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.

You know, YOUR President, the one with the big ears-he ain't my President - had that woman singing for him at his Inauguration. She's going to get her [expletive] whooped. How dare Beyonce sing MY song that I been singing forever. Now I'm going to sing it for y'all.

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.

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

At last my love has come along. My lonely days are over and life is like a song.

And as I started reaching deeper I realized that most of the blues of that day was done by men. Women just didn't have the nerve.

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