I played in front of every conceivable audience you could face: an all-black audience, all-white, firemen's fairs, policemen's balls, in front of supermarkets, bar mitzvahs, weddings, drive-in theaters. I'd seen it all before I ever walked into a recording studio.

No, I always felt that amongst my core fans- because there was a level of popularity that I had in the mid '80s that was sort of a bump on the scale- they fundamentally understood the values that are at work in my work.

You'll walk with me out on the wire, cuz baby, I'm just a scared and lonely rider, but I gotta know how it feels... I want to know love is wild, babe, I want to know love is real.

A great singer has to learn how to inhabit a song.

You can't shut off the risk and the pain without losing the love that remains.

What you were singing about was believable and convincing, that's the key to a great singer.

There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king.