Why do people want to know exactly who I am? Am I a poet? Am I this or that? I've always made people wary. First they called me a rock poet. Then I was a poet that dabbled in rock. Then I was a rock person who dabbled in art.

I had no proof that I had the stuff to be an artist, though I hungered to be one.

Robert was concerned with how to make the photograph, and I with how to be the photograph.

The film [Dream of Life], in the end, is life-affirming, and I think it's always useful for people to be reminded that no matter how rough things get, no matter what kind of twists and turns our lives can take, we can keep going, we can create something new.

I wasn't a stranger to hard times. I used to read the Bible - well, I still do, but when I was young I read the Bible quite a bit.

I'm not really a musician. I'm a performer and I love rock 'n' roll.

The whole process of working with Steven [Sebring] and being filmed by him helped me psychologically to get my feet back on the ground.