I remember reading about how the decline of the steel industry had been affecting the Lehigh Valley, and I decided that’s what I was going to write the song about.
Most people you’d tell “I’m gonna be a musician,” they’d say, “you’re crazy, you’re gonna starve, you’re gonna be poor, a drug addict, go to jail, you’ll never make it, there’s too much competition.
As human beings, we need to know that we are not alone, that we are not crazy or completely out of our minds, that there are other people out there who feel as we do, live as we do, love as we do, who are like us.
Forced to recognize our inhumanity, our reason coexists with our insanity. And though we choose between reality and madness, it’s either sadness or euphoria.
The whole world loves American movies, blue jeans, jazz and rock and roll. It is probably a better way to get to know our country than by what politicians or airline commercials represent.
People pay a lot of money to go see shows now, they don’t wanna know about your technical problems, or if you’re not feeling good, they don’t wanna know we have a glitch. It’s their night, you better do something to earn that money.
