The interesting thing is that, well, here's what I think about songwriters and songs. Sometimes people sit down and say, "I gotta write a song today, I have a title" and all of that, and sometimes inspiration just happens, almost like "Sugar, Sugar" and a couple of the other songs. But basically, I just started playing the piano, and I'm not a great piano player.

If you look at my history, I'm not gonna let that many people into whatever I'm going through.

There are times when, for many years, I've been irrelevant - and it was OK! I had my moment. No one is responsible for anyone else's dreams. I don't need a babysitter. I just needed to know that I could do this. I just think that my happiest time or my best time, upon reflection, is that I had the courage to do this.

I've lived a phenomenal life, and there's more life in me, but I'm here, I'm not yesterday, but all those yesterday's brought me here. So I'm very comfortable with that.

I first heard "Heaven Without a Gun" when Kevin [Drew] sent it to me, and there was this kind of beauty about it. I don't live that much in the literal world, so you kind of have to see beyond the veil of what you're being shown sometimes. To me, that's such a beautiful, wonderful sentiment.

I remember the day before my dad died, I was in a hospital room with him, and he had lived a long life. He was 94, and I helped him get up, and there were two windows separated by the partition. I took him to the first window, and he kind of found his way to the second window, and on the way there was a mirror, and he looked into it, and I saw through the corner of my eye, I remember the look on his face. What came over his face was "So I'm here. I've crossed that bridge."

I don't come from a musical family and didn't go to Julliard or anything, but I had this kind of vision of stuff that was so powerful that I just needed to find it. I have no regrets.