWhen the night has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we see. No, I won’t be afraid, no, I won’t be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me.
BEN E. KINGThe Phil Spector that I would meet has always been a nice, quiet, little guy who’s very serious about his work; obviously you can tell that because each and everything he’s ever done has always been charted.
BEN E. KINGOne minute we can be in a small club, the next minute we can be in a coliseum, and the next minute we can be in a small auditorium. It varies, depending on the promoter, the budget, and the travelling distance.
BEN E. KINGI never even visualized for a second doing what I’m doing.
BEN E. KINGI think that the song, the song “Stand By Me” is one of those songs that… and someone asked me, what was you thinking about or what was you feeling about?
BEN E. KINGMost black singers like to slow the word down and, and go directly to your heart. They’re not interested in your ears, we just want to go directly to your heart.
BEN E. KINGI still perform it in all my shows. I’ll do it as long as I’m breathing. I’m so proud it has stood the test of time.
BEN E. KINGYou take a chance to do something and you realize in your heart it’s either going to be the greatest thing that ever happened or the worst thing that ever happened. It won’t be an in between, I almost made a hit. It will be an instant flop or an instant success.
BEN E. KINGI always felt I never chose music, it chose me.
BEN E. KINGOne of the hardest things in the world is to perform on record and get someone to enjoy and feel what you’re doing. It’s unlike, like TV you can, you can fake it with the face and the crying and the bits. Recording is completely different.
BEN E. KINGIn New York, I was excited about the music in New York because the only music that I was more or less involved with in the South was either country and western or hillbilly music as we used to call it when I was a kid and, ah, gospel.
BEN E. KINGI do like what Alicia Keys and John Legend are doing. With their music, you keep your clothes on.
BEN E. KINGThere was no, there was no in between. And when I got to New York all the other musics that’s in the world just came into my head whether it was the classics, jazz, I never knew what jazz was about all, had heard anything about jazz.
BEN E. KINGI still think my whole career was accidental. I didn’t pursue it. I feel like I’m cheating sometimes.
BEN E. KINGIf you just concentrate on what you’re doing and allow yourself to actually enjoy and let your feelings come out, whatever the tempos, whatever the rhythms, whatever the songs, 9 out of 10 times it will work.
BEN E. KINGIt never dawned on me at any particular time of my life that people are paid tremendous money to sing.
BEN E. KING