People often called us perfectionists, but we were not looking for perfection. We were looking for some kind of magic in the music.

Music is forever; music should grow and mature with you, following you right on up until you die.

Mama, don't take my Kodachrome away.

I don't think [Dylan and the Beatles] influenced me a lot. I think it was inevitable; they were so powerful that you couldn't really escape the influence.

Elvis was the reason I picked up the guitar.

People ask how I feel about getting old. I tell them I have the same question. I'm learning as I go.

Although I was able to study music with teachers, I never studied lyric writing. I read poetry, and I read other lyricists. But they were never writing in the style or the form that I was interested in.