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Yip Harburg Quotes (1896-1981)
Composer
About Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg (8 April 1896 β 4 March 1981), born Isidore Hochberg and known primarily as E. Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He is most famous for his lyrics for The Wizard of Oz (1939), including those of "Over the Rainbow".
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βFollow the yellow brick road.β
βWe'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.β
You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.β
βWhen the idle poor
Become the idle rich
You'll never know
just who is who
or who is which.β
Become the idle rich
You'll never know
just who is who
or who is which.β
βSay, its only a paper moon
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.β
Sailing over a cardboard sea
But it wouldn't be make-believe
If you believed in me.β
βOnce I built a tower up to the sun
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?β
Brick and rivet and lime
Once I built a tower, now it's done
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?β
βOnce I built a railroad, I made it run,
made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?β
made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?β
βSo 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?β
And each brook along the way,
And each lad that comes a-whistlin' Tooralay
How are things in Glocca Morra
This fine day?β
βWHERE and WHEN
Β Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
Β Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.β
Β Are lost in space.
THERE and THEN
Β Do not embrace.
So before we disappear
Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.β
βHow are things in Glocca Morra?
Is that little brook still leaping there?
Does it still run down to Donny cove?
Through Killybegs, Kilkerry and Kildare?β
Is that little brook still leaping there?
Does it still run down to Donny cove?
Through Killybegs, Kilkerry and Kildare?β
βI 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.β
βNo 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.β
I cannot quite believe in God;
But oh, I hope to God that He
Unswervingly believes in me.β
βAs the writer of the lyric of the song βGodβs Countryβ, I am outraged by the suggestion that somehow I am connected with, believe in, or am sympathetic with Communist or totalitarian philosophy.β
βSomewhere 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.β
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.β
βSome 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? β
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? β
β
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 Quotes by Topic
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Yip Harburg on Poetry about love
Yip Harburg on God
Yip Harburg on Courage
βCowardly Lion: Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the Sphinx the Seventh Wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? What have they got that I ain't got? Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodsman: Courage! Cowardly Lion: You can say that again! Hunh!β
What Yip Harburg Said About Others
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Quotes About Yip Harburg
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Ernie Harburg on Yip Harburg
βThe first thing weβre looking at here is an expression really of Yipβs philosophy and background, which he brings to writing lyrics for the songs. And what it says here is that songs have always been manβs anodyne against tyranny and terror. The artist is on the side of Humanity.β
About Yip Harburg
Edgar Yipsel Harburg (8 April 1896 β 4 March 1981), born Isidore Hochberg and known primarily as E. Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He is most famous for his lyrics for The Wizard of Oz (1939), including those of "Over the Rainbow".