“I think cursing is a bunch of malarkey.”

Gershwin inspired me very much. The concept of ‘That Lucky Old Sun’ was inspired by ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ – not influenced, but inspired.

I’m just a shy and retreating kind of person. Sometimes I get in a real talkative mood – but not very often.

If you’re going to write a song, try to get together with a collaborator because it’s better to write with collaborators.

Any article’s good. Long as it’s publicity, I think that’s all that matters. I think it’s advancement for my career.

I play piano all the time. I’m always at my piano, playing music.

So it’s 1976 and we’re still riding on our past success. I mean I’ve gone on like that for I don’t know how long.

I sit and I write automatically. I don’t really try to write. My subconscious mind takes over and writes the songs for me. Songs come very easily for me. When I’m inspired, it takes me 20 minutes to write a song.

I think about God, yes, and I wonder if there is a God. And if there is a God, will God please help me through my hard trips.

The idea of taking a song, envisioning the overall sound in my head and then bringing the arrangement to life in the studio…well, that gives me satisfaction like nothing else.

I have an instinct for music, or a feeling about it, and I’ll have my feelings guide my hands.

I’ve never written one note or word of music simply because I think it will make money.

I believe that music is God’s voice.

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can’t understand what they are saying. It’s a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive.

I have stage fright every single concert I’ve ever done. I have at least four or five minutes of it. It’s absolute living hell.

If there’s not love present, it’s much, much harder to function. When there’s love present, it’s easier to deal with life.

J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There’s a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it’s like meditation.

I’m gonna put a curse on you and all your kids will be born completely naked.

Beauty cannot be recognized with a cursory glance.

Yet is there one more cursed than they all, That canker-worm, that monster, jealousie, Which eats the heart and feeds upon the gall, Turning all love’s delight to misery, Through fear of losing his felicity.

You tainted me with your cursed lips apocalypse.

How surely are the dead beyond death. Death is what the living carry with them. A state of dread, like some uncanny foretaste of a bitter memory. But the dead do not remember and nothingness is not a curse. Far from it.

The money pigs of capitalist democracy: Money has made slaves of us. Money is the curse of mankind. It smothers the seed of everything great and good. Every penny is sticky with sweat and blood.

Your soft heart is a blessing not a curse.

What a gentle curse: to still want you after all we’ve been.