There's only one thing that's certainAnd that's everybody, everybody's hurting

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

There are certainly a lot of people - and I won't name names - who are getting by simply on expression. And I guess that's valuable in some sense. But songs are not better just because they're emotionally honest. To write a song well, you have to put some work into it and grind it out.

Artists are not going to put somebody new in the president's chair. It's all worth the effort; it all needs to be done. But I don't look at songwriting as having the ability to necessarily do that today.

I do like a song that can look good on a page without even being sung. I edit and edit and edit.

I see myself as a traditionalist. I like traditional things. I like things of substance and value that have been proven. Conceptually, as the songs started to come together, I followed that lead, which is the language I work in.

I'm realistic. Getting to everybody is not the goal here. The people you can affect in any way - that's who you want to get to.