You can take as much as you can from the generation that has preceded you, but then it's up to you to make something new.

As far as those kinds of things, I also played at the concert to call for the release of Nelson Mandela when he was a political prisoner in South Africa. We were celebrating his 70th birthday and calling for his release.

I'd have to say that my favorite thing is writing a song that really says how I feel, what I believe - and it even explains the world to myself better than I knew it.

You can take as much as you can from the generation that has preceded you, but then it's up to you to make something new.

I've written many extra verses to songs that I learned to sing - an extra verse about a friend, or just add some verse - and that led to writing my own songs.

That folk music led to learning to play, and making things up led to what turns out to be the most lucrative part of the music business - writing, because you get paid every time that song gets played.

That's maybe the most important thing each generation does, is to break a lot of rules and make up their own way of doing things.