I started studying music at the age of five and a half. My older sister was taking piano lessons. When her teacher left our apartment, I would get up on the piano bench and start picking out the notes that were part of my sister's lessons

I can make a song up about anything: garbage, the weather, things in the news.

My show business career doesn't mean I can't write a symphony. It just means I was never asked to write one.

The biggest thrill you can have is to tell people one of your songs, and have them be able to hum it.

I think that when NASA works on a moon shot, they know too well that all of the people working on it must do their job at 110 percent. Sometimes they probably put in 18 hour days, but they're aiming for the moon, and that's what counts

You mustn't underestimate an audience's intelligence.

Maybe I'm old-fashioned. But I remember the beauty and thrill of being moved by Broadway musicals - particularly the endings of shows.