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

You can't fake this music. You might be a great singer or a great musician but, in the need, that's got nothing to do with it. It's how you connect to the songs and to the history behind them.

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

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.

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

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.

Country music has the great stories.