I worry about kids and all they are exposed to. Kids get so bombarded with hard, commercial sounds. They don't even have a chance to develop the softer part of themselves without fear of being ridiculed.

Thank God for beautiful songs about feeling despair when you yourself are in despair. They really get us through.

I'm very happy to have a small, long, career instead of one big hit and then oblivion.

If I love a song I hope to find a way to get other people to love it too.

I worry about kids and all they are exposed to. Kids get so bombarded with hard, commercial sounds. They don't even have a chance to develop the softer part of themselves without fear of being ridiculed.

Please believe that I do this because I am convinced that my illness cannot be helped for any length of time and I cannot bear to be a burden on anyone any longer.

It may be that my most helpful contributions to music aren't my compact discs but my articles about other great singers of the past for American Heritage magazine.