Not to dismiss Gershwin, but Gershwin is the chip; Ellington was the block.

When I was 19 I went to art school. I had six months of teaching myself to play baritone ukulele under my belt so I was sort of a novice folkie... I was singing folk songs at that time.

I am as constant as a northern star

You have this mounting aggressive ignorance with the rabbit's foot of their particular religion. You don't really have any kind of spiritual law, just a kind of a rabid mental illness. The songs are a little slice of life.

I have lost my credibility as a hit maker because of these side excursions into other branches of music; by not being consistent. Consistency seems to be all-important.

In some ways, my gift for music and writing was born out of tragedy, really, and loss.

Happiness is the best facelift.