Say a prayer for the lost generation, who spin the wheel out of desperation.

While I was there, I was just gathering images and names, and ideas and rhythms, and I was storing all of these things - which I didn't realize I was doing - but I was storing them all in an attic in my mind somewhere. And when it was time to sit down and write songs, when I reached into the attic to see what I was gonna write about, that's what was there.

Say a prayer for the lost generation, who spin the wheel out of desperation.

The Beatles tried to do some tours and found it to be completely pointless and became a non-touring band after that, and with very good reason.

It would be nice to abandon the verse-chorus-bridge structure completely, and make it so none of these things are definable. ... Make up new names for them. Instead of a bridge, you can call it a highway, or an overpass. ... Music should never be harmless. ... I remember from my earliest years, people speaking, you know, in a certain kind of rhythm and telling stories and sharing experiences in a way that was different in Indian country than it was other places. And I was really struck by this and obviously very affected by it, because it's always come out in my songs.

When you make a record, your own record, and you don't even recognize it yourself, it's hard to think if anybody else is going to recognize.

I try not to think the song to death. The main criteria is if it's working on an emotional level.