Singing Quotes

Being the Queen is not all about singing, and being a diva is not all about singing. It has much to do with your service to people. And your social contributions to your community and your civic contributions as well.

Aretha Franklin

That´s the problem with planning a late night supper after the opera, not only does the hero or the heroine die singing, but you end up famished after the last notes of the finale.

E.A. Bucchianeri

I felt my mouth go dry, my throat constrict. What possible interpretation could Peter place on those words, other than that they were about him? - that the entire song was about him?

Jennifer Paynter

Then the singing enveloped me. It was furry and resonant, coming from everyone's very heart. There was no sense of performance or judgment, only that the music was breath and food.

Anne Lamott

Beautiful songs could sometimes take a person out of themselves and carry them away to a place of magic. But when Jill sang, it was not about the song, really. She could sing the phone book. She could sing a shopping list. Whatever she sang, whatever the words or the tune, it was so beautiful, so achingly lovely, that no one could listen and be untouched.

Michael Grant

I would rather be remembered by a song than by a victory.

Alexander Smith

If your neighbor looks at you like they don't enjoy the key you're singing in, look right back, bless them, and keep on singing.

Odetta, Spoken live live at a co

Directions for Singing1. Learn these tunes before you learn any others; afterwards learn as many as you please.2. Sing them exactly as they are printed here, without altering or mending them at all; and if you have learned to sing them otherwise, unlearn it as soon as you can.3. Sing all. See that you join with the congregation as frequently as you can. Let not a single degree of weakness or weariness hinder you. If it is a cross to you, take it up, and you will find it a blessing.4. Sing lustily and with good courage. Beware of singing as if you were half dead, or half asleep; but lift up your voice with strength. Be no more afraid of your voice now, nor more ashamed of its being heard, then when you sung the songs of Satan.5. Sing modestly. Do not bawl, so as to be heard above or distinct from the rest of the congregation, that you may not destroy the harmony; but strive to unite your voices together, so as to make one clear melodious sound.6. Sing in time. Whatever time is sung be sure to keep with it. Do not run before nor stay behind it; but attend close to the leading voices, and move therewith as exactly as you can; and take care not to sing to slow. This drawling way naturally steals on all who are lazy; and it is high time to drive it out from us, and sing all our tunes just as quick as we did at first.7. Above all sing spiritually. Have an eye to God in every word you sing. Aim at pleasing him more than yourself, or any other creature. In order to do this attend strictly to the sense of what you sing, and see that your heart is not carried away with the sound, but offered to God continually; so shall your singing be such as the Lord will approve here, and reward you when he cometh in the clouds of heaven.

John Wesley, From John Wesley

Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.

Voltaire (FrançoisMarie Arouet)

The thing that influenced me most was the way Tommy played his trombone. . . . It was my idea to make my voice work in the same way as a trombone or violin not sounding like them, but playing the voice like those instrumentalists.

Frank Sinatra, In Frank Sinatra

There are few cases in which mere popularity should be considered a proper test of merit; but the case of song-writing is, I think, one of the few.

Edgar Allan Poe

I can't stand to sing the same song the same way two nights in succession, let alone two years or ten years. If you can, then it ain't music, it's close-order drill or exercise or yodeling or something, not music.

Billie Holiday

Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sakes. Now, I mean, I'm talking about singing in the shower, I'm talking about dancing to the radio, I'm talking about writing a poem to a friend--a lousy poem.

Kurt Vonnegut

It is the best of all trades, to make songs, and the second best to sing them.

Hilaire Belloc

The minstrel fell but the foeman's chaincould not break his proud soul under.The harp he loved ne'er spoke again,for he tore its chords asunder,And said, No chains shall sully thee,thou soul of love and brav'ry!Thy songs were made for the pure and free;they shall never sound in slav'ry.

Thomas Moore, The Minstrel Boy

Odds life! must one swear to the truth of a song?

Matthew Prior

Anything too stupid to be said is sung.

Voltaire

After about three lessons my voice teacher said, 'Don't take voice lessons. Do it your way. You're a song stylist. Always do it your way.'

Johnny Cash

When Satan makes impure verses, Allah sends a divine tune to cleanse them.

George Bernard Shaw

Let who will make the laws of a nation so long as I am permitted to make her songs.

Andrew Fletcher