20th-century Lyricist Quotes

Ayumi Hamasaki

Ira Gershwin

Amanda Lear

Stephen Sondheim

Alan Jay Lerner

Hal David

Don Henley

If you can't say something nice…don't say nothing at all.

I tic, tic, tic and my heart beats quick How can anything go wrong? When I'm listening to that Geiger counter song I tic, tic all day long

To dream the impossible dream,
To reach the unreachable star!

I am what I am
I am my own special creation
So come take a look
Give me the hook or the ovation
It's my world that I want to have a little pride in
My world and it's not a place I have to hide in
Life's not worth a damn till you can say
Hey world I am what I am.

I've been a fool to allow dreams to become great expectations.

I hate to spread rumours, but what else can one do with them?

Welcome to the Theatre,
To the magic, to the fun!
Where painted trees and flowers grow,
And laughter rings fortissimo,
And treachery's sweetly done.

…I guess the very first thing is to own your true self, and that includes achieving the point of not lying to others; the first step should be not lying to yourself.

Does your chewing-gum lose its flavour on the bedpost overnight?

Writing song lyrics was my deliverance from deprivation…I sometimes think that all the lyrics I wrote about the moon and stars expressed a longing for what I couldn't see back then.

Mitchell Parish

We're in the money,
We're in the money,
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!

Sometimes I'm happy
sometimes I'm blue
my disposition
depends on you.

No, no regrets,
No, we will have no regrets,
As you leave, I can say—
Love was king, tho' for only a day.

Michel Vaucaire

Romance is a mush, stifling those who strive, I'll live a lush life in some small dive. And there I'll be, while I rot with the rest Of those whose lives are lonely, too.

Billy Strayhorn

All the sad young men,
Drifting through the town,
Drinking up the night,
Trying not to drown.

How the world can change, It can change like that, Due to one little word: "Married.

Well, I flung the window open an' I shouted, "Yes, that's right Millandra – I'm goin' to Greece for the sex; sex for breakfast, sex for dinner, sex for tea, an' sex for supper." Well, she just ignored me but this little cab driver leans out an' pipes up, "That sounds like a marvellous diet, love." "It is," I shouted back, "have y' never heard of it? It's called the 'F' Plan."

I now derive physical and spiritual pleasure from gardening and there is tremendous satisfaction in knowing that I could survive almost anywhere if I had to.

Her face, at first…just ghostly
Turned a whiter shade of pale.

You think the only people who are people, Are the ones who look and think the way you do, But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, You'll learn the things you never knew you never knew... You can own the Earth and still, All you'll own is earth until You can paint with all the colors of the wind.

Stephen Schwartz

When I'm riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive. When I stop riding my motorcycle, I'm glad to be alive.

A weekend in the country—
Trees in the orchard call.
When you've examined one tree,
Then you've examined them all.

Oh, I was only twenty four hours from Tulsa,
Ah, only one day away from your arms;
I hate to do this to you but I love somebody new, what can I do?
And I can never, never, never … go home again.

Every time it rains, it rains
Pennies from heaven.
Don't you know each cloud contains
Pennies from heaven?

I'm looking over a four-leaf clover That I overlooked before.