Burt Bacharach

“I was blown away by the standing ovation. I've had tributes before, sure, but I don't retain that feeling, and I wasn't prepared for it on Tuesday. But maybe you shouldn't retain these things or you'd be on a permanent high.”

“I felt alienated at school, and I never did well with girls.”

“I've always had a problem with people who couldn't tell the truth or admit a mistake and say they're wrong.”

“A small town is a place where there's no place to go where you shouldn't.”

“The music is the last thing I'm thinking about right now, in order of what's important.”

“Never be ashamed to write a melody that people remember.”

“I recorded the song live in front of an orchestra, and yes, I was very moved, I was in tears.”

“Because I was small, I was getting the hell kicked out of me playing football.”

“Knowing when to leave may be the smartest thing anyone can learn.”

“I'd met Dr Dre, he was thinking about his next album, we talked a little and he said, 'Let me give you some of these loops and see what you come up with'.”

“I have notes in my bathroom, yellow notes, and I stick 'em on the mirror, things that happened that were uplifting boosters for me. Notes that say, "Today is special, make today count." And then I have one note on the mirror in the middle that says, "Look at the other notes.”

“It's not getting any better, is it? I don't want my 19-year-old boy going into the army. I love these little kids. They understand how passionate I am.”

“I started playing piano with a little band in high school. I was terrible. I thought I had absolutely no talent. I couldn't keep time. I only got into McGill, which was a lousy music school, because they were taking American music students.”

“I never liked hearing anyone say I was the new George Gershwin, because I knew I could have never even carried that man's music case. If George Gershwin hadn't died when he was thirty-nine years old, there is no knowing how much more great music he would have written.”

“A synonym is a word you use when you can't spell the word you first thought of.”