I have never been an innovator, a creative genius.

We really were a very musical family. In spite of the fact that we were so poor when I was a youngster that supper was often just a bowl of bread and milk, Father somehow managed to squeeze out enough pennies to buy us a small pump organ, and I just loved this instrument too.

Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.

I knew nothing of the life of a real musician, of course, but somehow I seemed to see myself standing in front of great crowds of people, playing my accordion.

Duke Ellington was famous for hs very original harmonic patterns.

Freedom is without a doubt the greatest blessing we have in America so let us protect it and defend it with all our hearts and all our energies.

You know, it's a long world.

This is the best biography by me I have ever read.

I realized some of the pitfalls of being well-known; it was nice if you were successful, but it made it just that much harder to take when you failed.

I was so anxious to succeed that I made a practice of appearing on all the disc jockey shows I could, in order to publicize the band.

If any performer has quality in his voice he can almost always be helped to develop all the other necessary attributes.

My accent remained terrible. It was very hard for me to initiate any conversation with someone I didn't know.

Night after night I could feel the chills go up and down my spine, they played so well.

Sounds always fascinated me.

We really were a very musical family. Father managed to buy us a small pump organ, and I just loved this instrument.

If they can't hum it after we play it, it's not for us.

I played a Spaniard. I looked about as Spanish as any other fair-skinned German.

By 1969, when I celebrated 45 years in the music business, I also had 45 people in our musical family.

Over and over I marvel at the blessings of my life: Each year has grown better than the last.

There are good days and there are bad days, and this is one of them.