I sing the songs that people need to hear.

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 talked to the record company about what I had in mind. They said they wanted something lush. I figured the best thing to do was let them hear what I had in mind.

When I'm singing the blues, I'm singing life.

In some ways, it's my rage that keeps me going.

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

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