"We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing"
About this Quote
As a musician in the Dave Brubeck Quartet, Desmond lived inside one of jazz’s strangest paradoxes: enormous cultural footprint, strangely uneven celebrity. "Take Five" is a tune people can hum who couldn’t name the saxophonist who made it iconic. Airports are a perfect stage for this: a place where identity gets reduced to documents, categories, quick exchanges with strangers who have no time to care. The line turns that transactional setting into a little comedy about art in the modern world: even when the work reaches millions, the worker remains semi-anonymous.
The subtext is less bitterness than seasoned clarity. Desmond isn’t begging for applause; he’s noting how easily prestige becomes background music. "Oh" is what happens when a name becomes a faint cultural memory - recognized as something one ought to recognize. It’s a musician’s shrug at the thinness of public attention, and a reminder that success doesn’t erase anonymity; it just upgrades it to a more courteous form.
Quote Details
| Topic | Music |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Desmond, Paul. (n.d.). We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-used-to-get-on-planes-and-theyd-ask-who-we-132665/
Chicago Style
Desmond, Paul. "We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-used-to-get-on-planes-and-theyd-ask-who-we-132665/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We used to get on planes, and they'd ask who we were, and we'd say, 'The Dave Brubeck Quartet', and they'd say, 'Who?' In later years they'd say, 'Oh', which amounts to the same thing." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-used-to-get-on-planes-and-theyd-ask-who-we-132665/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.
