about elections

"I don't usually comment on politics... But seeing my home country go through an election period... And seeing the country I live in go through presidential campaigns... I just can't seem to change my mind about what I think. 
And what I think is that the people who really control our world economy, are not in the public eye and are certainly not running for political jobs. So yes, voting, it's great, people should do it. But it's just part of a far bigger show. A show with no backstage passes."

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about jazz 

Interviewer: Can you explain Jazz?

Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all Jazz is half improvisation. The other half is the part people play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong.

Interviewer: I don't understand.

Yogi: Anyone who understands Jazz knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's what's so simple about it.
Interviewer: Do you understand it?

Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it.

Interviewer: Are there any great Jazz players alive today?

Yogi: No. All the great Jazz players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead.

Interviewer: What is syncopation?

Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In Jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be Jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds.

Interviewer: Now I really don't understand.

Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand Jazz that well.