Quotes from Jose Feliciano

The accordion was the first instrument I played, when I was 7 years old.

Everyone is my equal, and that is transferred to my music.

I contend that if it wasn't for Jimi, the gadgets we use for electric guitars now wouldn't have happened. He was an inventor, in a sense - as well as being great artist.

I don't think Hank Greenberg thought of himself as the first Jewish baseball player - he was a baseball player who happened to be Jewish. I'm an artist who happens to be Latin.

I went through the immigration thing. But when I got to New York it wasn't so tough for me. I went to school. I went to P.S. 57, then I went to the Lighthouse for the Blind on 59th St. I guess being blind is a great leveler.

People are really surprised by the fact that I keep in touch with the latest trends rather than retreating to the distant past.

I have very heightened senses - not just my hearing but my sense of smell.

I think sighted people let their eyes cheat them out of certain things. People who can see don't have a great sense of smell because they don't use it.

Playing guitar was a calling, but I never realized that it was going to be a career. It was just something I did out of love.

I don't think kneeling during the anthem is such a bad thing.

If I were to travel with all my instruments, I would need a truck.

One thing about computers and iPhones is they're making people mentally lazy.

New York is really where my career somewhat started.

I sang the National Anthem with soul.

I got tired of seeing people rush through the national anthem so they could have their popcorn and get to the game. Nobody ever sang the anthem with soul. It was always done clinically and they always stuck to the original. I put feeling into it. I sang it in a soulful manner.

Feliz Navidad' has interfaced the English and Spanish cultures to come together and after all, we're living in a multi-cultural world.

It taught the English to speak Spanish and it taught the Spanish to speak English. If we had more songs such as that, it would solve the immigration problem in a hurry. But there can't be another 'Feliz Navidad.'

I was very, very fortunate that 'Chico and the Man' was on TV, that helped me quite a bit. Of course, having the No. 1 Christmas song in the Spanish market, 'Feliz Navidad,' doesn't hurt either.

I don't know if it's a legacy, but I love it. In my mind and other people's minds, they know I was the first to stylize the national anthem.

When I first heard Bob Dylan, I'll be honest, I didn't like him. But I was shallow of mind and didn't understand the poetry. I just judged him on his singing and his guitar playing.

It is always good to make new friends.

From 1969 to 1973, I was never played on radio stations.

I felt bad about the controversy because they stopped playing my songs on American radio stations. But there was nothing wrong with what I did. Now everybody sings the national anthem the way they want.

Pioneers will always get the stones, when everyone later gets the accolades.