I never saw myself as a folk singer.

Stay free of petty jealousies, live by no man's code, and hold your judgment for yourself, lest you wind up on this road.

Hold it, Doc, a world war passed through my brain. He said, Nurse, get your pad, this boy's insane.

Then take me disappearin' through the smoke rings of my mind, Down the foggy ruins of time, far past the frozen leaves, The haunted, frightened trees, out to the windy beach, Far from the twisted reach of crazy sorrow. Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free, Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands, With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves, Let me forget about today until tomorrow.

Behind every beautiful thing, there's some kind of pain.

My songs were influenced not so much by poetry on the page but by poetry being recited by the poets who recited poems with jazz bands.

There's a wall between you and what you want and you got to leap it.