"Unless it was the records of Bessie Smith and Louis Armstrong I heard as kid, I don't know of anybody who actually influenced my singing, then or now. I always wanted Bessie's big sound and Pop's feeling. Young kids always ask me what my style is derived from and how I evolved and all that. What can I tell them? If you find a tune and it's got something to do with you, you don't have to evolve anything. You just feel it, and when you sing it other people can feel it too. With me, it's got nothing to do with working or arranging or rehearsing. Give me a song I can feel, and it's never work. There are a few songs I feel so much I can't stand to sing them, but that's something else again.
If I had to sing "Doggie in the Window", that would actually be work. But singing songs like "The Man I Love" or "Porgy" is no more work than sitting down and eating Chinese roast duck, and I love roast duck. I've lived songs like that. When I sing them I live them again and I love them."
Lady Sings the Blues, Billie Holiday with William Dufty 1956
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