Quotes About Irving Berlin

#1. Dietz and Schwartz have sort of fallen by the wayside a little bit, and they are up there with Rodgers and Hart and Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. They are the finest of the revue composers - their stuff is so good and so strong.

Douglas Carter Beane

#2. If a man, in a lifetime of 50 years, can point to six songs that are immediately identifiable, he has achieved something. Irving Berlin can sing 60 that are immediately identifiable. Somebody once said you couldn't have a holiday without his permission.

Sammy Cahn

#3. As far as songwriters, I've always been a fan of Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George Gershwin; those guys mean a lot to me.

Mel Brooks

#4. Irving Berlin has no place in American music
he is American music.

Jerome Kern

#5. I don't know anyone who sits down to write a song hit except Irving Berlin. He can't help writing hits.

Cole Porter

#6. As a composer, Dylan now fits comfortably alongside George Gershwin or Irving Berlin, though he grumpily refuses to wear any man's collar.

Douglas Brinkley

#7. We never thought we were writing for posterity, because at the time everyone assumed that all the great standards had already been written by Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hammerstein ... The songs we were writing were supposed to be temporary things, of the period, like comic books.

Mike Stoller

#8. Irving Berlin was the greatest songwriter of all time. I was in awe of him. But his music wasn't my music. My music was the blues.

Jerry Leiber

#9. I wanted to invent some kind of American dance that was danced to the music that I grew up on: Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart and Irving Berlin. So I evolved a style that certainly didn't catch on right away - but I had some good mentors in New York who encouraged me.

Gene Kelly

#10. The extraordinary thing about Irving Berlin is that he's like the American Mozart! It seems as if his songs were always there. How do you put together songs like 'Always' or 'Cheek To Cheek'? Songs of his are, frankly, perfect.

Maury Yeston

#11. I've outdone anyone you can name - Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Strauss. Irving Berlin, he wrote 1,001 tunes. I wrote 5,500.

James Brown

#12. 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

#13. For me, when you are talking about perfect songs, you're talking about Gershwin, 'Someone To Watch Over Me.' Or Larry Hart and Richard Rodgers. Or some of the great Cole Porter songs, whether it's 'Night and Day' or some of the comedy songs. Or Irving Berlin, of course.

Maury Yeston

#14. Irving Berlin said, "Popular music is popular because a lot of people like it." That doesn't mean it's good or bad - that's the equivalent of arguing the merits of hotdogs versus hamburgers. What the hell difference does it make?

Lester Bangs

#15. In the, uh, '30s and '40s, the Brill Building was the hub of, uh, musical activity in Tin Pan Alley in New York City. I believe Irving Berlin was there, and uh, and everything just centered around there.

Al Kooper

#16. A pretty girl is like a melody. That haunts you night and day.

Irving Berlin

#17. Lord help the mister that comes between me and my sister ...

Irving Berlin

#18. Everybody ought to have a lower East Side in their life.

Irving Berlin

#19. I got lost but look what I found.

Irving Berlin

#20. Music is so important. It changes thinking, it influences everybody, whether they know it or not. Music knows no boundary lines.

Irving Berlin

#21. Talent is only a starting point in business. You've got to keep working that talent.

Irving Berlin

#22. Talent is only the starting point.

Irving Berlin

#23. Got no checkbooks, got no banks. Still I'd like to express my thanks - I've got the sun in the mornin' and the moon at night.

Irving Berlin

#24. God bless America, land that I love.

Irving Berlin

#25. Listen kid, take my advice, never hate a song that has sold half a million copies.

Irving Berlin

#26. Gos bless America, my home sweet home.

Irving Berlin

#27. The world would not be in such a snarl, had Marx been Groucho instead of Karl.

Irving Berlin

#28. Anything you can do I can do better,
I can do anything better than you.

Irving Berlin

#29. You can't write a song out of thin air you have to feel and know what you are writing about.

Irving Berlin

#30. Blue skies Smiling at me Nothing but blue skies Do I see Bluebirds Singing a song Nothing but bluebirds All day long

Irving Berlin

#31. Our attitudes control our lives. Attitudes are a secret power working twenty-four hours a day, for good or bad. It is of paramount importance that we know how to harness and control this great force.

Irving Berlin

#32. We got to keep on being a success.

Irving Berlin

#33. A patriotic song is an emotion and you must not embarrass an audience with it, or they will hate your guts.

Irving Berlin

#34. Dancing cheek to cheek.

Irving Berlin

#35. A man may be hot but he's not when he's shot cause you can't get a man with a gun.

Irving Berlin

#36. Never hate a song that's sold a half million copies.

Irving Berlin

#37. There's no business like show business.

Irving Berlin

#38. I've got my love to keep me warm.

Irving Berlin

#39. In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you'll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.

Irving Berlin

#40. Popular music is popular because a lot of people like it.

Irving Berlin

#41. God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above.

Irving Berlin

#42. Life is 10 percent what you make it, and 90 percent how you take it.

Irving Berlin

#43. Things that really matter are the things that gold can't buy, so let's have another cup o' coffee and let's have another piece o' pie.

Irving Berlin

#44. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas
With every Christmas card I write
May your days be merry and bright
And may all your Christmases be white.

Irving Berlin

#45. It's February the 22ndAnd I can't tell a lie.

Irving Berlin

#46. They say that falling in love is wonderful, it's wonderful, so they say.

Irving Berlin

#47. All alone by the telephone.

Irving Berlin

#48. There's no people like show people.

Irving Berlin

#49. I long to be out in the sun with no work to be done.

Irving Berlin

#50. The song is ended, but the melody lingers on ...

Irving Berlin

#51. You're not sick you're just in love.

Irving Berlin

#52. I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know.

Irving Berlin

#53. There may be trouble ahead - But while there's moonlight, and music, and love, and romance -Let's face the music and dance.

Irving Berlin

#54. The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success.

Irving Berlin

#55. Let's face the music and dance.

Irving Berlin

#56. Heaven ... I'm in heaven, and my heart beats so that I can hardly speak.

Irving Berlin

#57. Talent is only a starting point.

Irving Berlin

#58. There is an element of truth in every idea that lasts long enough to be called corny.

Irving Berlin

#59. How much do I love you? I'll tell you no lie. How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?

Irving Berlin

#60. After you get what you want you don't want it.

Irving Berlin