Yip Harburg Quotes

"Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (1931), performed as part of the play New Americana (1932) - Charlie Palloy version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsJGagKWrds - Bing Crosby version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eih67rlGNhU - Tom Waits version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVE72Ae82Tw

"When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love" in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Tommy Steele version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npe7cbcMzUA

"Inscription On A Lipstick" in The Garment Worker Vol. 41 (1941), p. 10.

As quoted in The Americans (1970) by David Frost, p. 181.

"We're Off to See the Wizard" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Letter to the House Un-American Activities Committee (1950), as quoted in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Scott Jacobs, in The Week Behind (23 September 2009) http://www.theweekbehind.com/2009/09/23/somewhere-over-the-rainbow/

"Agnostic".
Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965)
Context: No matter how much I probe and prod,
I cannot quite believe in God;
But oh, I hope to God that He
Unswervingly believes in me.

"Atheist".
Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965)

"April in Paris" (1932) - Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald renditions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO8Mco70sWg - Doris Day version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StUurOG9h34
Context: I never knew the charm of spring
Never met it face to face
I never knew my heart could sing
Never missed a warm embrace
'Til April in Paris.
Whom can I run to
What have you done to
My heart...

"Irreverent Heart"
Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965)
Context: My heart is like the willow
That bends, but never breaks.
It sighs when summer jilts her,
It sings when April wakes. So you, who come a-smiling
With summer in your eyes,
Think not that your beguiling
Will take me by surprise. My heart's prepared for aching
The moment you take wing.
But not, my friend, for breaking
While there's another spring.

"Optimistic Voices".
Context: You’re out of the woods
You’re out of the dark
You’re out of the night
Step into the sun, step into the light,
Keep straight ahead
For the most glorious place
On the Face of the Earth
Or the sky. Hold onto your breath
Hold onto your heart
Hold onto your hope,
March up to the gate
And bid it open.

'"Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
Context: Some day I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemondrops
Away above the chimney tops,
That's where you'll find me.
Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow,
Why then, oh why can't I?

"How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" - Petula Clark version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhnNQ6XXUKI

As quoted in "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz" at Democracy Now (25 November 2004) http://www.democracynow.org/2004/11/25/a_tribute_to_yip_harburg_the.
Context: 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!"

"Yip Harburg: Secular Songwriter" by Dan Barker in Freethought Today Vol. 22, No. 3 (April 2005) http://archive.is/20120711052246/http://ffrf.org/fttoday/2005/april/barker.php
Context: I am a rebel by birth. … I contest anything that is unjust, that causes suffering in humanity. My feelings about that are so strong, I don't think I could live with myself if I weren't honest.

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).
Context: 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.

"Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Judy Garland version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
Context: 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.

"Ain't It the Truth" originally written for Cabin in the Sky (1943), but pulled from the show, and later included in Jamaica (1957) - Lena Horne version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMSyXuvNpeM
Context: Life is short, short, brother!
Ain't it the truth?
And there is no other
Ain't it the truth?
You gotta rock that rainbow while you still got your youth!
Oh! Ain't it the solid truth?

"Look to the Rainbow", in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Petula Clark version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGLbbg_E6Sg
Context: On the day I was born,
Said my father, said he
I've an elegant legacy waiting for ye.
Tis a rhyme for your lips
And a song for your heart
To sing it whenever the world falls apart. Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow it over the hill and stream
Look, look, look to the rainbow
Follow the fellow who follows a dream.

"Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Judy Garland version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
Context: 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.

"Optimistic Voices".
Context: You’re out of the woods
You’re out of the dark
You’re out of the night
Step into the sun, step into the light,
Keep straight ahead
For the most glorious place
On the Face of the Earth
Or the sky. Hold onto your breath
Hold onto your heart
Hold onto your hope,
March up to the gate
And bid it open.

"When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich" in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Fred Astaire version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmW0FA93cJc

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose) - Nat King Cole version http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DotEKKX0ww

"How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"

As quoted in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Scott Jacobs, in The Week Behind (23 September 2009).

“The Begat” in Finian’s Rainbow (1946).

"We're Off to See the Wizard" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).

"It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).