My people have very subtle slang, inflections and ways of saying things that has little to do with words. If you're from the same place, you'll feel the jargon and know exactly what's happening. Same with any neighborhood cat. What he sees and hears and feels and lives makes him what he is. That's what blues is.

My love is like the wind and wild is the wind. Give me more than one caress, satisfy my hungriness. Let the wind blow through your heart for wild is the wind.

You can't be different if you look at it. Being gifted is different. I had that in my piano playing. I'm very thankful for that. I'm very aware of that. The style and what I fed is just me. I never worked at it. It just happened.

What is love but a prelude to sorrow...with heartache ahead for your goal.

I don't like to go to strange places. I was in Italy for about five hours on my way to Africa.

It's time to take a look at my failures and stop calling them successes. Now I can start working at something that can use me best.

How can you be an artist and not reflect the times?