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

My father said it himself in an interview many years ago: 'Husband and wife failed, but mother and father didn't.' I've got a life that really matters to me, and that's because of the way I was raised. My ethics are high because my parents did a great job.

I liked getting the Grammy more than not getting it.

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

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

Bob Dylan led me to this kind of music - and it's his and ours. And it's nobody else's.

I'm waiting for my kids to grow up and get into the Offspring and look at me like I'm a total candy-ass.