Ray Charles

Ray: 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.

Ray: 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.

Ray: When I sing "I Can't Stop Loving You," I'm not singin' it country-western. I'm singin' it like me. But I think the words to country songs are very earthy like the blues, see, very down. They're not as dressed up, and the people are very honest and say, "Look, I miss you, darlin', so I went out and I got drunk in this bar." That's the way you say it. Where in Tin Pan Alley will say, "Oh, I missed you darling, so I went to this restaurant and I sat down and I had dinner for one." That's cleaned up now, you see? But country songs and the blues is like it is.

Ray: 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.

Ray: 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.

Ray: (on going blind) It didn't happen like one day I could see 100 miles and the next day I couldn't see an inch. It was, each day for two years my sight was less and less. My mother was always real with me, and bein' poor, you got to pretty much be honest with your children. We couldn't afford no specialists. I was lucky I could get a doctor - that's a specialist.

Ray: I never came up with that "genius" tag. I'm a utility man. I can do a lot of little things well. But I copied … and then innovated.

Ray: Now am I supposed to believe that the good Lord spared me so I could have me some hit records, make me some money and get me some more pussy? Well, that don't make sense, because God sure didn't save Sam Cooke. Sam was fucking the wrong girl in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he got shot dead. Why Sam and not me? Church folks said 'cause Sam traded in gospel for the devil's music. Well, I did the same. No, man, you got to believe that God works in mysterious ways. I've been blessed.

Ray: (when he first learned he had cancer) Death is the one motherfucker that ain't ever going away.

Ray: I never considered myself part of rock 'n' roll. My stuff was more adult. It was more difficult for teenagers to relate to; my stuff was filled with more despair than anything you'd associate with rock 'n' roll. Since I couldn't see people dancing, I didn't write jitterbugs or twists. I wrote rhythms that moved me. My style required pure heart singing,