You have moments of clarity, things become clear to you that you didn't understand before. But there's never any making ends meet or finding any time of longstanding peace of mind about something.

The only thing I can say about having this type of success is that you can get yourself in trouble because basically the world is set open for you. People will say yes to anything you ask, so it's basically down to you and what you want or need.

'Darkness on the Edge of Town' came out of a huge body of work that had tons of very happy songs.

That's what being a front man is all about - the idea of having something supple underneath you, that machine that roars and can turn on a dime.

If you're up there [on stage] thinking about what you're doing, you're just not there and it's not going to happen.So trying to learn how to overcome those - which is a normal thing to do. You're in front of a lot of people. People are going to get very self-conscious. So you have to learn to sort of overcome that tendency towards self-consciousness and just blow it wide open. And you jump in and join all those people that are out there enjoying what you're doing together.

I think that is what film and art and music do; they can work as a map of sorts for your feelings.

Time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of glory days.