All Quotes

"Friends have told her "Not so proud" Neighbors trying to sleep are yelling "Not so loud" Lovers in anger, "Block of ice" Harder and harder just to be nice."

"It's coming on Christmas, They're cutting down trees. They're putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace. I wish I had a river I could skate away on"

"Joni, you have more class than Richard Nixon, Mick Jagger, and Gomer Pyle combined!"

"She is of course well past the stage of having to prove herself artistically. She is in possession of one of the most extraordinary song catalogs of the past half-century. Her chords break harmonic rules, have no technical names and defy Western musical theory. Her voice is an instrument that has grown sublimely heavier and huskier over the decades. . . .Once you get past the security gates, Ms. Mitchell's house feels like a pocket of middle-class comfort in the midst of zillionaire Beverly Hills. In some ways life is still as it was in 1974, when she bought the house: She has no computer, no voice mail, no cellphone and no e-mail. At one point, when we tried to remember one of her lyrics, we scrolled through my iPod. She said it was the first time she had listened to one."

"Joni Mitchell said in an interview, Everything I am,/I'm not."

"That's the music that I play at home all the time, Joni Mitchell. Court and Spark I love because I'd always hoped that she'd work with a band. But the main thing with Joni is that she's able to look at something that's happened to her, draw back and crystallize the whole situation, then write about it. She brings tears to my eyes, what more can I say? It's bloody eerie. I can relate so much to what she says. "Now old friends are acting strange/They shake their heads/They say I've changed"."

"If you're looking to wade into Joni [Mitchell's] musical waters, open D is an essential first step. Often, you see the same Joni songs transcribed in open E, as it's the same tuning one step down, and just requires different capo placement."

"Joni, what fucking chords were you playing on Court and Spark? I could never figure them out."

"My week beats your year."

"Fuck Radio Ethiopia man, I'm Radio Brooklyn!"

"LR: "Are you political, Lou? Audience: "Yeah, are you?" LR:"Political about what? You give me an issue, I'll give you a tissue and you can wipe my ass with it.""

"Nothing beats 2 guitars, drum and bass."

"Anyone that gets to side four is dumber than I am."

"This is the impossible level, boys. Impossible doesn't mean very difficult, very difficult is winning the Nobel Prize, impossible is eating the sun."

"He's probably the single most untalented person I've heard in my life. He's a two-bit pretentious academic, and he can't play rock'n'roll, because he's a loser. And that's why he dresses up funny. He's not happy with himself, and I think he's right."

"Of course. All the best people are."

"It always bothers me to see people writing 'RIP' when a person dies. It just feels so insincere and like a cop-out. To me, 'RIP' is the microwave dinner of posthumous honors."

"The news I feared the most, pales in comparison to the lump in my throat and the hollow in my stomach. Two kids have a chance meeting and 47 years later we fight and love the same way – losing either one is incomprehensible. No replacement value, no digital or virtual fill . . . broken now, for all time. Unlike so many with similar stories – we have the best of our fury laid out on vinyl, for the world to catch a glimpse. The laughs we shared just a few weeks ago, will forever remind me of all that was good between us. — John Cale about Reed's death"

"And Romeo had Juliette And Juliette had her Romeo I'll take Manhattan in a garbage bag With Latin written on it that says "it's hard to give a shit these days" Manhattan's sinking like a rock Into the filthy Hudson what a shock They wrote a book about it They said it was like ancient Rome"

"This room cost 2,000 dollars a month You can believe it man it's true Somewhere a landlord's laughing till he wets his pants No one here dreams of being a doctor or a lawyer or anything They dream of dealing on the dirty boulevard Give me your hungry, your tired your poor I'll piss on 'em That's what the Statue of Bigotry says Your poor huddled masses, let's club 'em to death And get it over with and just dump 'em on the boulevard"

"You can't depend on a beginning You can't depend on an end You can't depend on intelligence... You can only depend on one thing You need a busload of faith to get by... You can't depend on any churches Unless there's real estate you want to buy You can't depend on a lot of things You need a busload of faith to get by... You can depend on cruelty Crudity of thought and sound... You need a busload of faith to get by, ha"

"And I feel just like Jesus' son"

"Life's like a mayonnaise soda And life's like space without room And life's like bacon and ice cream That's what life's like without you"

"Candy came from out on the Island In the backroom she was everybody's darlin' But she never lost her head Even when she was giving head She says, Hey babe Take a walk on the wild side"

"Candy says I've come to hate my body And all that it requires In this world . . . What do you think I'd see If I could walk away from me"

"I'll be your mirror Reflect what you are In case you don't know"

"When she turned blue, all the angels screamed."

"The Rally Man's patter ran on through the dawn Until we said so long to his skull Shrill yell."

""Just watch," said Sheila, touching her finger to her head."

"You made me forget myself; I thought I was someone else, someone good."

"I watched it for a little while, I like to watch things on TV"

"An eye for an eye is elemental."

"There are problems in these times, but none of them are mine I'm beginning to see the light"

"First thing you learn is that you've always got to wait"

"Jesse you say Common Ground Does that include the ?"

"And Pontiff, pretty Pontiff Can anyone shake your hand? Or is it just that you like uniforms and someone kissing your hand"

"Some people, they like to go out dancin' And other people, they have to work ... And there's even some evil mothers Who'll tell you everything is just dirt You know that women never really faint That villains always blink their eyes, ooh That children are the only ones who blush And that life is just to die But anyone who ever had a heart They wouldn't turn around and break it And anyone who ever played a part Oh, they wouldn't turn around and hate it ... They say Jane, Sweet Jane, oh woah, Sweet Jane, Sweet Jane Heavenly wine and roses seem to whisper to her, hey, when she smiles"

"Lou Reed - Sweet Jane (youtube)"

"The Velvet Underground - Sweet Jane (youtube)"

"The space of time in which a great work can now be accomplished is not marvelous. Brain, muscle, materials, and the means of rapid transport are instantly at command. If one has capital and a well-considered plan, the thing does itself. But that which is wonderful and which I can scarcely believe, although I have been in the midst of it, is the noble, artistic result which has come from the work of American artists who have had only a few months' time to prepare those very designs for the great buildings of the Exposition which have actually been executed with little change from the sketches which were presented in February, 1891."

"My subject is a city of the future under a Democratic government. Some very great men, and among them Herbert Spencer and Lord Macaulay, have predicted the downfall of the American democracy. Nevertheless, having firm confidence in our new mixture of bloods, our new environment, our searching publicity and our growing intelligence, I cannot doubt that the American democracy will persist. It takes far greater ability to subvert liberty now than ever before since man’s history began, and so I promise permanence to democratic institutions. To these is vitally related the future of the cities. Plenary democracies can do what we want them to do. They have full power over men, land and goods, and can always make their laws and execute their purposes. Democratic peoples, when they perceive the value of plans to bring convenience and beauty into the hearts of cities can get such plans carried out."

"Sir William is one of the three or four first men in Canada. He is a fair sample of the kind of people who are beginning to think and work for the realization of the new architectural and spiritual era in the great cities of the North American continent. In such men surely this splendid cause has a splendid augury. The most difficult task of all before is that of raising public interest up to the level of definite action. Even this, in my judgement, is not at all impossible. Chicago is moving practically and with determination in the matter and hopes to educate the people to demand delightfulness as a part of life and to devise ways of getting it. Pessimists abound and have always abounded. To them most of the big and splended things are chimerical. Well, in 1850, there was little street paving in the United States, and not much in London or Paris. There were no great sewerage systems, water systems, gas, electric power and light, street cars, sidewalks or other systems, but all these we have now. We do things that would make our forbears think us magicians."

"Our city of the future will be without smoke, dust or gases from manufacturing plants, and the air will therefore be pure. The streets will be as clean as our drawing rooms today. Smoke will be thoroughly consumed, and gases liberated in manufacture will be tanked and burned. Railways will be operated electrically, all building operations will be effectually shut in to prevent the escape of dust, and horses will disappear from the streets. Out of all these things will come not only commercial economy but bodily health and spiritual joy. As the water is generally pure, all that is needed is more economy in its use. Congestion is intolerable in all the great cities in the world and relief is imperative. It will be found in diverting people in other directions and in changing construction so as to carry more traffic . We may expect, in any event, double tunnels under all the business streets and the utmost use of the present street levels by extensive double-decking and many more overhead transportation lines. Some time the rush in the cities may cease, but I see no signs now of its ceasing, and meanwhile crowding must be dealt with. We need systems of passes around the congested districts. We need still more and mainly to diminish the number of people and vehicles using given areas."

"Broadly speaking, the city of the future will not bring to its center any goods not intended for use or consumption therein. At Chicago 66% of the tonnage in and out is not for home use, but for distribution to other places. In view of this fact we designed a general freight scheems for the entire city’s use, with car yards, freight depots and warehouses combined, eight miles from the city, where all trains shall unload and reload. […] I believe that such a course would be economical both for the public service companies and the city government; certainly it would prolong the life of the street paving and eliminate congestion and a constant source of dirty and disorder. Can it be doubted that the city of the future will operate its cental street system, possibly all its streets, in this manner?"

"Do this because of the effect of nature upon citizenship. Other things being equal, a person accustomed to living in nature has a distinct advantage all his life over the purely townbred man. Allure your city denizen to sylvan nature, for it is there he finds the balm his spirt needs. Where a town lies near water, keep all the shore for the people. Neighborhood parks are magnificent both from the standpoint of hygiene and the standpoint of moral purity. Those who grow up before the eyes of the community escape those poisonous practices that lurk in secret places."

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty."

"I told my brother we were going to deliver Florida; we're going to keep that promise, aren't we?"

"Great, I'm stuck in colonial times, tentacles are taking over the world, and now the toilet's backing up."

"Whoah, You're, like, George Washington!!"

"Mr. President? May I offer you an excellent smoke?"