Five years ago I figured we were at the top of our game and that was the best it was going to get, but with every album it seems to keep on building on itself.

I think you have to be a little bit strict. You can't be friend and their parent in a lot of situations, especially in this day and age where it's so dangerous for kids. So there's a bit of sternness, I guess, in the way I raise my kids.

And we carry onWhen our lives come undoneWe carry onCause there's promise in the morning sunWe carry onAs the dark surrenders to the dawnWe were born to overcomeWe carry onBeyond the picket fences and the oil wellsThe happy endings and the fairy talesIs the reality of shattered lives and broken dreamsWe carry on

I'm running out of places I can run, looking for a place in the sun.

It's innate in me to be a blue-dog Democrat. I'm not saying I'm right or wrong, but that's what I am. My wife and I and our family will do everything we can to support Obama. I like his ideas, I like his energy, and I like the statement he would make for our country to the world.

One of the most memorable live performances of my career took place on the 2002 American Music Awards show when I had to the opportunity to sing with Elton John. I was moved by the way he played the piano onstage.

I don't know where I'd be without you here with me. Life with you makes perfect sense. You're my best friend.