I don't think I'm singing. I feel like I'm playing a horn...What comes out is what I feel.

I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter.

The whole basis of my singing is feeling. Unless I feel something, I can't sing.

I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.

If you think dope is for kicks and for thrills, you're out of your mind. There are more kicks to be had in a good case of paralytic polio or by living in an iron lung.

When you sing, always tell the truth.

Dope never helped anybody sing better or play music better or do anything better. All dope can do for you is kill you - and kill you the long, slow, hard way.