Quotations by:
    Harburg, E. Y.


Once I built a railroad, made it run,
Made it race against time.
Once I build a railroad, now it’s done.
Brother, can you spare a dime?

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?,” in the musical New Americana (1932)
 
Added on 1-May-09 | Last updated 1-May-09
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I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers,
Consultin’ with the rain;
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’,
If I only had a brain.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“If I Only Had a Brain,” The Wizard of Oz (1939)
 
Added on 3-Feb-16 | Last updated 3-Feb-16
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Without your love
It’s a honky-tonk parade
Without your love
It’s a melody played in a penny arcade.
It’s a Barnum and Bailey world
Just as phony as it can be
But it wouldn’t be make-believe
If you believed in me.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“It’s Only a Paper Moon” (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose)

 

 
Added on 8-May-09 | Last updated 8-May-09
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Somewhere 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.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“Over the Rainbow” in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
 
Added on 29-May-09 | Last updated 18-May-09
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No matter how I probe and prod
I cannot quite believe in God.
But oh! I hope to God that he
Unswervingly believes in me.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“The Agnostic” (1965)
 
Added on 26-Feb-13 | Last updated 26-Feb-13
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The Lord made Adam,
The Lord made Eve,
He made ‘em both a little bit naive.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“The Begat” in Finian’s Rainbow (1946)
 
Added on 15-May-09 | Last updated 15-May-09
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When I’m not near the girl I love, I love the girl I’m near.

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
“When I’m Not Near the Girl I Love,” Finian’s Rainbow (1946)
 
Added on 5-Jun-09 | Last updated 5-Jun-09
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Lives of great men all remind us greatness takes no easy way.
All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today.
Socrates and Galileo, John Brown, Thoreau, Christ, and Debs
Heard the night cry, “Down with traitors!” and the dawn shout, “Up the Reds!”
 

E. Y. "Yip" Harburg (1896-1981) American lyricist [Edgar Yipsel Harburg, b. Isidore Hochberg]
Poem read in an interview
 
Added on 22-May-09 | Last updated 22-May-09
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