Eighty percent of married men cheat in America. The rest cheat in Europe.
I try to improvise like Les Young, Louis Armstrong or someone else I admire. What comes out is what I feel.
I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know.
The blues to me is like being very sad, very sick, going to church, being very happy. . . it's sort of a mixed up thing. You just have to feel it.
There's no damn business like show business - you have to smile to keep from throwing up.
I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close order drill, or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.
Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen and I was three.
You cannot be defined by your skin color, where you come from. The world is yours, embrace it.
All man has to do is cooperate with the big forces, the sun, the rain, the growing urge. Seeds sprout, stems grow, leaves spread in the sunlight. Man plants, weeds, cultivates and harvests. It sounds simple, and it is simple, with the simplicity of great truths.
Appreciate what you've got and follow your heart and you're all good. Don't over-complicate things.
The only reason I started swimming was for water safety. Then, once I started falling in love with sports, I got more comfortable with it.