With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius. It is Billie Holiday who was, and still remains, the greatest single musical influence on me. Lady Day is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.

If power doesn't mean that you have the opportunity to work with the people that you love , then you haven't really got any.

And now the end is near, and so I face the final curtain.

For years I've nursed a secret desire to spend the Fourth of July in a double hammock with a swingin' redheaded broad. But I could never find me a double hammock

For nobody else, gave me thrill-with all your faults, I love you still. It had to be you, wonderful you, it had to be you.

I've always had a theory that whenever guys and gals start swinging, they begin to lose interest in conquering the world. They just want a comfortable pad and stereo and wheels, and their thoughts turn to the good things of life - not to war. They loosen up, they live and they're more apt to let live.

What is the point of singing wonderful lyrics if the audience can't understand what is being said or heard?