We wanted, it seemed, what we already had, a lover and a friend to create with, side by side. To be loyal, yet be free.

I'd try to write my poems in a certain rhythm. I had my rock 'n' roll stuff for performing and my denser stuff for writing.

When I was a teenager, I dreamed of being an opera singer like Maria Callas or a jazz singer like June Christy or Chris Connor, or approaching songs with the kind of mystical lethargy of Billie Holiday, or championing the downtrodden like Lotte Lenya. But I never dreamed of singing in a rock-and-roll band.

Everything distracted me, but most of all myself.

Toyland, toyland . . . once you pass its portals you may never return again.

I know from an early age that I'm very comfortable in front of people. When I was a young girl, I'd love giving book reports.

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