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.

Well the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers.

[Bob] Dylan's broken-heart songs are so much better. Like "Simple Twist of Fate".

Down the street the dogs are barking And the day is getting dark. As the night comes in a-falling, The dogs´ll lose their bark And the silent night will shatter From the sounds inside my mind, For I´m one to many mornings And a thousand miles behind. From the crossroads of my doorstep, My eyes they start to fade, As I turn my head back to the room Where my love and I have laid.

I am hanging in the balance of a perfect finished plan, like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.

In the dime stores and bus stations
 People talk of situations
 Read books, repeat quotations
 Draw conclusions on the wall
 Some speak of the future
 My love she speaks softly
 She knows there’s no success like failure
 And that failure’s no success at all -Bob Dylan, “Love Minus Zero / No Limit” (1965)

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes. You'd know what a drag it is to see you.