भाव

Every time I write a song I keep a mental picture of a housewife with her hands in soapy weather, listening to the radio. I try to figure out how to get her hands out of the dishwater to turn up the volume, to hear my song.

On his initial success with the Chipmunks, 1958: "It was a wonderful sight to see stacks of my records piled high on a cigar store counter and selling as fast as the clerk could take the money."

On how his breakthrough hit, "Witch Doctor," came to be recorded, 1958: "When the tape was moving at half-speed, I said 'ting tang' and then I remembered an uncle who had moved to the state of Washington and I sputtered 'walla walla' topped off with a resounding 'bing bang.'"