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

Most of the songs I sing have that blues feeling in it. They have that sorry feeling. And I don't know what I'm sorry about. I don't.

Now I can stand up on the stage again like I used to after five years of sitting down while I sang.

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

People always say 'Etta, you know what your problem is? You're neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.' When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.

I sing the songs that people need to hear.

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.