Tom Lehrer Quotes
If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.
Quotes to Explore
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I've always worn earplugs, but I'm sure my hearing's not great.
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I like finding that common point between another song and my music. It's like between people; you can be of religion or another, from this country or from another country, but we're all basically the same. It's just the same with songs.
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If you have a song that you think sounds like another song you should contact the publishing company and say I have a song here, let's cut a deal that lets everyone walk away feeling good.
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I didn't used to do shows, because I used to be so shy. We'd perform, and I'd be at the back, thinking of another song. I was so shy, I ain't never getting in front of the camera; I would never get on stage.
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I made a point when I made the Ugly Casanova record to not write a song and then say, 'This is a Modest Mouse song' or 'This is an Ugly Casanova song.' The people who were open to it not being a Modest Mouse record liked it.
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The one album I can't live without is called 'Cumbolo' by a band called Culture. Every song on their album is deep, but there's one in particular called 'This Train.' I have a tattoo of the lyrics on my left arm.
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Sometimes the song title comes with the songs, other times you just sorta make something up afterwards.
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Before the camera, you only had secondhand takes - someone had to tell you what they saw or draw a picture of it or sing a song. Because of the camera, sometimes to our horror, we now know everything that happens in the world - things that before we were sheltered from.
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From another side: is Achilles possible with powder and lead? Or the Iliad with the printing press, not to mention the printing machine? Do not the song and saga of the muse necessarily come to an end with the printer's bar, hence do not the necessary conditions of epic poetry vanish?
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'Recent Gains in the Quest for Peace' in The World tomorrow Vol. 11, No. 1 (January 1928), p. 8; including a quote from the Communist song 'The Advancing Proletaire.'
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I don't like when a song goes from one mood to another unless it's going to be out of sight.
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Just the other day I pulled out this old cassette of Ragged Glory and I popped it into my cassette player and I was digging it. They were just a great rock and roll band, one that presents the song ahead of everything else - there's no grand idea or concept behind it.
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'Roc The Life' is a song I wrote with The Dream, who made 'Umbrella,' 'Single Ladies' and loads more.
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We're trying to create one holistic beauty experience where you can be inspired by other women, both the people we're interviewing and the community contributing to the conversation.
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'Fix' was a song that definitely put me on the map and changed everything for in me my career. I'm really thankful for it.
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Back when I was growing up, if I loved a song, I would record it off of the radio so I could hear them as many times as I wanted.
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I've always had a fascination with pirates. You know, I've written a song completely inspired by I want this to feel like pirates, you know, fighting together, made a music video about it, yada, yada.
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I recorded 'The End of All Things' right before I married my now wife. We had no vows publicly, so I wrote her this song and told her, 'This is how I see our relationship.'
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I started in high school with a teacher there. I also took lessons at the Conservatory of Music in Detroit. Detroit was very motivating. There were a lot of local people who inspired me like Kenny Burrell, Paul Chambers, Roy Brooks, Donald Byrd, etc.
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New York at times runs me dry because there's so much to do. There's never enough time to do everything. It's nice to have the balance in Moscow.
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On a very personal level, I have fond memories of spending a lot of time in the Library of Congress working on my collection of poems 'Native Guard.' I was there over a summer doing research in the archives and then writing in the reading room at the Jefferson building.
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The greatest danger of a terrorist's bomb is in the explosion of stupidity that it provokes.
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If, after hearing my songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, it will all have been worth the while.
