If there is one sin – or rather one waste – it is not doing what you have the inclination or gift for.

I don’t think any responsible performer would go on stage high. If he convinced himself he is better that way, he is deluding himself.

I like performing because it's direct contact with live people. I write a good deal of the time but that's introspective creation rather than interaction.

I think of myself first as a singer, meaning an interpreter. Then I think of myself as a writer. It is an outlet I have to have. I get very hard to live with without something happening to write about.

I think some entertainers have been very irresponsible in their part in making drug use a fad among young people. They say, look at so-and-so, he's a pot head and look what it has done for him. The truth is, he was talented to start with. I mean, if you have vacuity and expand it, you still have vacuity.

If there is one sin—or rather one waste—it is not doing what you have the inclination or gift for.

I don't think any responsible performer would go on stage high. If he convinced himself he is better that way, he is deluding himself.

My job is to entertain people by playing my music well. You shouldn't really be upset because people like you, should you?

When I write I like to give equal justice to lyrics, too. I want the song to have meaning for me so I can make it have meaning for the audience.

I gladly sacrifice pear-shaped tones in favor of down-to-earth emotion.