Music with Ease > Jazz Quotes > Billie Holiday Quotes

"I hate straight singing. I have to change a tune to my own way of doing it. That's all I know."
-- Billie Holiday

"Don't threaten me with love, baby; let's just go walking in the rain."
-- Billie Holiday

"The only reason they're out there is to see me fall into the damn orchestra pit."
-- Billie Holiday

"I joined Count Basie's band to make a little money and to see the world. For two years I didn't see anything but the inside of a Blue Goose bus, and I never got to send home a quarter."
-- Billie Holiday

"In this country kings or dukes don't amount to nothing. The greatest man around then was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he was the President; so I started calling Lester the President. It got shortened to Pres."
-- Billie Holiday (speaking of Lester Young)


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Quotable Jazz

Jazz musicians are well known for strong opinions and a major sense of humor.

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