I see a correlation between short stories and songs, because of their length and for what they're meant to evoke. Combine certain words with melodies and it all becomes very moving.

Elvis was the reason I picked up the guitar.

Serious numbers will speak to us always.

My whole artistic life has always been about change, change, change, move on, move on. It's the only thing I find interesting.

It's outrageous to line your pockets off the misery of the poor; It's outrageous, the crimes some human beings must endure.

I regret the ending of our friendship and hope one day before we die, we'll make peace with each other . . . No rush.

I really don't know what exactly all the songs mean. Sometimes other people have meanings and when I hear them I think, 'That's really a better meaning than I thought, and perfectly valid, given the words that exist.' So part of what makes a song really good is that people take in different meanings, and they apply them, and they might be more powerful than the ones I'm thinking.