At once, good night- Stand not upon the order of your going, But go at once.
One day the 'Maple Leaf' will make me King of Ragtime Composers.
Don t play this piece fast. It is never right to play ragtime fast.
When I'm dead twenty-five years, people are going to begin to recognize me.
What is scurrilously called ragtime is an invention that is here to stay. That is now conceded by all classes of musicians. . . All publication s masquerading under the name of ragtime are not the genuine article. . . That real ragtime of the higher class is rather difficult to play is a painful truth which most pianists have discovered. Syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music. . . Joplin ragtime is destroyed by careless or imperfect rendering, and very often players lost the effect entirely by playing too fast.
Syncopations are no indication of light or trashy music, and to shy bricks at 'hateful ragtime' no longer passes for musical culture.
Marching onward, marching onward Marching to that lovely tune Marching onward, marching onward Happy as a bird in June Sliding onward, sliding onward Listen to that rag Hop and skip now do that slow, oh Do that slow drag Dance slowly, prance slowly Now you hear that pretty rag Dance slowly, prance slowly Now you do the real slow drag Waltz slowly, waltz slowly Listen to the ragtime Hop and skip Now do the slow, oh, do the slow drag
It's a vain hope to believe that people will voluntarily turn their back on government subsidies.
I had a big fight about how to make something come into the real, to make it physical. It sounds really antique, but it's a question of, how do I make this idea happen? You can't just will it into existence. You have to educate, you have to persuade, you have to seduce, you have to do all this stuff to make something three-dimensional and happen. It's not just a concept. It's actually a reality.
I never let anyone pluck, including myself, unless my mom approves. She guards my eyebrows. She's like the eyebrow police!
An egotist always resents meeting another egotist as if he alone had the right to be one.