Henry Mancini

“Music has been taken over in this country by personalities and dominated by rock 'n' roll. There's been a synthesizer invasion and it's not going to go away.”

“Some people say 'flutist.' Others say 'flautist.' I just say 'flute player.' That's what I was.”

“You know, directors are funny people. They live with these movies for a year or more. And when you go in to score the picture, you're fooling with their child. They want to know everything that happens to the score - and why.”

“Some scenes cry out for a certain kind of treatment. The kind we're conditioned by years of film-watching to expect.”

“My kids will come to me and ask me to listen to a 'new sound' they think they've discovered. One time it was the Beatles' 'Yesterday,' and the new sound was four strings. All of a sudden the new generation discovers the string quartet!”

“The basic problem with young people entering show business is that they are in a hurry.”

“I've done entire scores for I don't know how many films and series. I never kept track; I suppose it's up in the hundreds.”

“Technique is superficial. The method used in applying technique is what gives music its character.”

“I hate to do anything halfway so I leave the guitar alone.”

“You can make or break a picture in the dubbing room.”

“You know, my career hasn't exactly been the sort of thing that usually happens to film composers, but I sure am glad it happened to me.”

“Well, I thought the opening of 'Hatari!' was pretty good. And 'The Pink Panther' wasn't half bad either.”

“The man who writes for hire has an obligation, if only to himself, to keep an open mind and to absorb new ideas.”

“Film music, over the years, has taken from everybody.”

“I used to be selected for the Pennsylvania all-state orchestra. It was a thrill to go from my home town of Aliquippa clear across the state to Lancaster for the concerts. No kid is immune to that kind of experience.”

“Quite a few of The Rolling Stones records have had a great honesty about them. In fact, I would put them side-by-side with a 'Treasury of Folk Music' collection, containing all the prison songs, the farm and road-gang songs that were recorded on the spot in the Deep South.”

“Bassoon is not an easy instrument to play and to pick it up and play it like a flute or a saxophone is quite an accomplishment.”

“I was always trying to be a quote, unquote, film composer.”

“Most people are oriented to words. When the public hears a melody, unless you put words to It, it takes longer to penetrate. It's always been like that, but I don't know why.”

“If you call making people smile with 'The Pink Panther,' then I made a contribution.”