American Lyricist Quotes

Ira Gershwin

Stephen Sondheim

Alan Jay Lerner

Hal David

Don Henley

Billy Strayhorn

Lorenz Hart

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God. Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Darling, I am growing old,
Silver threads among the gold Shine upon my brow today;
Life is fading fast away.

Eben E. Rexford

At the age of ninety-three, when asked at what age the sex drive goes:

You'll have to ask somebody older than me.

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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

I could while away the hours
Conversin' with the flowers,
Consultin' with the rain;
With the thoughts I'd be thinkin'
I could be another Lincoln
If I only had a brain...

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.

Keep the Home-fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning,
Though your lads are far away
They dream of Home.
There's a silver lining
Through the dark cloud shining;
Turn the dark cloud inside out,
Till the boys come Home.

Lena Guilbert Ford

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

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.

Take him, I won't put a price on him
Take him, he's yours
Take him, pyjamas look nice on him
But how he snores!

It's not so much do what you like as it is that you like what you do.

Stephen Sondheim

I guess I'll have to change my plan I should have realized there'd be another man Why did I buy those blue pyjamas Before the big affair began? I guess I'll have to change my plan.

He's making a list And checking it twice,
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice,
Santa Claus is comin' to town.

Haven Gillespie