I was drawn to boxing because I got beat up as a kid. I was the kid with the piano books in a New York neighbourhood.

I compare songwriting to childbirth. How many kids can you have before your uterus explodes?

We drown our doubts in dry champagne and soothe our souls with fine cocaine. I don't know why I even care, we get so high and get nowhere.

I don't know why people thought I was retiring.

We didn't start the fire It was always burning Since the world's been turning We didn't start the fire No we didn't light it But we tried to fight it

One of the last times that we played in the area before I wrote "Allentown," I remember a guy coming up to us and saying, "You're never coming back here." I said, "Why do you say that?" He said, "Well, you're probably gonna become a big star. Nobody who ever becomes big comes back here." And I felt so sad for this kid, he seemed so bitter about it. I said, "Well, I'm coming back, no matter what."

I can't remember faces, don't remember names, but after awhile and a thousand miles it all becomes the same.