Yip Harburg Quotes & Sayings

Songs are the pulse of a nation's heart. A fever chart of its health. — Yip Harburg

When the melody touches your heart emotionally and the words hit your brain intellectually, more than likely you'll find you'll have an excellent song to sing. — Yip Harburg

We gotta be free - The eagle and me. see Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Emancipation of Women — Yip Harburg

My heart wants roots
My mind wants wings.
I cannot bear
Their bickerings. — Yip Harburg

Once I built a railroad, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime? — Yip Harburg

WHERE and WHEN :;Are lost in space. THERE and THEN :;Do not embrace. So before we disappear Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE. — Yip Harburg

This we learn from Watergate that almost any creep'll be glad to help the Government overthrow the people. — Yip Harburg

The greatest romance in the life of a lyricist is when the right word meets the right note; often, however, a Park Avenue phrase elopes with a Bleecker Street chord, resulting in a shotgun wedding and a quickie divorce. — Yip Harburg

No matter how much I prove and prod, I cannot quite believe in God; But oh, I hope to God that He Unswervingly believes in me. — Yip Harburg

A Russian child asked his mother : "does God know we don't believe in Him?" — Yip Harburg

If happy little bluebirds fly beyond the rainbow, why oh why can't I? — Yip Harburg

It's a Barnum and Bailey world,
Just as phony as it can be. — Yip Harburg

For what we are about to receive, Oh Lord 'tis Thee we thank,' said the cannibal as he cut a slice off the missionary's shank. — Yip Harburg

I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about. — Yip Harburg

Music gives 'wings' to words. — Yip Harburg

The world would be a safer place, If someone had a plan, Before exploring outer space, To find the inner man. — Yip Harburg

No matter how high or great the throne, What sits on it is the same as your own. — Yip Harburg

My whole family has been having trouble with immigrants ever since we came to this country. — Yip Harburg

Did God who gave us flowers and trees, Also provide the allergies? — Yip Harburg

All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today. — Yip Harburg

How are things in Glocca Mora this fine day? — Yip Harburg

Oh, innocent victims of Cupid, remember this terse little verse: To let a fool kiss you is stupid. To let a kiss fool you is worse. — Yip Harburg

Ira [Gershwin] was the shyest, most diffident boy we had ever known. In a class of Lower East Side rapscallions, his soft-spoken gentleness and low-keyed personality made him a lovable incongruity. He spoke in murmurs, hiding behind a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles. Ira had a kid brother who wore stiff high collars, shirts with cuffs and went out with girls. — Yip Harburg

Words make you think a thought.
Music makes you feel a feeling.
A song makes you feel a thought. — Yip Harburg

As the writer of the lyric of the song 'God's Country', I am outraged by the suggestion that somehow I am connected with, believe in, or am sympathetic with Communist or totalitarian philosophy. — Yip Harburg

I am a rebel by birth ... I contest anything that is unjust, that causes suffering in humanity . My feelings about that are so strong, I don't think I could live with myself if I weren't honest . — Yip Harburg

They who meet on an April night are forever lost in love, if there's moonlight all about and there's no moon above. — Yip Harburg

Lives of great men all remind us greatness takes no easy way. — Yip Harburg