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

I took care of myself. Basically I'm a vegetarian, I run every day, I exercise. I kind of control my living habits. I try to get a good night's sleep every night, I don't stay up all night and do all that stuff.

But I always loved songs with great lyrics.

I think after 1970 or so, after I sold Soul City, I took off for awhile and didn't do too many gigs.

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.

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.

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