I started out with nothing and I still got most of it left.

You have to keep busy. After all, no dog's ever pissed on a moving car.

It wasn't good for my nerves, that kind of work - a fireman. I've got high blood pressure. I get upset easily. I don't think that was a proper career alternative for me.

The things you absorb you will ultimately secrete. It's all out there and available for you to enjoy...and be nourished by.

It's rather mystifying when you think about writing songs - where they come from, and how they're born.

You're my North Star when I'm lost and feeling blue.

In terms of black music - the only music that we can call our own, that was really born here - I don't think a lot has been done to chronicle the relations between American history and where black music fits in.