In the '50s you had to wear pink ribbons if you were a girl, and you were supposed to become a hairdresser or a secretary. I couldn't stomach it. Later on, when I fell in love with my husband and had children, that's when my mother's earthiness or sense of femaleness kicked in.

I gave you a wrist watch, baby, and you wouldn't even give me the time of day.

As far as I'm concerned, being any gender is a drag.

More than anything that's been the thread through my life - the desire to write, the impulse to write. I mean, it's taken me other places, but it was the impulse to write that led me to singing.

I was horny, but I was innocent 'cause I was a real-late bloomer and not particularly attractive. In fact, homely.

When I was working on the lyrics, I thought of all the lullabies we learn as children: "Away in the Manger," William Blake's lullabies. I realized that the key to lullabies is simplicity.

The new artists coming through were very materialistic and Hollywood, not so engaged in communication.