Ray Charles: Quotes about music

Ray Charles was American musician. Explore interesting quotes on music.
Ray Charles: 48   quotes 7   likes

“I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.”

As quoted "Words of the Week" in Jet magazine, Vol. 64, No. 6 (25 April 1983), p. 40
Context: Music has been around a long time, and there's going to be music long after Ray Charles is dead. I just want to make my mark, leave something musically good behind. If it's a big record, that's the frosting on the cake, but music's the main meal.

“I was born with music inside me.”

Home, p. 8
Brother Ray : Ray Charles' Own Story (1978)
Context: I was born with music inside me. That's the only explanation I know of, since none of my relatives could sing or play an instrument. Music was one of my parts. Like my ribs, my kidneys, my liver, my heart. Like my blood. It was a force already within me when I arrived on the scene. It was a necessity for me — like food or water.

“My music had roots which I'd dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil.”

Fooling, Drowning, Hallelujahing, p. 174
Brother Ray : Ray Charles' Own Story (1978)

“Rhythm and blues used to be called race music. … This music was going on for years, but nobody paid any attention to it.”

Pop Chronicles: Show 55 - Crammer: A lively cram course on the history of rock and some other things http://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19838/m1/, interview recorded 3.8.1968 http://web.archive.org/web/20100116003442/http://www.library.unt.edu/music/special-collections/john-gilliland/index-to-interviews.

“Every music has its own soul, Quincy.”

Source: Said to Quincy Jones as quoted in The Arranger, an article in Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-arranger-20940901/