I don't think I've ever spent more than an hour on any one song, but that doesn't count the thinking that goes on beforehand.

I'm usually the last man on the totem pole. Except for the sound effects and the final sound mix, the score is the last element to be added to a picture.

You know, I started in movies a long time ago, and once in awhile I'm taken aback. Sometimes one of my things will come on - they use my things as background music all the time, in somebody else's arrangements and It catches my ear.

The basic problem with young people entering show business is that they are in a hurry.

I don't want to get corny, but my career really has been the personification of the American dream.

Getting out and being able to present a concert is invigorating.

I find I work best as a reactor, trying to portray something on a screen musically. If I were a boxer, I'd be a counter-puncher.

Blake Edwards has set up an extraordinary combination of moods in 'Peter Gunn.' When you stop to analyze it, you can't find the boundaries where the music stops and the show takes over.

Hopefully the music of the future will not be all electronic. There is a place for it if it is used sparingly.

I used to be selected for the Pennsylvania all-state orchestra. It was a thrill to go from my home town of Aliquippa clear across the state to Lancaster for the concerts. No kid is immune to that kind of experience.

I've always been a dreamer.

The man who writes for hire has an obligation, if only to himself, to keep an open mind and to absorb new ideas.

Cancer... changed my whole work attitude.

I have an Otari with a Korg T2 Midi synthesizer, a drum machine and a few effects units.

I used to raise the devil when my father made me practice the flute and my mother made me take piano lessons.

It's very difficult to be funny musically. I think I achieved It with 'The Pink Panther.'

I just write when the bell rings. I don't have time to wait for inspiration.

You're molded by the period you were brought up in.

People love to hear a guy who is really good on his instrument. They love to watch him go.

Sometimes memorable music doesn't necessarily have to be a hit.

It takes different mindsets to do different things.

Basically, I'm a melodic writer.

I was never In a restaurant until after I left home. My mother came from Abruzzi and they're noted for their great cooking.

I wanted to be up there with all those names like Max Steiner.