I sing the songs that people need to hear.

All the things I used to like - cookies, ice cream, gumbo - I don't like anymore.

I was a sloppy kid, wanted to be just wild.

I'm not starry eyed, and I'm not money crazy.

My mother was a jazz fanatic and she wanted me to play the piano so I could play jazz tunes. I wish I had learned but I was too busy getting into trouble!

Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude.

My mother always wanted me to be a jazz singer, but I always wanted to be raunchy.

I am so happy that I am alive and can walk.

I was originally like a punker, know what I mean, like the punks are today, I'd spit in a minute.

See, I don't like places where people can't dance - don't like clubs or theatres where a bunch of bourgeois people sit around tip, tip, tipping their fingers.

People that can't stand to listen to the blues, they've got to be phonies.

I'm not a bourgeois person, never will be.

When I look out at the people and they look at me and they're smiling, then I know that I'm loved. That is the time when I have no worries, no problems.

The only time that I am really truly happy—when I feel at my best—is when I'm on the stage.

I've gone through so much in my life. I should have been dead a long time ago, but I am still here, and I'm the happiest I've ever been.

I want a Sunday kind of love A love to last past Saturday night And I’d like to know it’s more than love at first sight

It feels so good to be happy.

I’ve learned to live with rage. In some ways, it’s my rage that keeps me going. Without it, I would have been whipped long ago. With it, I got a lot more songs to sing.

When I sing for myself, I probably sing for anyone who has any kind of hurt, any kind of bad feelings, good feelings, ups and downs, highs and lows, that kind of thing.