Ray Charles: There's some things you're not understandin'... Della Bea Robinson: Well, make me understand, Ray! Ray Charles: Baby, when I walk out that door I walk out alone in the dark. I'm trying to do something ain't nobody ever done in music and ...
Eula: Aretha! Aretha Robinson, what do you think you're doing? Aretha Robinson: Eula Bench, you promised me to split these washbaskets fair and square! Eula: And I did. Aretha Robinson: Hell, you did! You charged them white folks one thing and paid m...
Gossie McKee: Man, we're gonna be late. Ray Charles: I gotta get my own place, Gossie. Gossie McKee: Why? I mean you got free rent right now. Ray Charles: Like hell it's free rent...
Ahmet Ertegun: If you think pennies, Mr. Charles, you get pennies. If you think dollars, you get dollars.
Ray Charles: Ms. Antoine, it's been two weeks. Della Bea Robinson: It's been three. [they kiss and she pushes him inside] Ray Charles: Well, where's the preacher at and the wife? Della Bea Robinson: They're in Dallas till Monday. Ray Charles: Well, h...
Milt Shaw: Ray Charles. We believe in your talent. We want to be in the Ray Charles business. We've already got you booked on a ten city tour with Roy Milton's Solid Senders and Tangula, the exotic shake dancer. Ahmet Ertegun: She is gorgeous.
Ray Charles: From now on we're gonna sing a four part harmony. Ethel, I want you to sing alto. Margie, I want you to sing tenor. Pat, soprano, and Mary Ann, bass. Mary Ann Fisher: I ain't no bass. I'm a soprano. Margie Hendricks: I'll sing bass. Wher...
Milt Shaw: He's off the Chitlin Circuit. Down Beat just voted him best male jazz vocalist by a two to one margin. [short pause] Milt Shaw: Well, if you want to keep him in Philadelphia, you're gonna find him a bigger venue.
[to Ahmet] Ray Charles: Don't worry about it, man. If this monkey gets too heavy on my back, I will get an organ grinder and put him to work.
Milt Shaw: Forget second billing. Ray Charles headlines at a thousand per or no deal. [pause] Milt Shaw: Terrific.
Ray Charles: Marge is drunk, Jeff. Go home and sleep it off. Jeff Brown: Let me take you home. Margie Hendricks: No. I'll leave when I'm good and goddamn ready to. Ray Charles: She's good and goddamn ready right now.
Ray Charles: Art Tatum is the most!
[Ray is recording "Georgia on my Mind"] Margie Hendricks: Listen to that crap. I thought you said ABC wasn't gonna force nothing on him. Jeff Brown: They didn't. It was Ray's idea. Something new. Margie Hendricks: What are we then, Jeff? Something ol...
Milt Shaw: He's filed a lawsuit, Ray, and it's more than a fine. This guy's got juice, he can get you barred from ever playing Georgia again. But he's willing to drop the suit if you make up the gig. Ray Charles: Not if it's segregated. Milt Shaw: Ra...
Fathead Newman: Ray, this fool, Joe Adams, is trying to fine me for being late. Ray Charles: What time did you get here? Fathead Newman: What? Just now. The band's still setting up. Jeff never... Joe Adams: I'm not Jeff. Fathead Newman: That's a fact...
[after Ray accuses Jeff of stealing] Ray Charles: How could you do that? We've been through so much. We were like brothers. Jeff Brown: Ray... if we were like brothers, why are you paying Joe more than you're paying me? Ray Charles: Damn all that. Yo...
Della Bea Robinson: [talking about Ray's drug problem] You have got to stop this now because there is something you love more then me... Ray Charles: No, don't say that, Bea... Della Bea Robinson: ...there is something you love more then me, the chil...
[last lines] Della Bea Robinson: If only your mama was here. Ray Charles: She's here. She ain't never left.
