My father was a classical pianist, and my mother was a singer of just about everything.

Well, I make every song I sing personal. I've never chosen a song that wasn't.

Sometimes my boyfriend would write the lyrics and I would write the melody, and other times I would start from scratch. Or sometimes I would take a local poem and put that to music...I always sang standards because the songs I wrote for myself weren't as easy to sing.

You're so vain. I bet you think this song is about you.

I grew up not understanding what was true and what was not true. It gave me a sense of unreality. I was told that this man [mom's lover] was not my mother's lover - when he was. I was told he was there as a male babysitter for my brother so that he would learn sports and other manly things.

Then I went through a big Peggy Lee stage, then I became Annie Ross, then Judy Collins.

There was a French singer, Francoise Hardy - I used to look at her pictures and try to dress like her.