Pianists From The United States

"I’m nothing but a conduit. The music goes though my ears, my fingers... Composer is a god. Composer creates music. We’re performers. We’re just passing it on."

"If the question [about if there were only one composer in the world I could play] is purely ‘original’ works, no transcriptions, then Beethoven."

"Memorising notes as one memorises a speech in foreign language is bound to lead to memory lapses. YouTube is an invaluable tool; you can get to study your repertory with the best pianists of all times. Use it. If you are learning a piece, don’t hesitate to put your headphones on and just play along with your favourite recording. No matter how many times you hear the playing you will not grasp all the finer points if not directly measuring your inner hearing of music with the an interpretation you like."

"Would-be musicians are starving themselves emotionally and intellectually just to be perfect."

"It’s only when you stop trying to find faults and start doing something constructive that you will survive … It’s just good for you as a human not to dwell on your disasters."

"Of all the things I've believed in? I just want to get it over with. Tears form behind my eyes, but I do not cry. Counting the days that pass me by. I've been searching deep down in my soul. Words that I'm hearing? Are starting to get old. It feels like I'm starting, all over again. The last three years were just pretend. And I said, goodbye to you; goodbye to everything that I knew. You were the one I loved; the one thing I that I tried to hold on to."

"Now, don't just walk away. Pretending everything's okay, and you don't care about me. And I know there's just no use, when all your lies become your truths and I don't care. Could you look me in the eye? And tell me that you're happy now? Would you tell it to my face? Or have I been erased? Are you happy now? Are you happy now?"

"Love me or leave me, baby. Don't lead me on, with loving like yours? Believe me, I'm better off. I"m better off alone."

"There was something, about the way you looked at me. Made me think for a moment, that maybe we were meant to be. Living our lives separately, and it's strange that things change. But not me, wanting you so desperately. Oh, why can't I ignore it? I keep giving in, but I should know better. Because there was something about the way you looked at me, and it's strange that things change. But not me, wanting you so desperately."

"The game of love is whatever you make it to be."

"I've been driving for an hour; just talking to the rain. You say I've been driving you crazy, and it's keeping you away. So, just give me one good reason. Tell me why, I should stay. Because I don't want to waste another moment, saying things we never meant to say. And I? Take it, just a little bit. I? Hold my breath and count to ten, I? I've been waiting for a chance, to let you in. If I just, breathe? Let it fill the space between? I'll know, everything is alright. Breathe, every little piece of me. You'll see, everything is alright. If I just, breathe."

"I never wanted to be put on a pedestal. I just wanted to make music. And believe me, many times I have thought I was going to quit. It's too much energy to pretend it's fun. You can call me a baby if you'd like, but life is too short to spend it being miserable."

"Turn it inside out, so I can see. The part of you, that's drifting over me. Because when I wake you're, you're never there. But, when I sleep? You're? You're everywhere, you're everywhere. Just tell me how I got this far? Just tell me why you're here, and who you are. Because every time I look, you're never there. And every time I sleep, you're always there. Because you're everywhere to me, and when I close my eyes? It's you I see, you're everything I know. That makes me believe, I'm not alone. I'm not alone."

"I wanted, to be like you. I wanted, everything. So, I tried. To be like you, and I got swept away. I didn't know that it was so cold and, you needed someone to show you the way. So I took your hand and we figured out, that when the time comes? I'd take you away. If you want to? I can save you; I can take you away from here. So lonely inside; so busy out there. And all you wanted, was somebody who cares."

"Monday comes like a loaded gun and I'm trying to escape. Want to run. Want to chase the sun; let it wash the world away. Looking out on an empty street, thinking change is what I need. I feel slow. There's an open road and I need some sweet release. I want to get away, got to get away. Going where the road meets the sky, because I need a change. Yeah, I need a change."

"The reason why I'm successful is because Dan and I have been given the opportunity to fail so that we could sort things out on our own. But she has some dumbass with a Communications degree from Purdue or whatever telling her what to do. If Michelle was a guy, all this shit would not have happened to her."

"Everybody was telling me where to be and what to do; all I wanted was create this nest of security, have a normal life. At least I think that's what a therapist would have told me."

"Must have counted twenty thousand cold county lines; nothing here will get my weary soul to ignite. Hold me, hold me. Put me back together, baby. Show me that you love me; feels so good together. Every single fire, started with a spark. We could feel it burn, when we're dancing in the dark. Take me in your arms, before I fall apart. Baby, we're a fire that started with a spark."

"It had to go all the way out to the west coast and come all the way back to the east coast every time it needed to be fixed."

"And if it made it one trip, it wouldn’t make the other. Then somebody stole half of it. I found out about that 20 years later, when someone sent me a photograph and said, ‘Does this look familiar to you?’ I nearly fainted."

"When it broke down, I would break down. I had to wean myself from it just to survive. I had to have interventions. People would say, ‘You’ve got to do something else.’ So that was part of it—being too dependent on this thing I couldn’t count on."

"Now my ears are awakening again, just because I’m part of the zeitgeist of contemporary whatever. Even though I’m in this remote place, I get it."

"The frustration was with the philosophy of the instrument."

"There's no way to make the pain play fair It doesn't disappear just because you say it isn't there"

"It can't be a mistake If I just call it change"

"You are all just perfect little satellites Spinning round and round this broken Earthy life"

"I've got my little black dress on And if I tell myself that nothing's wrong This doesn't have to be a sad song Not with my little black dress on."

"I would die to make you mine Bleed me dry almost every time But I don't mind, no I don't mind it I would come back 1000 times"

"You can have Manhattan I know it's for the best Gather up the avenues and leave them on your doorstep"

"Tell the world that we finally got it all right I choose you I will become yours and you will become mine I choose you."

"You said Remember that life is Not meant to be wasted We can always be chasing the sun So fill up your lungs and just—run! We can always be chasing the sun"

"So how do you do it? With just words and just music Capture the feeling That my earth is somebody's ceiling Can I deliver in sound The weight of the ground of a cemetery in the center of Queens"

"A tongue like yours should be burned and branded So I can see you lie to me I wish the air would color red when you breathed it Oh, so I could've seen it coming Look in my eyes when you say you love me So I can see you lie to me"

"Here I am And I stand So tall Just the way I'm supposed to be But you're on to me And all over me"

"The time that I've taken I pray is not wasted Have I already tasted My piece of one sweet love"

"Mean songs are still better than going postal"

"I say what I think Because it's more economic than drugs or a drink"

"Set me free Leave me be I dont wanna fall another moment into your gravity"

"I don't care For your fairytales You're so worried about the maiden Oh, you know she's only waiting on the next best thing"

"Ooh, how'm I gonna get over you? I'll be alright Just not tonight But someday"

"I'm going down Follow if you want I won't just hang around Like you'll show me where to go I'm already out Of foolproof ideas So don't ask me how To get started It's all uncharted"

"I wonder what would happen if you Say what you want to say And let the words fall out Honestly, I want to see you be brave"

"I'll be alright Once I find the other side Of someday"

"Who cares if you disagree? You are not me Who made you king of anything? So you dare Tell me who to be Who died and made you king of anything?"

"I wanna darken in the skies Open the floodgates up I wanna change my mind I wanna be enough I want the water in my eyes I wanna cry until the end of time I wanna let the rain come down Make a brand new ground"

"Maybe nobody loved you when you were young Maybe, boy, when you cry nobody ever comes Will you try it once? Give up the machine gun"

"They may be lies But say that we'll be alright If we stay tonight"

"The bestselling poet of 1968 was Rod McKuen, who penned rhythmic little bon mots that he read in a raspy voice suggestive either of emotion or bronchitis. A Hollywood songwriter, clean-shaven with V-neck sweaters, McKuen was a long way from the beats. But by early 1968 he had already sold 250,000 volumes of his unabashedly sentimental verse. His two books, Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows and Listen to the Warm, were selling more than any book on The New York Times fiction bestseller list, although they were not listed, because poetry was not included on bestseller lists. With characteristic self-effacing candor, he said in a 1968 interview, “I’m not a poet; I’m a stringer of words.” When he came down with hepatitis, fans by the hundreds sent him stuffed animals. To many, he and his fans seemed unbearable."

"He asked her, "please stop quoting Rod McKuen in your postcards""

"Adieu, Francoise, my trusted wife; Without you I'd have had a lonely life. You cheated lots of times but then, I forgave you in the end Though your lover was my friend.Adieu, Francoise, it's hard to die When all the birds are singing in the sky. Now that spring is in the air With your lovers ev'rywhere, Just be careful; I'll be there."