WE are slowed down sound and light waves, a walking bundle of frequencies tuned into the the music of the cosmos, we are souls dressed up in sacred biochemical garments, and our bodies are the instruments through which our souls play their music. A. EINSTEIN
RAY CHARLES 1930-2004 “The only true genius in show business”
I WAS BORN with music inside of me. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. like my blood. it was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me — like food or water.
DON’T GO BACKWARDS — YOU’VE ALREADY BEEN THERE.
LIVE EACH DAY LIKE IT’S YOU LAST, ‘CAUSE ONE DAY YOU GONNA BE RIGHT.
MUSIC to me is like breathing. I don’t get tired of breathing, I don’t get tired of music.
WHAT IS A SOUL? IT’S like electricity — we don’t really know what it is, but it’s a force that can light a room.
DREAMS, IF THEY’RE ANY GOOD, ARE ALWAYS A LITTLE BIT CRAZY.
LOVE is a special word, and I use it only when I mean it. You say the word too much and it becomes cheap.
I NEVER WANTED TO BE FAMOUS. I ONLY WANTED TO BE GREAT.
I DON’T THINK any of us really knows why we’re here. But I think we’re supposed to believe we’re here for a purpose.
THE IMPORTANT THING is to feel your music, really feel it and believe it.
SOMETIMES my dreams are so deep that I dream that I’m dreaming.
I’D like to think that when I sing a song, I can let you know all about the heartbreak, struggle, lies and kicks in the ass I’ve gotten over the years for being black and everything else, without actually saying a word about it.
ABSENCE makes the heart grows fonder and tears are only rain to make love.
MUSIC IS ABOUT THE ONLY THING LEFT THAT PEOPLE DON’T FIGHT OVER.
AFFLUENCE separates people. Poverty knits ’em together. You got some sugar and I don’t; I borrow some of yours. Next month you might not have any flour; well. I’ll give you some of mine.
I REALLY FEEL that if you’re gonna be good, you gotta practice . . . Practice whatever the hell you do.
MY VERSION OF ‘GEORGIA’ became the state song of Georgia. That was a big thing for me, man. It really touched me. Here is a state that used to lynch people like me suddenly declaring my version of a song as its state song. That is touching.
GOODBYE DON’T MEAN GONE.
THERE ARE MANY SPOKES on the wheel of life. First, we’re here to explore new possibilities.
I WROTE RHYTMS that moved me. My style requires pure heart singing.
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN 1949—“Born to be Wild”
IT’S NOT THE TIME IN YOUR LIFE, IT’S THE LIFE IN YOUR TIME.
TALK ABOUT A DREAM, TRY TO MAKE IT REAL.
YOU CAN’T START A FIRE WITHOUT A SPARK
SOMEDAY we’ll look back on this and it will all seem funny.
THE GREAT CHALLENGE OF ADULTHOOD is holding on to your idealism after you lose your innocence.
ALL PEOPLE HAVE IS HOPE. That’s what brings the next day and whatever that day may bring . . . A hope grounded in the real world of living, friendship, work, family . . .
A TIME COMES when you need to stop waiting for the man you want to become and start being the man you want to be.
I’M READY TO GROW YOUNG AGAIN.
SHOW A LITTLE FAITH, THERE’S MAGIC IN THE NIGHT.
THE BEST MUSIC is essentially there to provide you something to face the world with.
NOBODY WINS UNLESS EVERYBODY WINS.
AT THE END of every hard day, people find some reason to believe.
THE FUTURE IS NOW. Roll up your sleeves and let your passion flow. The country we carry in our hearts is waiting.
IT AIN’T NO SIN TO BE GLAD YOU’RE ALIVE.
SUCESS makes life easier. It doesn’t make living easier.
WHEN THEY BUILT YOU BROTHER THEY BROKE THE MOLD.
YOU’VE GOT TO LEARN TO LIVE WITH WHAT YOU CAN’T RISE ABOVE.
JOHN COLTRANE 1926-1967. “A Love Supreme” “Giant Steps”.
DON’T ever get so big or important that you can not hear and listen to every other person.
DAMN THE RULES, IT’S THE FEELING THAT COUNTS.
SPRINGSTEEN: YOU GET USED TO ANYTHING, sooner or later it just becomes your life.
LET THERE BE SUNSHINE, LET THERE BE RAIN, LET THE BROKEN HEARTED LOVE AGAIN.
COLTRANE: ONE POSITIVE THOUGHT PRODUCES MILLIONS OF POSITIVE VIBRATIONS.
MY MUSIC IS THE SPIRITUAL EXPRESSION OF WHAT I AM. I want to speak to their souls.
INVEST YOURSELF in everything you do. there’s fun in being serious.
I THINK music is an instrument. It can create the initial thought patters that can change the thinking of people.
Springsteen: POOR MAN wanna be rich, rich man wanna be king and a king ain’t satisfied until he rules everything.
WHEN IT COMES TO LUCK, YOU MAKE YOUR OWN.
MORE THAN RICH, MORE THAN FAMOUS, MORE THAN HAPPY . . . I WANTED TO BE GREAT.
STRENGTH — FAITH — LOVE.
THE FIRST THING I DO when I come out every night is to look at the faces in front of me, very individually.
WELL I GOT THIS GUITAR AND I LEARNED HOW TO MAKE IT TALK.
IF you don’t connect yourself to your family and to the world in some fashion through your job or whatever it is you do, you feel like you’re disappearing, you feel like you’re fading away, you know? I felt like that for a very very long time. Growing up, I felt like that a lot. I was just invisible; an invisible person. I think that feeling, wherever it appears, and I grew up around people who felt that way, it’s an enormous source of pain; the struggle to make yourself felt and visible. To have some impact, and to create meaning for yourself and for the people you come in touch with.
ADULT LIFE is dealing with an enormous amount of questions that don’t have answers.