Pianists From The United States

"Somewhere there's a happy harbor far from the storm. Out where the sun shines there is someone I'm meant to adore, and I know the day I find her, I'll smile once more."

"The trouble with you and me, Ned, is that we want everyone in the world to personally love us, and of course that's impossible; you just don't meet everyone in the world."

"To Bach, notes were not just sounds but the very stuff of creation."

"Callas? She was pure electricity."

"Any great work of art … revives and readapts time and space, and the measure of its success is the extent to which it makes you an inhabitant of that world — the extent to which it invites you in and lets you breathe its strange, special air."

"Einstein said that "the most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious." So why do so many of us try to explain the beauty of music, thus depriving it of its mystery?"

"The Rhapsody is not a composition at all. It's a string of separate paragraphs stuck together — with a thin paste of flour and water… I don’t think there has been such an inspired melodist on this earth since Tchaikovsky… but if you want to speak of a composer, that's another matter."

"The 20th century has been a badly written drama, from the beginning. The opposite of a Greek drama. Act one: Greed and hypocrisy leading to a genocidal world war, a boom, a crash, totalitarianism. Act two: Greed and hypocrisy leading to a genocidal world war, a boom, a crash, totalitarianism. Act three: Greed and hypocrisy … I don't dare continue."

"Perhaps the chief requirement of [the conductor] is that he be humble before the composer; that he never interpose himself between the music and the audience; that all his efforts, however strenuous or glamorous, be made in the service of the composer's meaning - the music itself, which, after all, is the whole reason for the conductor's existence.""

"Bernstein has been disclosing musical secrets that have been well known for over 400 years."

"Today, he uses music as an accompaniment to his conducting."

"A liberal is a man or a woman or a child who looks forward to a better day, a more tranquil night, and a bright, infinite future."

"It was hard not to pay attention to Lenny, who made sure that was always the case by always being fascinating."

"How could she tell, he deceived her so well; Pity, she'll be the last one to know. Silence is golden, but my eyes still see; Silence is golden, golden, But my eyes still see."

"Looking through some photographs I found inside a drawer, I was taken by a photograph of you. There were one or two I know That you would have liked a little more, But they didn't show your spirit quite as true. You were turning round to see who was behind you And I took your childish laughter by surprise, And at the moment that my camera happened to find you There was just a trace of sorrow in your eyes."

"What I was seeing wasn't what was happening at all."

"I told her I had always lived alone and I probably always would. And all I wanted was my freedom. And she told me that she understood. But I let her do some of my laundry, And she slipped a few meals in between. And the next thing I remember, she was all moved in. And I was buying her a washing machine."

"Make it on your own if you think you can. If you see somewhere to go, I understand."

"Everybody's just waiting to hear from the one Who can give them the answers And lead them back to that place in the warmth of the sun Where sweet childhood still dances Who'll come along And hold out that strong But gentle fathers hand?"

"Someone's gonna have to explain it to me, I'm not sure what it means. My baby's feelin' funny in the morning; She's having trouble getting into her jeans"

"I thought I knew where I was going, until I heard your laughter flowing And came upon the wisdom in your eyes"

"Honey you shake and I'll rattle and we'll roll on down the line And see if we can't get in touch with a very close friend of mine. But let me clue you in, it ain't like him To argue or pretend-- Honey let me introduce you to my redneck friend."

"You never knew what I loved in you, I don't know what you loved in me. Maybe the picture of somebody you were hoping I might be."

"Though Adam was a friend of mine, I did not know him well. He was alone into his distance, he was deep into his well. I could guess what he was laughing at, but I couldn't really tell. Now the stories told that Adam jumped, but I'm thinking that he fell."

"Doctor, my eyes have seen the years And the slow parade of fears without crying. Now I want to understand; I have done all that I could To see the evil and the good without hiding. You must help me if you can.Doctor, my eyes Tell me what is wrong. Was I unwise to leave them open for so long?"

"'Cause I have wandered through this world And as each moment has unfurled, I've been waiting to awaken from these dreams. People go just where they will, I never noticed them until I got this feeling That it's later than it seems."

"I try to shut my eyes But I can't get her outta my sight. I know I'm gonna know her, But I gotta get over my fright. Well, I'm just gonna walk up to her, I'm gonna talk to her tonight.Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's only light, Gonna shine tonight. Yeah, she's gonna be somebody's baby tonight."

"Take it easy, take it easy Don't let the sound of your own wheels Drive you crazy."

"Well, I'm a standing on a corner In Winslow, Arizona And such a fine sight to see, It's a girl, my lord, in a flatbed Ford Slowin' down to have a look at me."

"Oh people, look around you, the signs are everywhere You've left it for somebody other than you to be the one to care You're lost inside your houses,theres no time to find you now"

"Well, just look at that girl With the lights comin' up in her eyes. She's got to be somebody's baby; She must be somebody's baby."

"Now if I seem to be afraid To live the life that I have made in song Well it's just that I've been losing so long."

"These days I sit on cornerstones And count the time in quarter-tones to ten, my friend Don't confront me with my failures I had not forgotten them."

"The daughter of a captain on the rolling seas, She would stare across the water from the trees. Last time he was home he held her on his knees And said the next time they would sail away just where they pleased."

"These days I seem to think a lot About the things that I forgot to do For you And all the times I had the chance to."

"Well I'm running down the road Tryin' to loosen my load, I've got seven women on my mind, Four that wanna own me, Two that wanna stone me, One says she's a friend of mine."

"I'm glad that the Bush years are behind us."

"It's such a clever innocence with which you do your sorcery As if somehow the years just bow and let that young girl go free I thought I was a child, until you turned and smiled"

"Hold a place for the human race. Keep it open wide. Give it time to fall or climb. But let the time decide. Sometimes you wonder what's in this for you. But you wait and you see. 'Cause its all you can do. Just to hold on. Hold on hold out, hold on."

"I can't keep up with what's been going down, I think my heart must just be slowing down. Among the human beings In their designer jeans, Am I the only one who hears the screams And the strangled cries of lawyers in love?"

"Between the darkness on the street And the houses filling up with light. Between the stillness in my heart And the roar of the approaching night. Somebody's calling after somebody, Somebody turns the corner out of sight, Looking for somebody Somewhere in the night.Tender is the night. When you hold your baby tight, Tender are the motions, tender is the night."

"In the morning when I closed my eyes, You were sleeping in paradise. And while the room was growing light, I was holding still with all my might."

"Talk about celestial bodies, And your angels on the wing. She wasn't much good at stickin' around--but That girl could sing. She could sing...In the dead of night, She could shine a light On some places that you've never been. In that kind of light, You could lose your sight And believe there was something to win."

"You could hold her tight With all your might, But she'd slip through your arms like the wind. And be back in flight, Back into the night, Where you might never see her again."

"Down on the boulevard they take it hard. They look at life with such disregard. They say it can't be won The way the game is run. But if you choose to stay, You end up playing anyway. It's okay."

"You love the thunder and you love the rain. You know your hunger like you know your name. I know you wonder how you ever came To be a woman in love with a man in search of the flame."

"Now the seats are all empty, Let the roadies take the stage. Pack it up and tear it down. They're the first to come and the last to leave, Working for that minimum wage. They'll set it up in another town."

"Now roll them cases out and lift them amps, Haul them trusses down and get 'em up them ramps. Cause when it comes to moving me, You know you guys are the champs. But when that last guitar's been packed away, You know that I still want to play. So just make sure you got it all set to go Before you come for my piano."

"I look around for the friends that I used to turn to to pull me through. Looking into their eyes I see them running too."

"Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels. Looking back at the years gone by like so many summer fields. '65, I was 17 and running up 101. I don't know where I'm running now, I'm just running on."