Yip Harburg Quotes

48 Sourced Quotes

Words make you think a thought. Music makes you feel a feeling. A song makes you feel a thought.

Yip Harburg
When I'm not near the girl I love,
I love the girl I'm near.

Yip Harburg
Man he eat the barracuda,
Barracuda eat the bass
Bass he eat the little flounder,
'Cause the flounder lower class.

Yip Harburg
When I'm not facing the face that I fancy,
I fancy the face I face.

Yip Harburg
This we learn from Watergate
That almost any creep'll
Be glad to help the Government
Overthrow the people.

Yip Harburg
Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then, oh why can't I?

Yip Harburg
Somewhere over the rainbow,
Way up high
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Yip Harburg
My heart is like the willow
That bends, but never breaks.
It sighs when summer jilts her,
It sings when April wakes. So you, who come a-smiling
With summer in your eyes,
Think not that your beguiling
Will take me by surprise. My heart's prepared for aching
The moment you take wing.
But not, my friend, for breaking
While there's another spring.

Yip Harburg
Ding dong, the witch is dead,
Which old witch? The wicked witch.
Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead.

Yip Harburg
I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about.

Yip Harburg
No matter how much I probe and prod,
I cannot quite believe in God;
But oh, I hope to God that He
Unswervingly believes in me.

Yip Harburg
At forty I lost my illusions,
At fifty I lost my hair,
At sixty my hope and teeth were gone,
And my feet were beyond repair.
At eighty life has clipped my claws,
I'm bent and bowed and cracked;
But I can't give up the ghost because
My follies are intact.

Yip Harburg
Wanna cry, wanna croon.
Wanna laugh like a loon.
It's that Old Devil Moon in your eyes.

Yip Harburg
In '29 when the banks went bust,
Our coins still read 'In God We Trust'.

Yip Harburg
Did God who gave us flowers and trees,
Also provide the allergies?

Yip Harburg
Say, its only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.

Yip Harburg
Without your love
It's a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It's a melody played in a penny arcade. It's a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.

Yip Harburg
To let a fool kiss you is stupid,
To let a kiss fool you is worse.

Yip Harburg
From lyrics of a song about Bishop Patrick trying to cross the street:
The light of God was with him,
But the traffic light was not.

Yip Harburg
The Lord made Adam, the Lord made Eve, he made 'em both a little bit naive.

Yip Harburg
You're out of the woods
You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun, step into the light,
Keep straight ahead
For the most glorious place
On the Face of the Earth
Or the sky. Hold onto your breath
Hold onto your heart
Hold onto your hope,
March up to the gate
And bid it open.

Yip Harburg
On the day I was born,
Said my father, said he
I've an elegant legacy waiting for ye.
Tis a rhyme for your lips
And a song for your heart
To sing it whenever the world falls apart. Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow it over the hill and stream
Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow the fellow who follows a dream.

Yip Harburg
When the idle poor
Become the idle rich
You'll never know
just who is who
or who is which.

Yip Harburg
No matter how high or great the throne,
What sits on it is the same as your own.

Yip Harburg
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...

Yip Harburg
Once we had a Roosevelt
Praise the Lord!
Now we're stuck with Nixon, Agnew, Ford
Brother, can you spare a rope!

Yip Harburg
So I ask each weepin' willow
And each brook along the way,
And each lad that comes a-whistlin' Tooralay
How are things in Glocca Morra
This fine day?

Yip Harburg
'For what we are about to receive,
Oh Lord, 'tis Thee we thank,'
Said the cannibal as he cut a slice
Of the missionary's shank.

Yip Harburg
We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.

Yip Harburg
As the writer of the lyric of the song 'God's Country', I am outraged by the suggestion that somehow I am connected with, believe in, or am sympathetic with Communist or totalitarian philosophy.

Yip Harburg