The only time that I am really truly happy—when I feel at my best—is when I'm on the stage.
Interpretation
True happiness comes from expressing oneself in a fulfilling way.
Etta James expresses that her deepest sense of joy and fulfillment is found in her performances on stage. This suggests that for her, artistic expression is the pinnacle of happiness, highlighting the importance of pursuing one's passions and the emotional connection to one's craft.
In practice
During a motivational speech about pursuing passions, one could quote Etta James to emphasize the joy of following one's dreams.
Jazz took too much discipline. You have to come in at the right place, which is different than me singing the blues, where I can sing, 'Oh, baby,' if there's a pause in the melody. With jazz, you better leave that space open, or put in something real cool.
I figured I could do "It's A Man's, Man's, Man's World" because I believe it's the truth.
It's not about battling the original artists when I record these songs, it's about paying tribute to them.
I wanna show that gospel, country, blues, rhythm and blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll are all just really one thing. Those are the American music and that is the American culture.
When I'm singing the blues, I'm singing life.
People always say 'Etta, you know what your problem is? You're neither fish nor fowl. There is no place to rack you.' When I would go in a record shop, you might find one or two records by me in different stacks.
My wife, whenever I'd go off to work and I'd be kind of anxious, she'll say, 'Remember, have fun.' Oh, I forgot, thanks for the reminder. Because sometimes we do forget. We take it all too seriously and there's a lot of joy to be had wherever you are.
Happiness and suffering are states of mind, and so their main causes cannot be found outside the mind.
Happiness does not consist in amusement. In fact, it would be strange if our end were amusement, and if we were to labor and suffer hardships all our life long merely to amuse ourselves.... The happy life is regarded as a life in conformity with virtue. It is a life which involves effort and is not spent in amusement.
Every nation ought to have a right to provide for its own happiness.
Everyone contributes a word, a sentence, an image, but in the end it all makes sense: the happiness of one becomes the joy of all.
Let's just try to have a marvelous time this weekend. I mean not try to analyze everything to death for once, if possible. Especially me. I love you.
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