I heard this music coming out of the radio and it was ‘Ain’t Nobody’s Business.’ It got me. I thought, ‘I can do this.’ I decided just like that. No romantic story. Jerry Leiber Read Quote
I was brought up in black neighborhoods in South Baltimore. And we really felt like we were very black. We acted black and we spoke black. When I was a kid growing up, where I came from, it was hip to be black. To be white was kind of square. Jerry Leiber Read Quote
I felt black. I was as far as I was concerned. And I wanted to be black for lots of reasons. They were better musicians, they were better athletes, they were not uptight about sex, and they knew how to enjoy life better than most people. Jerry Leiber Read Quote
Teenagers especially are very, very conscious about what is hip and what is lame and what is square and what is out and what is in, you know. And, I mean, I grew up right there in the middle of a black culture. And I knew dead-on what it was. Jerry Leiber Read Quote
Red-hot songs were born on the black streets of Baltimore, where I delivered five-gallon cans of kerosene and ten-pound bags of coal. Jerry Leiber Read Quote
And there’s always one special element. In ‘There Goes My Baby,’ it’s the out-of-tune timpani. ‘Stand by Me,’ it’s the bass pattern. Of course, all the elements come together to make a great record. But there’s always one standout. Jerry Leiber Read Quote