Keyboardists

"You're beautiful. You're beautiful. You're beautiful, it's true. I saw your face in a crowded place, And I don't know what to do. 'Cause I'll never be with you."

"My life is brilliant, My love is pure. I saw an angel, Of that I'm sure. She smiled at me on the subway; She was with another man. But I won't lose no sleep on that 'Cause I've got a plan."

"Beautiful dawn (beautiful dawn) You're just blowing my mind again Thought I was born to endless night, until you shine.High. Running wild among all the stars above Sometimes it's hard to believe you remember me."

"JB: We had 200 Russians lined up pointing their weapons at us aggressively, which was... and you know we'd been told to reach the airfield and take a hold of it. And if we had a foothold there then it would make life much easier for the NATO forces in Pristina. So there was a political reason to take hold of this. And the practical consequences of that political reason would be then aggression against the Russians. Interviewer: Might have been World War III. JB: Absolutely. And that's why we were querying our instruction from an American general. Fortunately, up on the radio came Gen Mike Jackson, whose exact words at the time were, 'I'm not going to have my soldiers be responsible for starting World War III, and told us why don't we sugar off down the road, you know, encircle the airfield instead."

"Maybe I should try singing like a man."

"She's more even -[daughter China] - I think it jumps generations. You get a screwball in one, and then the next one is straight, then you get a screwball. My grandmother was goofy, my mother was straight."

"A startling presence, both vocally and visually... Off the cuff, like the whole '60's were off the cuff. An Oscar Wilde in drag who combined insight and sarcasm that was sometimes light, sometimes dark. A provocateur."

"If you remember the Sixties, you weren't there."

"Janis knew more than I did about "how it was", but she lacked enough armor for the inevitable hassles. She was open and spontaneous enough to get her heart trampled with a regularity that took me thirty years to experience or understand. On the various occasions when we were together, she seemed to be holding in something she thought I might not want to hear, like older people do when they hear kids they love saying with absolute youthful confidence, "Oh, that'll never happen to me." Sometimes you know you can't tell them how it is, they have to find out for themselves. Janis felt like an old soul, a wisecracking grandmother whom everybody loved to visit. When I was with her, I often felt like a part of her distant family, a young upstart relative who was still too full of her own sophistry to hear wisdom. Did we compliment each other? Yes, but not often enough."

"It was the first time many of the bands had met and saw each other perform, so we were all really marveling at each other. It was just one good group of people after another. And different kinds of music — from Jimi Hendrix to Ravi Shankar, The Mamas and the Papas to The Who. They had a backstage area where there was food being served 24 hours a day, so everybody was wandering around meeting each other. It was just amazing."

"I was appalled that the San Francisco ethic didn't mushroom and envelope the whole world into this loving community of acid freaks. I was very naive."

"Loss either teaches you to persist in the face of suffering, or hardens you into a bitter cynic. Sometimes, it does a little of both."

"Man is the only animal that knows he's going to die, so we invent a heaven to keep from going crazy. Most people are hypnotized by organized religion from childhood."

"The wiser you get on the inside, the uglier you get on the outside. The world's great gurus have beautiful things to say but they generally look like shit."

"The first words I ever heard the alcohol rehab counselor say were 'Good morning, assholes!' With that, I liked him right away."

"Jim Morrison was a well-built boy, larger than average, and young enough to maintain the engorged silent connection right through the residue of chemicals."

"I've enjoyed the accommodations offered by police departments from Florida to Hawaii. Any time I saw a badge, something in me would snap."

"In Germany I ingested the entire contents of the hotel mini-bar before a show and stuck my fingers in this guy's nostrils because I thought they would fit."

"When logic and proportion Have fallen softly dead And the White Knight is talking backwards And the Red Queen's "off with her head!" Remember what the dormouse said: "Feed your head! Feed your head!""

"When the men on the chessboard Get up and tell you where to go And you've just had some kind of mushroom And your mind is moving low. Go ask Alice I think she'll know."

"And if you go chasing rabbits And you know you're going to fall, Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar Has given you the call. Call Alice When she was just small"

"One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small, And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything at all. Go ask Alice When she's ten feet tall."

"But we all do sort of the same thing and that is rearrange what you thought was real, and, uh, they remind you of the beauty of very simple things. You forget, because you're so busy going from A to Z, that there's, uh, 24 letters in between."

"For many years, Yusuf Islam has been pretending he didn’t say the things he said in 1989, when he enthusiastically supported the Iranian terrorist edict against me and others. However, his words are on the record, in print interviews and on television programs.… I’m afraid Cat Stevens got off the peace train a long time ago."

"I’m looking for a hard-headed woman, One who will make me do my best, And if I find my hard-headed woman, I know the rest of my life will be blessed"

"A flight from London carrying the artist we all used to know as Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was forced to make an emergency landing in Bangor, Maine after his name showed up on a terrorist no-fly list. I tell you, it's a real success story in the war on terror. You know, we finally got the guy that wrote "Peace Train.""

"Yes, Martha Stewart is going to jail and Cat Stevens is being deported. Man, I feel so much safer now."

"Then, in 1978, he turned his back on it all, embraced Islam and changed his name. For many of his long time fans, it was a baffling decision - why would a man who appeared to have it all throw it all away? Now, in a major interview for Radio 2, Yusuf Islam charts the long journey from pop stardom to religious enlightenment and reveals the reasons behind his decision."

"Morning has broken, Like the first morning, Blackbird has spoken Like the first bird. Praise for the singing! Praise for the morning! Praise for them springing Fresh from the Word!"

"Well, if you want to sing out, sing out, And if you want to be free, be free. 'Cause there's a million things to be, You know that there are."

"I never wanted to be a star, I never wanted to travel far I only wanted a little bit of love So I could put a little love in my heart"

"Don’t you remember the days Of the old schoolyard When we had imaginings and we had All kinds of things and we laughed And needed love … yes, I do Oh and I remember you"

"One is the ever kindling star King of the immortal spark In heaven’s eye"

"This stranger had the key To any door he wished — with his eyes, I say What kind of majiks, of majiks? What kind of man — Can make me turn and see the way I really am?"

"Novim's Nightmare"

"Dark and empty was the place to which I’d come Cold and silent was the house my name was on Nine rooms — and a tomb in every one"

"Come the morning I’ll be far from here Slowly rising in another sphere"

"I’ve, I’ve had it enough All those lonely rooms And blank faces Had it enough And I want you, I want you no more"

"And if my mind breaks up In all so many ways I know the meaning of The words, “I love you”"

"I love, I love, I’m ready to love — yes"

"They crossed the wood and hanged him A long time ago They still misunderstand him Those who don’t know And in the evening his love will lead the blind In every secret corner there in your mind"

"Sun is the reason And the world it will bloom ‘Cause sun lights the sky And the sun lights the moon"

"Oh very young, What will you leave us this time? There’ll never be a better chance to change your mind. And if you want this world to see better days, Will you carry the words of love with you? Will you ride the great white bird into heaven? And though you want them to last forever, You know they never will — you know they never will. And the goodbye makes the journey harder still."

"I said, ‘Put back your heart, and sing, sing While you know you’re still living.’ Sing, sing, sing, while you know there’s still – New Music, new Music, new Music Sweet Music can lighten us Can brighten the world – can save us"

"Yesterday I was on the edge Hoping everything was going to work itself out A good honest man doing the work of God Trying to make things better for Him A lover of life in a school for fools Trying to find another way to survive"

"Where’s it leading to, freedom at what cost? People needing more and more and it’s all getting lost"

"All those days are frozen now and all those scars are gone Ah, but the song carries on … so holy"

"Underneath her kiss I was so unguarded Every bottle’s empty now and all those dreams are gone Ah, but the song carries on … so holy"

"Give me time forever here in my time"

"O caritas, O caritas nobis semper sit amor mos perituri mortem salutamus — ah, ah sola resurgit vita"