Gershwin Quotes:

I love Gershwin. I love musicals.

- Gloria Estefan

source: Interview with Mike Ragogna, www.huffingtonpost.com. September 4, 2013.

topic: Gershwin

In time the Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble.

- Ira Gershwin

source: 1938 'Love Is Here to Stay', sung by Kenny Baker in The Goldwyn Follies (music by George Gershwin).

topic: Change, May, Gershwin

When jazz is played in another nation, it is called American. When it is played in another country, it sounds false. Jazz is the result of the energy stored up in America.

- George Gershwin

source: Quoted in D Morgenstern Composers on Music (1958).

topic: Country, America, Energy, Gershwin

Jazz I regard as an American folk music; not the only one, but a very powerful one which is probably in the blood and feeling of the American people more than any other style of folk music.

- George Gershwin

source: "The Relation of Jazz to American Music", in Henry Cowell (ed.) American Composers on American Music, 1933.

topic: Powerful, Blood, People, Gershwin

I frequently hear music in the heart of noise.

- George Gershwin

source: Letter to Isaac Goldberg in "The Memory of All That" by Joan Peyser (p. 80), 1993.

topic: Music, Heart, Noise, Gershwin

A skyscraper is at the same time a triumph of the machine and a tremendous emotional experience, almost breath-taking. Not merely its height but its mass and proportions are the result of an emotion, as well as of calculation.

- George Gershwin

topic: Emotional, Triumph, Machines, Skyscraper, Gershwin

I didn't even start playing the piano until I was about 13 or 14. I guess I must have had a little talent or whatever-you-call-it, but I practised regularly, and that's what counts.

- George Gershwin

topic: Piano, Littles, Talent, Gershwin

For suddenly, I saw you there And through foggy London town The sun was shining everywhere...

- George Gershwin

topic: Love, Shining, London, Gershwin

Not many composers have ideas. Far more of them know how to use strange instruments which do not require ideas.

- George Gershwin

source: 1930 'The Composer in the Machine Age'.

topic: Ideas, Use, Strange, Gershwin

Modern European composers...have very largely received their stimulus, their rhythms and impulses from Machine Age America. They have a much older tradition of musical technique which has helped them put into musical terms a little more clearly the thoughts that originated here. They can express themselves more glibly.

- George Gershwin

source: "The Composer in the Machine Age". Book by George Gershwin (p. 386), 1933.

topic: America, Musical, Age, Gershwin

I like to think of music as an emotional science.

- George Gershwin

source: "The Composer in the Machine Age". Book by George Gershwin (Page 388), 1933.

topic: Emotional, Thinking, Gershwin

Gershwin's melodic gift was phenomenal. His songs contain the essence of New York in the 1920s and have deservedly become classics of their kind, part of the 20th-century folk-song tradition in the sense that they are popular music which has been spread by oral tradition (for many must have sung a Gershwin song without having any idea who wrote it).

- George Gershwin

topic: Song, New York, Essence, Folk Songs, Gershwin

The European boys have small ideas but they sure know how to dress 'em up.

- George Gershwin

topic: Boys, Ideas, Dresses, Gershwin, Small Ideas

True music must repeat the thought and inspirations of the people and the time.

- George Gershwin

topic: Music, Inspiration, People, Jazz Music, Gershwin

An entire composition written in jazz could not live.

- George Gershwin

topic: Jazz, Composition, Gershwin

When I'm in my normal mood, music drips from my fingers.

- George Gershwin

topic: Normal, Mood, Fingers, Gershwin

A song without music is a lot like H2 without the O.

- Ira Gershwin

topic: Song, Music Is, Without Music, Gershwin

One can be very happy without demanding that others agree with them.

- Ira Gershwin

topic: Music, Very Happy, Agree, Gershwin

It is always possible to create something original.

- George Gershwin

topic: Gershwin

Jazz is one of the best things that you can find in your life, it can always be your friend.

- George Gershwin

topic: Music, Jazz, Gershwin

The composer does not sit around and wait for an inspiration to walk up and introduce itself…Making music is actually little else than a matter of invention aided and abetted by emotion. In composing we combine what we know of music with what we feel.

- George Gershwin

topic: Inspiration, Waiting, Doe, Gershwin

I want to say at once that I frankly believe that Irving Berlin is the greatest songwriter that has ever lived.... His songs are exquisite cameos of perfection, and each one of them is as beautiful as its neighbor. Irving Berlin remains, I think, America's Schubert.

- George Gershwin

topic: Beautiful, Song, Believe, Cameos, Schubert

Life is a lot like jazz. It's best when you improvise.

- George Gershwin

source: "Personal Quotes/ Biography". www.imdb.com.

topic: Music, Jazz Hands, Cool Jazz, Jazz And Blues, Jazz And Life

Writing music is not so much inspiration as hard work.

- George Gershwin

topic: Inspiration, Hard Work, Writing, Writing Music, Gershwin

Summertime And the livin' is easy, Fish are jumpin', and the cotton is high.

- Ira Gershwin

topic: Song, Summertime, Cotton, Gershwin

All these tales of people sitting down and composing symphonies just as though they were writing a letter are very much exaggerated; at least, it isn't that way in my work.

- George Gershwin

topic: Writing, Symphony, People, Gershwin

All great composers of the past spent most of their time studying. Feeling alone won't do the job. A man also needs technique.

- George Gershwin

topic: Jobs, Past, Men, Gershwin

Upper berth, lower berth, that's the difference between talent and genius.

- George Gershwin

topic: Differences, Genius, Talent, Gershwin

Out of my entire annual output of songs, perhaps two, or at the most three, came as a result of inspiration. We can never rely on inspiration. When we most want it, it does not come.

- George Gershwin

topic: Song, Inspiration, Two, Writing Songs, Gershwin

Why should I limit myself to only one woman when I can have as many women as I want?

- George Gershwin

source: "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Limits, Want, Should, Gershwin

It took me three weeks to write the 'Rhapsody in Blue.' I had always wanted to write something blue and Paul Whiteman inspired.

- George Gershwin

topic: Writing, Blue, Three, Gershwin

Summertime And the living is easy Fish are jumpin' And the cotton is high Oh, your daddy's rich And your mama's good lookin' So hush little baby now don't you cry One of these mornin's You're gonna rise up singin' Then you'll spread your wings And take to the sky But til that mornin' Ain't nothin' can harm you With your daddy And your mammy standin' by.

- George Gershwin

topic: Summer, Baby, Sky, Gershwin

A libretto that should never have been accepted on a subject that should never have been chosen bya man who should never have attempted it.

- Virgil Thomson

topic: Men, Accepted, Should, Gershwin

Look at the piano. You'll notice that there are white notes and black notes. Figure out the difference between them and you'll be able to make whatever kind of music you want.

- George Gershwin

source: Source: www.motherjones.com

topic: White, Differences, Piano, Gershwin

I got rhythm, I got music, I got my man- Who could ask for anything more?

- Ira Gershwin

source: "I Got Rhythm" (song) (1930)

topic: Music, Men, Rhythm, Gershwin

The extraordinary thing about my mother, she's so modest about me.

- George Gershwin

topic: Mother, Modest, Extraordinary Things, Gershwin

Porgy is...an interesting example of what can be done by talent in spite of a bad setup. With a libretto that should never have been accepted on a subject that should never have been chosen, a man who should never have attempted it has written a work that has a considerable power.

- George Gershwin

source: 1935 Of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess. Modern Music.

topic: Men, Interesting, Example, Setups, Gershwin

What the hell do you want to work for somebody else for? Work for yourself!

- George Gershwin

topic: Work, Want, Hell, Gershwin

S wonderful! 'S marvelous! That you should care for me!

- Ira Gershwin

topic: Care, Wonderful, Should, Gershwin

Holding hands at midnight 'Neath a starry sky... Nice work if you can get it And you can get it -- if you try.

- Ira Gershwin

source: "NiceWork If You Can Get It" (song) (1937)

topic: Nice, Hands, Sky, Starry Sky, Gershwin

The way you wear your hat, The way you sip your tea, The mem'ry of all that -- No, no! They can't take that away from me!

- Ira Gershwin

source: 1937 'They Can't Take That Away from Me', song from the film musical Shall We Dance? (music by George Gershwin).

topic: Tea, Way, Hats, Gershwin

Gershwin inspired me very much. The concept of 'That Lucky Old Sun' was inspired by 'Rhapsody in Blue' - not influenced, but inspired.

- Brian Wilson

topic: Blue, Lucky, Sun, Gershwin

As a New Yorker you can't help but be proud of the fact that so much music and culture started here. Punk rock, jazz, hip-hop and house music started here, George Gershwin debuted 'Rhapsody in Blue' here; the Velvet Underground are from New York.

- Moby

topic: New York, Rocks, Blue, House Music, Velvet Underground

Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

- Joni Mitchell

topic: Block, Chips, Songwriting, Gershwin, Songwriters

He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion... no, make that: he - he romanticized it all out of proportion. Yes. To him, no matter what the season was, this was still a town that existed in black and white and pulsated to the great tunes of George Gershwin.

- Woody Allen

source: "Fictional character: Isaac Davis". Comedy, Drama, Romance, www.imdb.com. 1979.

topic: New York, Black And White, Cities, Gershwin, Idolized

George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937, but I don’t have to believe it if I don’t want to.

- John O'Hara

topic: Believe, July, Want, Gershwin

I was always drawn to Broadway musicals, and obviously composers like Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin and Porter were writing music that I found wildly impressive.

- Marvin Hamlisch

topic: Writing, Broadway, Berlin, Gershwin, Broadway Musical

I think my knowledge of music theory is rooted in jazz theory, and a lot of the writers of standards - Rodgers and Hart, and Gershwin.

- Zooey Deschanel

topic: Thinking, Jazz, Hart, Music Theory, Gershwin

Ira [Gershwin] was the shyest, most diffident boy we had ever known. In a class of lower east side rapscallions, his soft-spoken gentleness and low-keyed personality made him a lovable incongruity. He spoke in murmurs, hiding behind a pair of steel-rimmed glasses..Ira had a kid brother who wore high stiff collars, shirts with cuffs and went out with girls.

- Yip Harburg

source: "Biography/ Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

topic: Girl, Brother, Kids, Incongruity, East Side