People write because it seems like it'll be an easier job than carpet laying, that they might meet more girls. And they write because the world strikes them as being a marvelous place, and they want to keep bringing that to everybody's attention. You know ~ a scary place, a menacing place, an exciting place because it's scary and menacing. But mainly, kind of glorious.

I wrote my songs despite the fact that I was a drunk, not because of it.

Maybe you simply criticized someone you hardly knew. You ruined part of their life. For them, part of your life, too.

I'm drinking here break motor oil and Bombay gin, I'll sleep when I'm dead.

Your face looked like something Death brought with him in his suitcase.

My father was a boxer, though. So, I have a particular interest in Ray Mancini, I think.

I'd like to go back to Paris someday and visit the Lourve museum, get a good running start, and hurl myself at the wall.