Better Than It Sounds!: A Dictionary of Humourous Musical Quotations

by David W. Barber

Better Than It Sounds is sometimes pithy, sometimes provacative, sometimes profound and always amusing, these quotes by famous (and not so famous) musicians will brighten your day.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music

128 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1998

About the author

David W. Barber is a journalist and musician and the author of more than a dozen books of music (including Accidentals on Purpose; Bach, Beethoven and the Boys; When the Fat Lady Sings; and Getting a Handel on Messiah) and literature (including Quotable Sherlock, Quotable Alice and Atonement and other stories). Formerly a writer and entertainment editor of The Kingston Whig-Standard, editor of Broadcast Week magazine at the Toronto Globe and Mail and the assistant editor of arts and life for Postmedia newspapers, he is currently a freelance writer, editor, musician and composer. As a composer, his works include two symphonies, a jazz mass based on the music of Dave Brubeck, a Requiem, several short choral and chamber works and various vocal-jazz songs and arrangements. He sings with the Toronto Chamber Choir and various other choirs on occasion. In a varied career, among his more interesting jobs have been short stints as a roadie for Pope John Paul II, a publicist for Prince Rainier of Monaco and a backup singer for Avril Lavigne.

Learn about his other books at IndentPublishing.com

Reviews

[Sue]

Another entertaining music dictionary, this time without the cartoons, but still thigh-slappingly funny, although not all are intended to be.
It includes the well known 'Last night the band played Beethoven. Beethoven lost' (Anon) as well as this new favourite, from Mel Brooks: 'Critics can't even make music by rubbing their back legs together'. The choicest are quotes by Sir Thomas Beecham and American comedians (inter alia Woody Allen) - and who knew that both Toscanini and Rossini were very, even self-deprecatingly, witty? A surprise, and one of the very best, was a rhyme on Folk Music by Victorian poet Calverley, who clearly didn't care for the genre.

[Jorge]

The book is humorous but not as useful as originally thought to be. I bought this book with the intent of using some of the quotes in my classes as part of the lesson to illustrate the viewpoints of the composers. Most composer quotes are not useful in a classroom setting. The hilarious quotes are those about critics and instrumentalists.

[Daniel]

This was so disappointing. Far to many of the quotes had nothing to do with music. You get the feeling after a while that the author just threw something together as fast as he could to meet a deadline. I felt like half of the quotes were by the author himself. This could have been a really sweet collection had Mr. Barber took the time. Instead, it was a waste of time.

[Don Gubler]

Whe knew musicians could be this funny?