Its a little gross to put yourself in every song. I mean, how interesting do people really think you are?

The trouble, dollIs not moving mountains, butDigging the ground that you're on

My songs have always had hope and perseverance in them - I never write songs that have no escape hatch, no positivity.

I always saw songwriting as the top of the heap. No matter what else you were going to do creatively... writing songs was king.

Those things interest me a lot in songwriting - the human nature of how people think, and the muck that we wind up in.

The songs I write should only be gauged by what other writers or peers are doing today. If the barometer for all songwriters was to match his body of work, then anyone you might mention alive or dead is a failure. But I've learned to not be too hung up on what's fair or not fair.

I liked getting the Grammy more than not getting it.