It's what I do well - I write about things that make people uncomfortable. That's probably the only thing I do better than my peers.

My parents both were doing the Civil Rights Movement, were very involved with the civil rights to Congress. And my friends' parents were as well.

I started 'Society's Child' on a bus in East Orange as I was going home from school. I saw a black and white couple sitting there and started thinking about it.

I had a vague idea of the song's impact in the '60s, but that was tempered by the hate mail and threats I was receiving. It was only about ten years ago, when I finally put it back in my show because so many people were asking for it, that I understood 'Society's Child' real impact.

That's an amazing moment, the first time you hear yourself on radio. It's still thrilling.

Those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces, desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone.

Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there.