Opportunities may come along for you to convert something -something that exists into something that didn't yet. That might be the beginning of it. Sometimes you just want to do things your way, want to see for yourself what lies behind the misty curtain. It's not like you see songs approaching and invite them in. It's not that easy. You want to write songs that are bigger than life. You want to say something about strange things that have happened to you, strange things you have seen. You have to know and understand something and then go past the vernacular.

I've never written a political song. Songs can't save the world. I've gone through all that.

You could listen to Woody Guthrie songs and actually learn how to live.

Yesterday's just a memory, tomorrow is never what it's supposed to be.

I'm sick of giving creeps money off my soul.

People talk of situations, read books, repeat quotations.

America was founded on the backs of slaves.