Mahalia Jackson Music Quotations

Anybody that sings the blues is in a deep pit, yelling for help.

Gospel music in those days of the early 1930s was really taking wing. It was the kind of music colored people had left behind them down South and they liked it because it was just like a letter from home.

If you don't like Louis Armstrong, you don't know how to love.

A great influence in my life was the sanctified or Holiness churches...Everybody in there sang and they clapped and stomped heir feet and sang with their whole body... Their music was so strong and expressive, it used to bring tears to my eyes.

I sing God's music because it makes me feel free. It gives me hope. With the blues, when you finish, you still have the blues.

Anybody singing the blues is in a deep pit yelling for help.

Without a song, each day would be a century.

Time is important to me because I want to sing long enough to leave a message.