Music Quotes

Music allows the great opportunity to play with people who turned you on and you love.

Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn't there to entertain; he was all about the music. I kind of do that.

And (cue music swell) motherhood turned out to be the most meaningful thing I've ever done with my life. Really.

Music has brought me some of the highest moments of my life. I don't even hear the music. I don't even hear the notes. I'm not aware that someone has turned on a tape machine - I'm in another world.

I loved music, and in my ninth year at MIT, I decided to buy a hi-fi set. I figured that all I needed to do was look at the specifications. So I bought what looked like the best one, turned it on, and turned it off in five minutes, the sound was so poor.

But one day, when I was still young, I was parted from my family and left my native country. I hunted and searched for music, and destiny turned me into the object of my hunt. The circumstances of life became my 'antlers' and prevented me from returning home.

Ladies and gentleman, I've suffered for my music, now it's your turn.

The music I turn out these days is the kind of music I want to hear myself.

I feel it's my responsibility to turn people on to great music.

I mean, if you turn on the radio, love is 90 percent of the music.

I've heard some tunes in recent years that were pretty close to that same idea. The idea was you turn on the radio and you want to hear some music and up comes a commercial.

Sometimes I'll turn the channel and there's the movie and I can honestly say that those last few minutes always fascinate me. It's one of the rare instances when image, music, and drama work effectively.

The business side of film has goofed up so many things, but even that's changing. It happened to the music industry and now it's happening to the film studios. It's crazy what's going on. But artists should have control of their work; especially if, as I always say, you never turn down a good idea and never take a bad idea.

That's why so much of the music today sounds so much alike, because there's no in-between. So it's kind of nice to still turn some buttons every now and then.

In America, for a brief time, people who followed Coltrane were studied and considered important, but it didn't last long. The result is that the kind of music I played in the '60's is completely dismissed in this country as a wrong turn, a suicidal effort.

I don't listen to music when I write, but I do turn on appropriate music when I read portions of my manuscripts back to myself - kind of like adding a soundtrack to help shape mood.

I guess some fans like art and get it, others are just into the music, don't really turn up and have an opinion. The fans that have shown interest are all with me all the way.

When I found the music of Monk I finally found music that fit that horn. Every one of his tunes fit it perfectly.

I like Celtic folk music, Native American music, and any kind of early music. There isn't a lot of music that I don't like... except for Show Tunes.

I suppose, counting back, if the Beatles had been influenced by music in the same length of time ago - you'd have to put that into better English for me, thank you - they would have been like a banjo orchestra. They would have been doing show tunes.

If you play the very subtle jazz tunes with acoustic pianos, acoustic bass and it's a dead standard, you are going to play very differently. It depends on the music.

I have been tied up with music for about as long as I can remember. By the time I was four I was picking out little tunes my mother played on the reed organ in the living-room.

My favorite music to sing would be my own songs, my original songs, just because I know them, you know I write the tunes, so my favorite songs are the newest ones that I write. That's what I like to sing the most, because it means something, it's real, it comes from me.

If you try to do that in pop music - to play only rare show tunes, for example - people don't come.

Plus I love Tanya Tucker and I love country music.

Composers today get a TV script on Friday and have to record on Tuesday. It's just dreadful to impose on gifted talent and expect decent music under these conditions.

The tuba is certainly the most intestinal of instruments, the very lower bowel of music.

All I've been trying to do all my life is to make great music.

I spend all my time right now trying to combat music retail and copyright.

I'm trying to get every man involved in art, into experimental music, or painting, or novel-writing.