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From the beginning, it has been a no-no for a black man to touch a white woman.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
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.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
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To most white people, jazz means black and jazz means dirt, and that's not what I play. I play black classical music.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
The allusion was that I was actually naked. I loved that. It always, kind of shocked people enough that they became mine immediately.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
Everything that happened to me as a child involved music. It was part of everyday life, as automatic as breathing.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I do not believe in mixing of the races. You can quote me. I don't believe in it, and I never have. I've never changed. I've never changed my hair. I've never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I've always been. I married a white man one time, but he was a creep.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
You can't help it. An artist's duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I don't like rap music at all. I don't think it's music. It's just a beat and rapping.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
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My name sounds French but that's just a stage name.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I don't like to go to strange places.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I demand perfection in what I do, and I practice very hard before I give a concert-sometimes three to six hours a day.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood," a song that was written for Simone, she confronted the band's lead singer, Eric Burdon. "So you're the honky," she said, "who stole my song and got a hit out of it?
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
You've got to learn to leave the table When love's no longer being served.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
It's a new dawn, it's a new day...and I'm feeling good.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
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Through music you can become sad, joyful, loving, you can learn. You can learn mathematics, touch, pacing... Oh my God! Ooh... Wow... You can see colors through music. Anything!
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I was not reluctant to become a singer. Singing has been an activity I've done my whole life, without thought.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I play piano, by ear. Yes, I write songs... and good ones.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I'm sorry that I did not become the world's first black classic pianist. I think I would have been happier.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
Since I was three I've been playing the piano. I've been onstage.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I am particular about the seating of the audience - also about how much money they pay - but most of all where they are seated. If I am going to sing something intimate, who am I going to sing it to?
Eunice Kathleen Waymon
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Tomorrow, I might be in a different mood and you wouldn't recognize my voice.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I try to swim every damn day I can, and I've learned to scuba dive and snorkel.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
I believe the time will come when the whole definition of pop music will change. It will get to the point where a song will not be a good song until it has a high level of creativity in writing and performance. In other words, in order to be popular, songs will have to meet these high standards.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon -
Funk, gospel, blues is all out of slavery times, out of depression, out of sorrow.
Eunice Kathleen Waymon