Believe it or not, people went so far as to suggest that I might not be able to write songs anymore because now I am married. I tried to explain again that there are other things to write about besides boy meets girl, girl meets boy, boy breaks up with girl, girl is sad.

I'm just like everyone. I like to feel togetherness with someone.

I mean, whose songs don't focus on tragedy and loss?

I don't mean to complain. I wouldn't trade my life for anything.

Back in the 1960s, I saw Peter, Paul and Mary. I was at that age, about 14, and I was mesmerized.

I don't want to beat people over the head with my political views. It's more about the humanitarian aspect of it.

I grew up around poets and novelists and my dad wrote poems about everything - from a cat sleeping in a window to a car wreck he passed on the highway. I learned not to censor myself: that was one of things I learned in my apprenticeship, my creative-writing apprenticeship with my dad.