The people in my songs are all me.

Well the deputy walks on hard nails and the preacher rides a mount, But nothing really matters much it's doom alone that counts.

If you like someone's work, the important thing is to be exposed to everything that person has been exposed to. Anyone who wants to be a songwriter should listen to as much folk music as they can, study the form and structure of stuff that has been around for 100 years.

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

When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke

The first thing you notice about New Orleans are the burying grounds - the cemeteries - and they're a cold proposition, one of the best things there are here. Going by, you try to be as quiet as possible, better to let them sleep. Greek, Roman, sepulchres- palatial mausoleums made to order, phantomesque, signs and symbols of hidden decay - ghosts of women and men who have sinned and who've died and are now living in tombs. The past doesn't pass away so quickly here. You could be dead for a long time

Your mind is a your temple, keep it beautiful and free. Don't let an egg get laid in it by something you can't see.