A song is like a picture of a bird in flight; the bird was moving before the picture was taken, and no doubt continued after.

Alan Lomax is the person who I think should be given major credit for what has been called the "Folk Song Revival." My father participated with him because my father was a musicologist and urged trained musicians to learn about "the vernacular."

Anybody who wants to learn everything is pretty stupid. You learn what you can.

Songs won't save the planet, but neither will books or speeches.

You have a right to your opinion and I've got a right to mine. Period.

Do-so is more important than say-so.

I'm still a communist in the sense that I don't believe the world will survive with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer - I think that the pressures will get so tremendous that the social contract will just come apart.