# Yip Harburg

Edgar Yipsel Harburg (8 April 1896 – 4 March 1981), born Isidore Hochberg and known primarily as E. Y. Harburg or Yip Harburg, was an American lyricist who worked with many well-known composers. He is most famous for his lyrics for The Wizard of Oz (1939), including those of "Over the Rainbow".

## Quotes

* Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time. Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
** "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" (1931), performed as part of the play New Americana (1932) - Charlie Palloy version - Bing Crosby version - Tom Waits version
* I never knew the charm of spring Never met it face to face I never knew my heart could sing Never missed a warm embrace 'Til April in Paris. Whom can I run to What have you done to My heart...
** "April in Paris" (1932) - Sarah Vaughan & Ella Fitzgerald renditions - Doris Day version
* Say, its only a paper moon Sailing over a cardboard sea But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me.
** "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose) - Nat King Cole version
* Without your love It's a honky-tonk parade Without your love It's a melody played in a penny arcade. It's a Barnum and Bailey world Just as phony as it can be But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me.
** "It's Only a Paper Moon" (1933) (co-written with Billy Rose).
* Somewhere over the rainbow, Way up high There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true.
** "Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz (1939) - Judy Garland version
* Some day I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemondrops Away above the chimney tops, That's where you'll find me. Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly. Birds fly over the rainbow, Why then, oh why can't I?
** '"Over the Rainbow" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
* Follow the yellow brick road.
** "We're Off to See the Wizard" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
* We're off to see the Wizard, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. You'll find he is a whiz of a Wiz! If ever a Wiz! there was.
** "We're Off to See the Wizard" in The Wizard of Oz (1939).
* You’re out of the woods You’re out of the dark You’re out of the night Step into the sun, step into the light, Keep straight ahead For the most glorious place On the Face of the Earth Or the sky. Hold onto your breath Hold onto your heart Hold onto your hope, March up to the gate And bid it open.
** "Optimistic Voices".
* To let a fool kiss you is stupid, To let a kiss fool you is worse.
** "Inscription On A Lipstick" in The Garment Worker Vol. 41 (1941), p. 10.
* Life is short, short, brother! Ain't it the truth? And there is no other Ain't it the truth? You gotta rock that rainbow while you still got your youth! Oh! Ain't it the solid truth?
** "Ain't It the Truth" originally written for Cabin in the Sky (1943), but pulled from the show, and later included in Jamaica (1957) - Lena Horne version
* On the day I was born, Said my father, said he I've an elegant legacy waiting for ye. Tis a rhyme for your lips And a song for your heart To sing it whenever the world falls apart. Look, look, look to the rainbow Follow it over the hill and stream Look, look, look to the rainbow Follow the fellow who follows a dream.
** "Look to the Rainbow", in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Petula Clark version
* How are things in Glocca Morra? Is that little brook still leaping there? Does it still run down to Donny cove? Through Killybegs, Kilkerry and Kildare?
** "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" - Petula Clark version
* So I ask each weepin' willow And each brook along the way, And each lad that comes a-whistlin' Tooralay How are things in Glocca Morra This fine day?
** "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?"
* The Lord made Adam, the Lord made Eve, he made ‘em both a little bit naive.
** “The Begat” in Finian’s Rainbow (1946).
* When I'm not near the girl I love, I love the girl I'm near.
** "When I'm Not Near the Girl I Love" in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Tommy Steele version
* When the idle poor Become the idle rich You'll never know just who is who or who is which.
** "When the Idle Poor Become the Idle Rich" in Finian's Rainbow (1946) - Fred Astaire version
* As the writer of the lyric of the song ‘God’s Country’, I am outraged by the suggestion that somehow I am connected with, believe in, or am sympathetic with Communist or totalitarian philosophy.
** Letter to the House Un-American Activities Committee (1950), as quoted in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Scott Jacobs, in The Week Behind (23 September 2009)
* No matter how high or great the throne, What sits on it is the same as your own.
** As quoted in The Americans (1970) by David Frost, p. 181.
* WHERE and WHEN Are lost in space. THERE and THEN Do not embrace. So before we disappear Come sweet NOW and kiss the HERE.
** "Adverbs" in Laughing Space : Funny Science Fiction (1982) edited by Isaac Asimov & ‎J. O. Jeppson , p. 503.
* Lives of great men all remind us greatness takes no easy way. All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today. Socrates and Galileo, John Brown, Thoreau, Christ, and Debs Heard the night cry down with traitors, and the dawn shout "Up the reds!"
** As quoted in "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz" at Democracy Now (25 November 2004).
* I am a rebel by birth. … I contest anything that is unjust, that causes suffering in humanity. My feelings about that are so strong, I don't think I could live with myself if I weren't honest.
** "Yip Harburg: Secular Songwriter" by Dan Barker in Freethought Today Vol. 22, No. 3 (April 2005)
* I am one of the last of a small tribe of troubadours, who still believe that life is a beautiful and exciting journey with a purpose and grace which are well worth singing about.
** As quoted in "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", by Scott Jacobs, in The Week Behind (23 September 2009).

### Rhymes for the Irreverent (1965)

* No matter how much I probe and prod, I cannot quite believe in God; But oh, I hope to God that He Unswervingly believes in me.
** "Agnostic".
* And only God who makes the tree Also makes the fools like me. But only fools like me, you see, Can make a God, who makes a tree.
** "Atheist".
* My heart is like the willow That bends, but never breaks. It sighs when summer jilts her, It sings when April wakes. So you, who come a-smiling With summer in your eyes, Think not that your beguiling Will take me by surprise. My heart's prepared for aching The moment you take wing. But not, my friend, for breaking While there's another spring.
** "Irreverent Heart"

## Quotes about Harburg

* The first thing we’re looking at here is an expression really of Yip’s philosophy and background, which he brings to writing lyrics for the songs. And what it says here is that songs have always been man’s anodyne against tyranny and terror. The artist is on the side of Humanity.
** Ernie Harburg, Yip's son, interviewed in "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in The Wizard of Oz" at Democracy Now! (25 November 2004).

## External links

* Biography of Harburg from USPS
* Extended audio/print interview with Ernie Harburg, Yip's son and biographer
* The Yip Harburg Foundation
* Yip Harburg on IMDb
* E. Y. Harburg papers (first installment) and E. Y. Harburg papers (second installment) in the Billy Rose Theatre Collection of The New York Public Library for the Peforming Arts.
* "A Tribute to Yip Harburg: The Man Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz" at Democracy Now (25 November 2004)
* "Yip Harburg: Secular Songwriter" by Dan Barker in Freethought Today Vol. 22, No. 3 (April 2005)
* "The Atheist Lyricist Who Put the Rainbow in the Wizard of Oz" at Freedom From Religion Foundation (26 January 2008) (mp3 Podcast) (includes Harburg singing his song "Brother Can You Spare a Dime?", at 16 minutes into the podcast)