I don't go to church on Sunday, don't get on my knees to pray, or memorize the books of the Bible, I got my own special way

When it's raining you can't find enough things to catch it in. When it's not you can stand out in the middle of the street in a dress and a funny hat and nothing's gonna make it rain. I go through periods - or spells - when I'm more receptive.

Folks who work here are professors. Don't replace all the knowers with guessors keep'em open they're the ears of the town

There's truths there that spiral out of what appears to be just a word game. That's what I find mystifying about the meanings of things: they kind of unscrew themselves from the practical words.

I know a girl, she been married so many times, she got rice marks all over her face

Songs really are like a form of time travel because they really have moved forward in a bubble. Everyone who's connected with it, the studio's gone, the musicians are gone, and the only thing that's left is this recording which was only about a three-minute period maybe 70 years ago.

You just write and you don't try to make sense of it. You just put it down the way you got it.