I project love, music and love, and I pray for peace. A good song cuts straight to the heart; sometimes it doesn't need to be too many lines - of course, I do love a good story.
I have no idea what will become of my work in the future, the future folk will not be aware of our influence over them, as we are unaware of how our dead influence us.
Music is the marriage of the feelings of the living to the wisdom of the dead.
It's hard to make out the difference between insults and bad advice.
I love songs because by nature they are concise; they sum up. I try to use as few words as possible. It's usually funnier that way, anyway.
I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.
Lyrics are my racket; music is play - the fluff stuff.
I think I have some very meaningful relationships with people; we all do. At the same time, I recognize that everyone is following their own heart; there's been people who have left my life, and I don't have a problem with that. This is a transitory world; we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it and holding on.
I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.
I just write songs whenever I feel like it, whenever they come to me.
I write for myself, and I write for my friends and people who I have a connection with. I try to give some dignity to peoples' lifestyles that tend to be ignored.
I've always thought about myself as somewhat of a folk musician. I just write words. I don't think I'm even a musician. I don't play a lot of instruments, not really a soloist or anything.
I don't think I'm a particularly somber human being.
I wouldn't go into the studio if I didn't have a band who's ready, willing, and able.
I'm making music with my friends. It's fun. It should be fun. You shouldn't make music if it isn't fun.
Sometimes I feel like I finish a song, and there's another song that I have to write in response to that song. Each is like its own separate feeling, its own separate universe.
When you play with great musicians, whether they're schooled or self-taught, they keep you on your toes. It comes down to people's personalities and individual energies.
I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.
A lot of people don't know what it's like to actually be hungry. I do. I've also slept on the streets.
Thank God we don't know a lot about Shakespeare or Moses or Homer or Lautreamont. These are the best guys we got, and their art is powerful because they're mysterious.
