The greatest romance in the life of a lyricist is when the right word meets the right note; often, however, a Park Avenue phrase elopes with a Bleecker Street chord, resulting in a shotgun wedding and a quickie divorce.

Ira [Gershwin] was the shyest, most diffident boy we had ever known. In a class of lower east side rapscallions, his soft-spoken gentleness and low-keyed personality made him a lovable incongruity. He spoke in murmurs, hiding behind a pair of steel-rimmed glasses..Ira had a kid brother who wore high stiff collars, shirts with cuffs and went out with girls.

We gotta be free - The eagle and me. see Amelia Jenks Bloomer, Emancipation of Women

Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

My whole family has been having trouble with immigrants ever since we came to this country.

Say, it's only a paper moon, / Sailing over a cardboard sea.

There ought to be a law against necessity.