Let's Do It Quotes

“Meter, melody, and everything else that relates to the construction of a song are secondary. All that is necessary is to have something to say and to say it as quickly as possible. Irving Berlin”
― Bob Stanley, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop

“Radio killed the vaudeville star”
― Bob Stanley, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop

“Fuck them.” Finally, Norman Newell called again: “Well, what do you know, we’re number one!” I said, “Yeah, I’d noticed that.” He said, “Isn’t it amazing, this business, you never know what’s going to happen, do you?” I said, “No, you don’t, do you?” We followed that with another ten Top 5 hits.”
― Bob Stanley, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop

“In the 1960s he had scratched his jazz itch on 1965’s A Shot in the Dark, which sat alongside contemporary scores by Herbie Hancock (Blow Up), Neal Hefti (Barefoot in the Park), Quincy Jones (The Pawnbroker, In the Heat of the Night, In Cold Blood) and Lalo Schifrin (Bullitt).”
― Bob Stanley, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop

“What Berlin had created was a hybrid pop song. It had a great hook and a memorable title, and it was easy to sing. It also melded a slight melancholy, which Berlin reckoned he had learned from ‘Slavonic and Semitic folk tunes’, with the vogueish ragtime style, which is what gave it a subtle urban edge (he later wrote an essay called ‘Song and Sorrow Are Playmates’).”
― Bob Stanley, Let's Do It: The Birth of Pop