Jose Feliciano Quotes

One of the most important elements in teaching, conducting, and performing, all three, is listening.

I think every good song tells a story, as ambiguous and vague as it may be. And if you know what a song is talking about, it can only help your performance.

I am an interpreter of music rather than a composer of it.

All gave some. Some gave all. Some stood true for the red, white and blue. Some had to fall. Some gave all

It's always the old to lead us to the war It's always the young to fall Now look at all we've won with the sabre and the gun Tell me is it worth it all.

I sang the National Anthem with soul.

I have no regrets, though I was the first artist to stylize the national anthem, and I got a lot of protests for it. I have no regrets. America has been good to me. I'm glad that I'm here.

People say I should be running for a gold medal for the old red, white and blue and all that bull, but it's not gonna be that way.

Improvising is writing, too - there was no music and now there's music. So that's composition. And any time you take any sort of a performance liberty, you're making a compositional choice. I don't know a serious performer who hasn't made compositional decisions, who hasn't engaged in the art of composition.

The thing that I really love to do, that I now only do in the shower, is to sing the national anthem.

Today, conducting is a question of ego: a lot of people believe they are actually playing the music.

The whole duty of a conductor is comprised in his ability to indicate the right tempo.

One of the things I love about jazz music is that intent is first and execution is second. In classical music, execution is first and intent is second, meaning that you must first learn a piece before you can truly add your interpretation to it.

If you're singing, you're telling a story. So to tell it and tell it right, that's it.

'Bomber' was the first song I wrote about war.

I recognise fully why people wear poppies, I totally respect everyone's right to do so and I have total sympathy for anyone who has lost loved ones due to conflict.

It's not enough to play a song: you have to inhabit it.

I sounded like Bob Dylan for about five minutes, and it was blown out of all proportion.

I think songs can have different lives.

You know, I had gone to war.

A lot of songwriters have written about soldiers and war, but very few have written with them.

The conductor is a peculiar person. He turns his back on his friends in the audience, shakes a stick at his players in the orchestra, and then wonders why nobody loves him.

I like to let the songs speak so that they can go through some kind of rebirth as you play them.

What is so important is that you play for the artist and for the record and for the song ... everything else falls into place ... my solo has to be a complement to the singer and the song.

If you listen closely to the voices of our veterans, you understand that yes, they all returned from war changed, but what never changed is this: They never forgot your generosity. They never forgot the power of opportunity. They never forgot the American dream.