I was just getting tired of the image bullshit...that man of mystery trip and what have you. What's that all about?

What I don't like is taking it to extremes and making all these intellectualizations about what basically is simple music. It's simple stream-of-consciousness stuff in my songs. What I'm trying to get across is misinterpreted.

It's all complete instinct and intuition, and that's extremely difficult to teach.

We're [with Robbie Robertson ] jazz musicians. The context may be rock 'n' roll but it's still jazz. It's jazz and that means improvization...you play a tune the way it feels and you play it differently every time. It can never be the same.

This Hollywood ain't no good, I would rather be like Robin Hood.

In the media, a reviewer has his personal vision but it's passed along to a million readers or whatever. He might think that this particular song sounds like Jo Blow. Or like a Bo Diddley record that he heard six years ago. But the artist who made the record may never have even heard the Bo Diddley song. We all respond differently.

I don't like to condemn people because what that means is that you're only condemning yourself about a part of you that you can't stand.