Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Jose Feliciano - Page 2

I got tired of seeing people rush through the national anthem so they could have their popcorn and get to the game. Nobody ever sang the anthem with soul. It was always done clinically and they always stuck to the original. I put feeling into it. I sang it in a soulful manner.

I didn't mean for it to cause such a furor, but I was the first guy to ever do the national anthem with a guitar. Everyone else had the big brass band. Nowadays it's tracks that they sing to, but in my day, we had no tracks. And I was the only orchestra that I knew that was the best orchestra and that was me and my guitar.

God gave me a good voice. I have perfect pitch. I don't sing flat.

I have genuine respect for women and I want to win their respect. I don't want them to look at me and say, 'Oh, another man with the same attitudes as most men.'

I never knew Mother Teresa, but I admired her, especially in this day and age when there aren't many heroes.

I loved John Lennon, by the way.

When I was a kid, I could make music out of anything, whether it be a rubber band, a tin can. Whatever it was I made music out of it and so that was my knack.

Everyone is my equal, and that is transferred to my music.

I liked the Doors and that kind of music.

I write with my brain. I don't need a computer.

I'm lucky that I can play all kinds of music, that it appeals to all of the generations.

I'm in a museum. I'm a relic.

When I came on in '68, I was really the lone wolf.

I don't know if it's a legacy, but I love it. In my mind and other people's minds, they know I was the first to stylize the national anthem.

I was growing up at a time when music was growing and changing so fast. I had learned all the big band sounds of the 1940s, Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey. But then along came Chuck Berry, Les Paul, Fats Domino and I figured out how to make their music as well.

When people don't hear you on the radio they think 'maybe he retired.'

Music. It has always showed me that I could do what the other kids couldn't do. So I will keep playing and singing and entertaining, as long as the good Lord lets me. That is my life.

I contend that if it wasn't for Jimi, the gadgets we use for electric guitars now wouldn't have happened. He was an inventor, in a sense - as well as being great artist.

I made history and nothing can besmirch that. Nothing can erase that.

I'm a musician first and sight has never had anything to do with it.

You can't write much quality, original music on a concertina.

I truly enjoyed the '60s.

I've been playing in Israel since 1971.

If I were to travel with all my instruments, I would need a truck.

In 1970, my label decided I should do a Christmas album and I put a bunch of tunes together. We couldn't decide what to call it and so I said 'Why not just say Merry Christmas in Spanish? Feliz Navidad.' They said, 'That's cool, Jose, but we need a title song.' So I just sat down and started to play.

My dream was to be a celebrity, to be on TV like Bob Hope was.

I think I am different from most blind people because my agility is not that of a blind person - I don't shuffle my feet when I walk. In fact, I have no, as I call them, 'blindisms.'

I didnt go to the high school prom. Couldn't get a date.

I'm Puerto Rican, but I represent everybody.

I think sighted people let their eyes cheat them out of certain things. People who can see don't have a great sense of smell because they don't use it.

I didn't write Feliz Navidad to make a lot of money for me.

I never expected to have such a long career, it's been 52 years.

One thing about computers and iPhones is they're making people mentally lazy.

I was drawn to the guitar, and still am, because it struck me as the most soulful instrument.

I mean, it wasnt like I had said to myself beforehand, 'OK, I'm gonna go out there and sing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' in the weirdest way possible and cause a commotion.' I just sang it the way I felt it I sang it the only way I could.

The only thing I can say to the people of Israel is that I love them and I am a strong ally.

I never knew whether I'd make it as a star but I always wanted to.

I got so big in the Latin market, it was a bit like being Elvis Presley. The limousines, the screaming girls - stuff I wasn't used to.

I have very heightened senses - not just my hearing but my sense of smell.

I taught myself until I was about 16. And then I studied classical guitar with some teachers.