"There were three overwhelming passions which governed the life of Bertrand Russell," said E. Y. "Yip" Harburg in 1970, in a talk in the "Lyrics and Lyricists" series at the 92nd Street Y in New York:

The longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. The challenge to the lyricist should be to put these passions into provocative, compelling, entertaining songs. . . . The magic in song only happens when the words give destination and meaning to the music and the music gives wings to the words. Together as a song they go places you've never been before. The reason is obvious. Words make you think thoughts. Music makes you feel a feeling. But a song makes you feel a thought. . . . And that's why . . . you can teach more through song and you can rouse more through song than all the prose in the world...