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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

Duke Ellington

I don’t believe in categories of any kind, and when you speak of problems between blacks and whites in the U.S.A. you are referring to categories again.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Believe Black Kind White Yourself
Fate is being kind to me. Fate doesn’t want me to be too famous too young.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Famous Fate Kindness Myself Young
It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Meaning Yourself
Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Freedom Goodness Measurement
By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of a man you wouldn’t want your daughter to associate with.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Association Kind Man Yourself
There are two kinds of worries – those you can do something about and those you can’t. Don’t spend any time on the latter.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Kind Time Wasted Worry Yourself
Now I can say loudly and openly what I have been saying to myself on my knees.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Loud Myself Open
There is nothing to keeping a band together. You simply have to have a gimmick, and the gimmick I use is to pay them money!
DUKE ELLINGTON

Money Myself Pay Togetherness
Tomorrow is in the wings waiting for you to sound her entrance fanfare.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Entrance Sound Wings
New music? Hell, there’s been no new music since Stravinsky.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Hell Music Time
People do not retire. They are retired by others.
DUKE ELLINGTON

People Retirement
I don’t need time, I need a deadline.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Limitation Myself Time
New York is a place where the rich walk, the poor drive Cadillacs, and beggars die of malnutrition with thousands of dollars hidden in their mattresses.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Death Hide Place Walk
There are simply two kinds of music, good music and the other kind the only yardstick by which the result should be judged is simply that of how it sounds. If it sounds good it’s successful; if it doesn’t it has failed.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Failure Kind Music Result Success
There is no art without intention.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Art Creation Creativity Intention One Liner
The wise musicians are those who play what they can master.
DUKE ELLINGTON

Knowledge Master Musician

I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

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I merely took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues.

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