Guys like Otis Blackwell and Bobby Darin, and all the guys who were writing songs for Elvis at the time, just hanging around, writing songs, talking about music.

The first amp I had back in the '50s was a small Fender.

When I came back to California in the early '60s I was hanging out with Jimmy Bowen, Phil Spector, and I wanted to be a record producer and work with other artists.

I was rooming with Jimmy Bowen at the time, doing some gigs, then I went back to New Orleans and played there in '62.

But I always loved songs with great lyrics.

My first really good guitar was a Gibson J-45.

One thing will lead to another and somebody will come up with a riff or a line or something we build from.