People say I'm such a pessimist, but I always was. It never stopped me from doing what I had to do. I would say I'm a realist.

Noise is an imposition on sanity, and we live in very noisy times.

Instead of getting hard ourselves and trying to compete, women should try and give their best qualities to men - bring them softness, teach them how to cry.

If you're gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.

Back then I was still listening to rhythm and blues, and my aunt took me to see a Pete Seeger concert. And it gelled. He made all the sense in the world to me. I got addicted to his albums, and then Belafonte and Odetta - they were the people who seemed to fuse things that were important to me into music. I think Pete the most because he did what he did to the point where he took those enormous risks and then paid for them.

"Diamonds & Rust" started off as another song. Then the words started to morph. When you write a song that deep, the words come from some place else. But when the songs stop coming, it would be so contrived to try and force it. Since then I've just been doing other people's music.

If you swing both ways, you really swing. I just figure you double your pleasure.