Gus Kahn Quotes

I just think swing is a matter of some good things put together that you can really pat your foot by. I can't define it beyond that.

Throughout my life I have cared as deeply about the songs of all peoples as I have about the rights of all peoples.

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.

You know, we had that groove; I didn't feel no way.

Dance is so joyous.

Surely the day will come when color means nothing more than the skin tone, when religion is seen uniquely as a way to speak one's soul, when birth places have the weight of a throw of the dice and all men are born free, when understanding breeds love and brotherhood.

Equality and self-determination should never be divided in the name of religious or ideological fervor.

Jazz told people about the special music that came out of America and about America in general and this kind of liberty and freedom that we have.

What a joy it is to dance and sing!

I want to dance. I want to live.

Dancing is a beautiful thing.

There's nothing I like more than being on a dance floor with a thousand people feeling love for humanity.

I like to groove a little bit!

Jazz is more raw than punk in a lot of ways. It's so expressive. A lot of people say to me, especially older people, 'It took me ages to get into jazz.'

In this nation, the greatest of all nations, there are no second-class families. That is our great American conviction.

There's not much music I'll listen to if it doesn't have pretty heavy swing. Rhythm is so important. Punk rock would have more power and feeling if it had swing.

I'd take the syncopation and play swing, and then read the syncopation lines with my left hand.

Americanism is not a matter of skin or color.

I can't wait to be back on the dance floor. I feel really good about it.

Yes, the audience is so important to Negro music, especially the element of call and response.

Equality for everybody is great. That would be amazing.

When I first saw tap dancing, I immediately got it: the righteousness of being able to make so much noise with your feet!

Dancing, apart to music with a beat, is my legacy.

Either we are all free, or we fail; democracy must belong to all of us.

In this great auditorium under the sky all of us are free. When God gave us this wonderful outdoors …, He made no distinction of race, or creed, or color.