Mavis Staples Quotes

There's still injustice happening in my world. I sing my songs at concerts and I'm so grateful that the people are ready to hear them.

The devil ain't got no music. All music is God's music.

I can't just turn over and sing disco or rock.

One day, when I was about eight years old, some kids pushed me on stage at school during a talent show because they knew I could sing.

The best music of my life I heard at my grandmother's church, this little wooden church up on a hill.

If I wasn't my age, I would turn a flip. I would do some cartwheels. That's how I feel.

I don't know which way I'm going. My next CD might be country, might be Dylan, might be Mick Jagger. I don't know. I love a challenge.

Pops, he was a singer's singer. I loved to hear my father sing. He just was so laid-back and cool. I always wished I could sing like Pops.

There is a great feeling in a small venue, with the closeness of the people and the intimacy.

We enjoyed the fact that we were called to the folk festivals and we got to know Joan Baez, Dylan. We were singing strictly gospel, but then after we started hearing songs that they would sing, we saw that those songs were very fitting for us because they were singing the truth, and truth is gospel.

We've had a great change. Dr King saw to that. I was so grateful to see the 'colored only' signs come off the water fountains and bathrooms in the south. But the struggle lives on.

I'm old enough to be Obama's grandmom. But I still like seeing good-looking things. Nothing wrong with that.

When I come out of my dressing room, I go to my heart and say a little prayer and go out on stage. There I am, coming to lift you up and to motivate you. I want to bring joy. It's gospel, and gospel is the truth. It's what I do. I'm going to bring you the truth and lift up your spirit.

I sang with my father for over 50 years, and now all of a sudden he's gone, and I just dropped out.

My high-school a cappella teacher would embarrass me in front of the choir. 'Mavis, you're in the basement. Mavis, you're singing with the boys.' I said, 'Mr. Finch, my voice isn't soprano. I can't sing up there with the girls.' So I just got out of the choir.

I was not fortunate enough to run into Obama. We were at the same church per se, but I would never be there when he was there.

I won't wear rings and jewelry on the stage because I don't want you looking at my hands. I want you hearing what I'm saying.

I have to pinch myself sometimes. It's unbelievable, but it's not. Because I know that this would not be happening if it hadn't been for Dr. Martin Luther King.

My purpose: to lift your spirit and to motivate you.

The kids today have these fresh faces. It's like they're on pins and needles, waiting to see what I'm going to do. They've never seen me. In the 1960s, those were hippies. They were wired up already. The kids today know me because I've worked with Jeff Tweedy and other young producers.

Pops always taught us that family is the strongest unit in the world. If you stick with your family, nobody can break you, nobody can harm you. You'll always have your family.

If you don't get out among the people, how are you going to know what they need to hear about?

I would get in fights a lot. My voice was so heavy, kids would say you sound like a boy, so I would start beating them up.

I feel so good singing songs that I sang with my father.

I just had a wonderful life, and I couldn't ask for anything else.

My uncle was 16, in junior high, and he heard me singing and snatched me off the stage. I thought he was happy and was going to pat me on the head and say I was good. But he took me home and told my grandmother this youngin' was at school singing the blues.

It's been an amazing life. It's really just been the most magical thing for me - and I have these musical friends from all walks of life.

I started writing letters home to my mother, saying that I wanted to come home, grandma won't let me sing.