I write music, really, to make myself feel better.
It is easy to be independent when you've got money. But to be independent when you haven't got a thing, that's the Lord's test.
Faith and prayer are the vitamins of the soul; man cannot live in health without them.
When you sing gospel you have a feeling there is a cure for what's wrong.
God can make you anything you want to be, but you have to put everything in his hands.
Gospel songs are the songs of hope. When you sing gospel you have the feeling there is a cure for what's wrong, but when you are through with the blues, you've got nothing to rest on.
Baby, black promoters oppressed me before white promoters ever got hold of me. Don't talk skin to me.
. . because when we look up into the sky at night there will be no darkness, just the blazing light of billions and billions of stars, all falling.
Burn, burn tree and fern! Shrivel and scorch! A fizzling torch To light the night for our delight, Ya hey! Bake and toast ‘em, fry and roast ‘em! till beards blaze, and eyes glaze; till hair smells and skins crack, fat melts, and bones black in cinders lie beneath the sky! So dwarves shall die, and light the night for our delight, Ya hey! Ya-harri-hey! Ya hoy!
When I speak of the gifted listener, I am thinking of the nonmusician primarily, of the listener who intends to retain his amateur status. It is the thought of just such a listener that excites the composer in me.
How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.