Sharon Jones Quotes

Singing is my life. And when I can do that, that's when I'm free. That's when I'm at my happiest, I'm at my most.

I'm not going to sing something if it doesn't make sense to me, or if it makes me look like I'm begging someone or I'm weak, because that's not me.

I'm singing, you know, because I'm happy and I'm free.

Some people can sit down and write a song, but they can't go on stage like I can.

Play with me and you play with fire.

I'm going to keep on keeping on as long as I've got my health and strength, and God gives me that will to do it.

God's eye is on a sparrow. And I know - oh, yes, I know he watches over me...

Music is my happiness, my joy, and when my body wasn't right I couldn't get into my music without being healed, without being healthy.

When I'm on tour, I don't see these spots as much as I'd like. I'm just in, I perform, then I'm out. I hope to spend years sightseeing, then more years after that.

I don't want to be home just taking medicine and waiting to die, you know? That's not something I'm about.

I miss my hair, but I feel like going out there with some fake braids wouldn't be right. I want to be the most genuine performer I can be.

We chose it's name [Give the People What They Want] a while ago, long before the cancer. But I can't think of a more fitting title.

I'll be staying in touch and keeping my fans and friends updated on my progress. I'm looking forward to getting back on the road to give the people what they want.

My friend Megan Holken is a nutritionist. I have spent some time at her home upstate in Sharon Springs, where she told me how to eat right and cook right.

Once I retire and slow down, I don't want to be in New York. I want to be somewhere near a lake or a pond, so that on my days when I have nothing to do, I can go fishing.

When I got sick this past summer, I couldn't - my mind just wasn't on music. The rest of the band understood. But once October came, I felt ready to get back again.

[I've worked as a guard at Rikers Island] from 1988 to 1990.

Doctors removed my gallbladder and pancreas, which are supposed to break down sugar and alcohol.

Everything I've done and everything I've gained in my life has been with my music.

I'm coming back to give the people what they want.

My goal for these next few years, for the next forever, is to try and keep positive things around me. If somebody is coming at me with negative stuff, just back away from me.

Not only do I say, get up and get out, I tell the cancer to get up and get out. And if you don't get up and get out, I'm going to shout you out. And I get to shout.

Juicing has helped me bring my pressure down. Organic natural foods, too.

I can't eat processed food.

I've got to find local farmers and get natural foods.

I'm going to dress a little different. Those frilly dresses I used to wear on stage, that was the old me.

Maybe I won't have as much energy. And maybe the highs in my voice won't be what they used to be. But exercise is helping me pace myself.

Being with the Dap-Kings is like being an athlete.

Every time I do a gig, my goal is getting new fans.

Phish is such a good band; they just make stuff up as a jam band.

I really can't wait to dance with Ellen DeGeneres!

I'm blessed to be in an environment where people are sincere.

Record designers marvel on that stuff. They go back and look at old covers, then make new ones.

I'm not planning on singing too late. Maybe another eight or 10 years is enough before I retire. It would also be great to revisit all these stunning places around the world where I have toured.

I remember my sister and I - my big sister would get up on her chair in the kitchen and sing Mary Wells' "What's Easy for Two Is So Hard for One." It was 1966, and I was 10 years old.

My fans have written me such kind emails. My management at Daptone helped me heal, too. I'm in a good place.

You know a man can play the part of a saint just so long for a day comes when his true, his true self unfolds.

I never took any kind of vocal lessons or teachings of how to - I never even took piano lessons. And a voice just came to me and said, go play the piano in the church.

I know for one thing that alcohol will have no more part in my life.

I'm grateful to be alive, because I really did not think I was going to be alive, onstage performing songs.

As for me, I rarely write a song. But when I do write a song, like "Ain't No Chimneys in the Projects," which came to me at three a.m. one morning, on a whim - I get a percentage.

I sing because I'm happy.

I just want to give my love to God.

I just want to be able to get onstage and move and move around.

For me, music is my joy. It's my happiness. As long as this medicine, this chemo is in my body, I didn't have my love, my joy.

Me and the Dap-Kings, the whole band is playing a wedding band in 'The Wolf of Wall Street.'