Nat King Quotes & Sayings

I'm not playing for other musicians. We're trying to reach the guy who works all day and wants to spend a buck at night. We'll keep him happy. — Nat King Cole

For years the Trio did nothing but play for musicians and other hip people. We practically starved to death. — Nat King Cole

I'll never totally get away from being who I am, which first, to many, is the daughter of Nat King Cole, which became even more intensified with the 'Unforgettable' album. — Natalie Cole

It's important to me that on 'Family Feud' I could kiss all the people. It sounds crazy but when I first came here Petula Clark was on a show with Nat King Cole and he kissed her on the cheek and eighty-one stations in the South canceled him. I kissed black women daily and nightly on 'Family Feud' and the world didn't come to an end, did it? — Richard Dawson

In 1965, as Ralph Gleason has reported, when Martin Luther King's march on Selma, Alabama, was brutally attacked by local and state constabulary, Louis Armstrong, then in Copenhagen, said after watching the carnage on television, "They would beat Jesus if he was black and marched. — Nat Hentoff

Ruth does love Jesus, same way she loves Lincoln, Robin Hood, Martin Luther King, and Nat. Handsome men who fight for justice. — Samantha Hunt

I got the message. All of us get the message, sooner or later. If you get it before it's too late or before you're too old, you'll pull through all right. — Nat King Cole

I can laugh at myself because I've had to. Everything would have been much worse if I'd been the singing son of Nat 'King' Cole. — Natalie Cole

I often wonder whether Negroes like myself who are pretty well known help out at all in breaking down barriers. — Nat King Cole

The funny thing is that the studio that we recorded in was the same studio that Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole used to warm up their voices in before they went across the street to CBS Radio. The owner has preserved it exactly the way it was in 1925. It was such a perfect coincidence that we were doing music inspired by that stuff in that room. It was incredible. — Hamilton Leithauser

The sheriff is at the cash register, and if I don't get a hit soon, I don't know what I'll do. — Nat King Cole

Get me well so I can get on television and tell people to stop smoking. — Nat King Cole

My main influences have always been the classic jazz players who sang, like Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole and Jack Teagarden. — Mose Allison

Probably more than anybody else, I loved Nat 'King' Cole as a performer - not only his singing but his piano playing. Whenever he had a new record come out, I'd get it and try to learn how he was playing. And he was one of the nicest people I'd ever met. — Bruce Forsyth

I felt something impossible for me to explain in words. Then, when they took her away, it hit me. I got scared all over again and began to feel giddy. Then it came to me ... I was a father. — Nat King Cole

Critics don't buy records. They get 'em free. — Nat King Cole

Although it's been said many times, many ways ... Merry Christmas to you! — Nat King Cole

By 1950, Brennan was settling into a schedule that saw him making three films a year, giving him more time on his ranch and with a new business he started in Joseph, a 487-seat movie theater that opened on July 27, 1950. It was housed in a Quonset hut made out of surplus war materials also used to build the civic center. "The reason he got the theater built," Mike recalled, "was because the civic center was the same size, and they [Frank McCully and Walter] got the chance to buy two of them for half the price." At the theater's grand opening, actors Chill Wills and Forrest Tucker said a few words and signed autographs, and Joseph's mayor and other local dignitaries attended the event. A La Grande radio station broadcast the event. Curtain Call at Cactus Creek was the feature, following a musical short with the Nat King Cole trio. — Carl Rollyson

There's just one thing I can't figure out. My income tax! — Nat King Cole

My mom was an amazing singer and music was a big part of my life, so I grew up listening to Nat King Cole, Johnny Mathis, Henry Mancini; I used to watch 'The Andy Williams Show' on TV. I was very musical, so I was watching stuff that most kids my age wouldn't be interested in. — Gloria Estefan

I'm an old soul. I like the Nat King Cole; Sam Cooke is my favorite singer of all time. But I'm into neo-soul; I'm into R&B. Some of the modern stuff appeals to me, but most of it comes from an older time. — Trai Byers

Nat King Cole was a really big influence. — Bryan White

The only sport I'm not interested in is horse racing. That's because I don't know the horses personally. — Nat King Cole

My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring pianist with Nat King Cole. My family was an explosive mixture of politics, religion and music - no wonder I turned out how I did. — Grace Jones

It's not like I'm the first man ever to do this, y'know? You gotta go back to Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Sammy Davis Jr. Those are people who've done music well and movies well, and y'know, Frank Sinatra and Elvis and all these dudes have made the transition. I don't know about Elvis, 'bout doin' 'em good, y'know? It's nothin' new. — Ice Cube

People don't slip. Time catches up with them. — Nat King Cole

I'm a businessman. I work for business people. The kind of thing they say is: Now we've sold a lot of records, let's sell some more. — Nat King Cole

I love Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Brandi, Sade, Nat King Cole. I like the Beatles. I listen to a lot of that. — Leah LaBelle

When I first organized the King Cole Trio back in 1937, we were strictly what you would call an instrumental group. To break the monotony, I would sing a few songs here and there between the playing. I sang things I had known over the years. I wasn't trying to give it any special treatment, just singing. I noticed thereafter people started requesting more singing, and it was just one of those things. — Nat King Cole

The only prejudice I've found anywhere in TV is in some advertising agencies, and there isn't so much prejudice as just fear. — Nat King Cole

If you smile through your fear and sorrow, smile and maybe tomorrow you'll see the sun come shining through for you. — Nat King Cole

My favorite singer to this day is Nat King Cole. I've tried to emulate his phrasing. It is so absolutely beautiful to listen to his lovely voice. — Johnny Mathis

I respected Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra. Those were my heroes, and they were 10 years older than I was. — Tony Bennett

I'm in the music business for one purpose - to make money. — Nat King Cole

Shhhh," Johnny soothed, sliding his hands up and down her back, nuzzling her hair. "Car thieves don't cry, baby. You gotta toughen up if you're gonna have a future with good old Clyde here."

"I like it when you do that."

"What?"

"Call me baby," Maggie whispered.

"You liked it when I called you Bonnie too," he replied with a smile in his voice. "Why?"

"You used to call me baby all the time. It makes me believe you can love me again."

Johnny wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and lifted her to him, kissing her tear-streaked cheeks before he touched his lips to hers.

"I'm already there Maggie. I fell in love when you begged me to help you escape the cops. I fell in love when we danced to Nat King Cole singing 'Stardust' on a moonlit beach. Hell, I fell in love when you told me how blondes spell farm."

"E-I-E-I-O," Maggie quipped wetly.

Johnny laughed and held her tightly. — Amy Harmon

The people who know nothing about music are the ones always talking about it. — Nat King Cole

I worked in a barbershop. I used to make the waves in the brother's hair, you know? Like, Nat King Cole, Sugar Ray Robinson. — George Clinton

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist. — Nat King Cole

The Supreme Court is having a hard time integrating schools. What chance do I have to integrate audiences? — Nat King Cole

The plain, inexorable fact was that any attempt of the America Negro to overthrow his oppressor with violence would not work ... The courageous efforts of our own insurrectionist brothers, such as Denmark Vassey and Nat Turner, should be eternal reminders to us that a violent rebellion is doomed from the start. Anyone leading a violent rebellion must be willing to make an honest assessment regarding the possible casualties to a minority population confronting a well-armed, wealthy majority with a fanatical right wing that would delight in exterminating thousands of black men, women, and children. — Martin Luther King Jr.

I was brought up with beautiful music - Nat King Cole and Glen Miller from my dad, and my mum loved Judy Garland and Doris Day - brilliant stuff. Through my brothers and sisters I heard David Bowie and The Specials, The Carpenters, Meatloaf and The Rolling Stones. — Imelda May

Most of us remember Nat King Cole as a vocalist. His warm, grainy baritone is still so closely identified with such familiar ballads as 'Stardust' and 'The Christmas Song' that it's hard to imagine anyone else performing them. — Terry Teachout

I'm a musician at heart, I know I'm not really a singer. I couldn't compete with real singers. But I sing because the public buys it. — Nat King Cole

I make no claim to being a business genius. You can make so much money in this business that it loses its value. — Nat King Cole

I love the music from Nat King Cole, BB King, Albert King ... When I think of it, I wouldn't mind being renamed Angus King. — Angus Young

I used to sing like Nat King Cole. I mean he was the guy when I was comin' up, and you know, man, people used to say of me, "Damn, he sure do sound like Nat King Cole." But there was a day, and luckily for me it was early, when I woke up and asked myself, "Well, when are the ask me to sing because I sound like me?" So my advice is, never do anything that you don't like. — Ray Charles

Also, I'd like to play an athlete again, while I'm still physically fit, or a musician, like Nat King Cole, because I play the trumpet and sing. I'd like to incorporate that into a character. — Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje

Music is emotional, and you may catch a musician in a very unemotional mood or you may not be in the same frame of mind as the musician. So a critic will often say a musician is slipping. — Nat King Cole

I was a guinea pig for some hoodlums who thought they could hurt me and frighten me and keep other Negro entertainers from the South. — Nat King Cole

I love all holiday music. My two favorites would probably be Donny Hathaway's "This Christmas" and Nat King Cole's "The Christmas Song." They epitomize Christmas for me. Those two recordings will never be touched. That's why I've never redone them. — Mariah Carey

It's not the people in the South who create racial problems - it's the people who are governing. — Nat King Cole

'The Christmas Song,' by Nat King Cole, is not only a masterful performance; to me it just sounds like the holidays. I've never sung it, because Nat's version is so perfect. I gotta leave it alone. — Harry Connick Jr.

You've got to change with the public's taste. — Nat King Cole

Of the great singing stars of the 1940s and '50s, only one - Nat King Cole - died young, at age 45. — Robert Gottlieb

I ordered a coffee and a little something to eat and savored the warmth and dryness. Somewhere in the background Nat King Cole sang a perky tune. I watched the rain beat down on the road outside and told myself that one day this would be twenty years ago. — Bill Bryson

The whites come to applaud a Negro performer just like the colored do. When you've got the respect of white and colored, you can ease a lot of things. — Nat King Cole

I'm proud of our court. It knocks back a lot of the propaganda the Communists put out about the way America treats her Negroes. — Nat King Cole

I was a 12 year old kid in Northern Idaho listening to Billie Holiday and Lena Horne and Sarah Vaughan and Nat King Cole. This whole genre of music is a part of who I am. — Cheyenne Jackson

I may be helping to bring harmony between people through my music. — Nat King Cole

Primarily I'm a meat man, although once in a while I toy with a few vegetables. — Nat King Cole

I ... started out to become a jazz pianist; in the meantime I started singing and I sang the way I felt and that's just the way it came out. — Nat King Cole

Unforgettable in every way, and forever more, that's how you'll stay. — Nat King Cole

Only time, education and plenty of good schooling will make anti-segregation work. — Nat King Cole

I'm an interpreter of stories. When I perform it's like sitting down at my piano and telling fairy stories. — Nat King Cole

I am an American citizen and feel I am entitled to the same rights as any other citizen. — Nat King Cole

One day, I went to buy something for my dad at the shops, and I heard a song by Nat King Cole called 'Stardust Melody.' It was like I went into a trance or something. I forgot all about my dad sending me to the shop. When I got home, I explained to him what happened. I thought I was going to get a whipping, but he understood. — Desmond Dekker

Johnny Mercer started Capitol Records, and he brought in Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Nat King Cole. He just let them sing whatever they wanted, and it became the best record company in America. — Tony Bennett

I can't bear to see myself even in movies. The feeling is complex. I can't stand the sight of myself. — Nat King Cole

I considered Nat King Cole to be a friend and, in many ways, a mentor. He always had words of profound advice. — Diahann Carroll

Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark. — Nat King Cole

If I could read it, I could play it. — Nat King Cole

Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Paul Whiteman, Tommy Dorsey and his Orchestra, Lionel Hampton, the Mills Brothers, Woody Herman, and Nat King Cole. "Mona Lisa, men have named you, — George Hodgman