[When asked if he thought musical tastes in America might someday go back to simpler days, when melody, not the beat, predominated]: I don't know, I guess I'm pessimistic. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

[About "Route 66"]: I wrote half the song riding along in the car.

[Who said he never worked on club dates prior to co-starring opposite Julie London, his real-life wife on Emergency! (1972)]: It's mainly because there are no clubs available here in Los Angeles for groups like mine, for my kind of music.

A young man I know who is very close to The Carpenters says he needs five new songs for an album. I picked out five of the best I've written in the last few years and he showed them to The Carpenters. Know what they said? That they were too old-fashioned. I guess I could write music that would sell today, but that would mean compromise - and I don't want to do that.

[In 1976]: Well, somebody back there has been calling me about working in 'Michael's Pub'.

[In 1975]: I am totally disenchanted with stage music, and I resent the lack of musicianship among today's kids. I just can't relate to them. I have always enjoyed performing and composing, but I can't delude myself. My era is past.

[When he made the transition from singer to actor]: After playing nightclubs for 27 years, it was difficult to adjust myself to working days. I was used to going to bed at 5 or 6 in the morning and sleeping all day. There were times when I almost forgot what the sun looked like. I loved singing and playing the live audiences in clubs. But I don't miss it as much any more, because I think the series is the nicest thing that ever happened to me.

[Who talked about his twin boys playing the piano]: I'd be delighted if the boys decided to take up music as a profession. It's done wonders for Julie and me.

Sit on your duff and you'll become a mental and physical puff.

The best way to relax is not to relax. You must keep your body and mind active. This is the best way I know to stay free from hangups.

The way I remember meeting her was this. I was playing the "Celebrity Room" and, one night, she walked in. I was singing a song and she walked by the bandstand and I thought, "That's one of the most strikingly beautiful girls I've ever seen". Fortunately I knew Kay Saunders, the girl she was with. Kay is the wife of Herman S. Saunders. Herm's a trio leader who's working as a casting director for Julie's ex, Jack Webb, although at the time he had a trio at the Bantam Cock. Anyhow, knowing Kay, I thought, I can easily sit down at the table and get introduced. So I was.

[Of Julie London, who was his real-life wife, who in turn played Nurse Dixie 'Dix' McCall]: It was ideal for me, I've been working clubs for about 26 years, Los Angeles, Julie would be on the road, we have 7 children, between us, and on my day off, my kids would say, 'Daddy, stay home,' and Julie would say, 'Come to Cleveland,' and it was wonderful to be together.

[on a popular 70s TV show that required attention]: Of all the television programs in the United States, I think Emergency! (1972) did the most public service, because when we started, no one have ever heard of a paramedic program. There were only three in the country, by the time we finished 6 or 7 years later, there were thousands of them, there's a common word.

She is not a Julie London fan. She honestly doesn't realize how good she is. She's never really been a performer, she doesn't have that need to go out and please an audience and receive accolades. She's always been withdrawn, very introverted. She hated those big shows. I couldn't wait to do them, and she was only glad when they were over.