Being in Vietnam changed him [Johnny Cash] fundamentally. He was devastated when we went into Iraq.

I needed to carve out my own place and find out what I was going to do

I couldn't listen to music with lyrics for the first few months after the brain surgery, because they were too complex and disturbing. So I listened to a lot of classical music. I didn't really want to read, either, so I listened to books on tape or watched movies. I also re-taught myself all of my childhood piano pieces. It helped me repair my brain.

I dream of songs. I dream they fall down through the centuries, from my distant ancestors, and come to me. I dream of lullabies and sea shanties and keening cries and rhythms and stories and backbeats.

I found it was really impossible for me to write songs when I couldn't sing.

I think that my sensitivity to music has actually deepened and expanded as I've gotten older. You add more life experience.

Once your kids get older and get out of the house, it's not like it stops. They're on the phone with me every day; I'm intimately involved in their problems.