Nina Simone

I only knew classical music, which to me was the only true music. The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix the classical music with popular songs, and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus the talent to mix classical music together with more popular songs, which at the time I detested.

Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.

How do you explain what it feels like to get on the stage and make poetry that you know sinks into the hearts and souls of people who are unable to express it.

I do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don’t believe in it, and I never have. I’ve never changed. I’ve never changed my hair. I’ve never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I’ve always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep.

I would like you to know, I am a doctor of music.

Music is a gift and a burden I’ve had since I can remember who I was.

Only play what you hear. If you don’t hear anything, don’t play anything.

The more vulnerable and the more confused the song is, the equal and opposite effect is how I feel after having written it.

Music is an extraordinary vehicle for expressing very powerful emotions. That’s what draws people towards it.

You gotta mean it and you gotta treat it gentle.

They told me to play what I felt. Hey, I’m a Jazz musician, that’s what I do.

I’ve never written a political song. Songs can’t save the world. I’ve gone through all that.

Jazz is the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I’ll keep playing until I feel like I can’t.

Instrumental music is increasingly marginalized.

We all do ‘do, re, mi’ but you got to find the other notes yourself.

I wanted to sustain a note like a singer. I wanted to phrase a note like a saxist. By bending the strings, by trilling my hand – and I have big fat hands – I could achieve something that approximated a vocal vibrato. I could sustain a note. I wanted to connect my guitar to human emotions. By fooling with the feedback between my amplifier and instrument, I started experimenting with sounds that expressed my feelings, whether happy or sad, bouncy or bluesy. I was looking for ways to let my guitar sing.

The saxophone is an imperfect instrument, especially the tenor and soprano, as far as intonation goes. The challenge is to sing on an imperfect instrument that is outside of your body.

The whole thing of being in music is not to control it but to be swept away by it.

There are notes between notes, you know.

I don’t know what they’re thinking about. Just because someone says, ‘I like what you do’ or something: They might like it today and tomorrow they might not. I’ve had that experience with record companies.