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" Music is so much a part of me: my parents told me that when I was an infant, I wouldn't eat unless the radio was playing music. "

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" I like Maroon 5, Cold Play. Snow Patrol from Ireland is very good. Adele is wonderful. I enjoy a new singer named Rumer. I don't care for rap or hip-hop. "

" I was from very poor people: 11 of us in a two-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. I wanted the large houses, the cars, jets, and yacht. "

" I have inner peace; I have accomplished a great deal. "

" I still play my old vinyl LPs - I like the scratches - and I miss browsing in record shops, because they held great nostalgia for me. "

" I rode on a plane a couple years ago with Snow Patrol and didn't know who the hell they were. They said they were big fans of mine and were playing Madison Square Garden. And they let me listen to one of their records on their iPod. I started to weep. "

" I love kids. I think I'm a child at heart. "

" There have been 700 or 800 songs I've written over the last 60 years, as I went through different periods of writing. I listen and marvel at how different they are and how they still stand up. They are very well done, if I must say so. "

" People seem to think of me as a goody-goody who never curses, but I can be very nasty if I'm pushed. Cross me too many times, and I'll never talk to you again. "

" I think I was put on earth to sing and play music. "

" America has a tendency to chip away at you if you've been a success for a long time, whereas in Europe, they put you on a pedestal. "

" My teachers said, 'Always keep a Beethoven sonata under your fingers.' I always have. I still play chamber music, and I always play classical. "

" I tend to be on the quiet side. I think I would have been bigger if I had a big mouth. "

" I knew I had a remarkable voice, but I was embarrassed because it was so high. But when I sang at my bar mitzvah, the rabbi was in tears. He said to my parents, 'He must become a cantor in the synagogue,' but my mother said, 'No, he's going to be a concert pianist.' "

" My songs lie somewhere in between the evergreen standards, rock n' roll and pop. "

" Between 1963 and 1975, I worked very little. The Beatles had come to New York and changed music - all the solo singers were out of work. "

" I was a teenage idol, but not the one that the girls would put up on their walls, like Fabian and Frankie Avalon. I was more cerebral, like a Roy Orbison or a Buddy Holly. I was one of the few who could write songs. "

" I've always enjoyed seeing the world through the eyes of my grandchildren. "

" I did have my beginnings in doo-wop music; I had a group called the Tokens in Brooklyn. They went on, of course, to do 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and a lot of other great things. I went on as a soloist. But I still love doo-wop music. "

" These are some of my awards - an Ivor Novello, a Variety Club Silver Heart, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. I also have a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame and a street named after me in Brooklyn where I used to live. "

" I worked at Mar-a-Lago for Trump, for some parties, and he seemed nice enough - but I don't think he's presidential. I think he's incompetent; I disagree with his policies, and I'm nervous as an American. "

" If you have a passion for something, never be discouraged by anyone. "

" I love America, and parts of New Jersey remind me of Newfoundland - rolling hills and gardens - it's great! I guess that's why they call it the Garden State. "

" My music is nostalgic. The early Neil Sedaka songs are always catchy and very singable. "

" I was one of the first American rock n' rollers in the '50s to go to many foreign countries. It's a wonderful thing to go out and spread joy and love rather than hate. "

" I am a Jew, and I'm convinced that Israel is the homeland. "

" I like Manchester - I've played it many times. The people have a lot of chein, a lot of heart, and the audiences are very receptive. "

" I have a Baldwin in my L.A. apartment, a Steinway in my New York apartment, and a Kawai plexiglass grand piano in storage for shows. I still play for two or three hours every day. "

" I think there are three kinds of songs; it's only my theory: psychological, emotional, and spiritual. When you write psychologically or intellectually, you have a tune in your mind, and you re-write it. It's an intellectual approach. The emotional is my favorite because it comes from my kishkas; it comes from my soul. "

" I have written for, very fortunately, some great singers from Frank Sinatra to Elvis Presley. "

" When the Beatles came to America and took me off the map, I thought I would return the favor, and I moved the family to England! "