That was when the Spanish came in and conquered the Aztecs. I thought that was a clever thing.

Any good music must be an innovation.

I'm not an intellectual composer.

I write emotional music.

Under my contract with Capitol, I have complete freedom to do just about anything I want in my own way.

Regardless of who originally made it popular, any hit song becomes a challenge to the ingenuity and imagination of other musicians and performers.

I aim my arrangements at what will fit and colorfully frame the song in the best way possible.

I did the Broadway album unfortunately in a year when there were no hits.

I love doing concert music.

When I want 30 musicians in the orchestra, I get 30.

In a sense, a hit belongs to the person who made it popular, but if a tune is good enough to attain tremendous success, then it certainly deserves more than one version, one treatment, one approach.

Wisdom might be conversion into a tree.

I'm not interested in whether you've stood with the great

Suddenly I've got an overwhelming desire to surround myself with the aura of classical and Romantic art.

In a republic the first rule for the guidance of the citizen is obedience of the law.

I don't train to look good in the mirror. I train to make improvements in my game.

No matter what happens, you always need someone else to look after you at the end.

In opening them, he discovered that he had eyes.

When I got near teen age, I was so happy with my friends and the African American culture that I couldn't imagine not being part of it.

The prophets and seers and great men and women, past and present, were made great by what they perceived from God, not by what they were taught by men.

I have always noticed that people will never laugh at anything that is not based on truth.