For Hunchback, we needed this live, gigantic choir. So we went to London and said, This is Disney! I need singers who can sing high D's, hold them for 18 seconds, and do it 60 times!

I was talking to my spiritual advisor. I got a letter from somebody who said that they were about to kill themselves, but they listened to a song of mine and it saved their lives.

I wanted to produce Nancy LaMott's albums, so I created my own record company.

I think of my songs as there to be something to move people emotionally.

I publish my own music. I'm creating my own songbook. It works that way for me; I'm very independent.

I may not be the most famous songwriter in the world, but you know a David Friedman song when you hear it. It took me a long time to appreciate that.

I know a lot of people who have tremendous commercial success and they go directly for it. There's something that has always been difficult about that for me.

I have been writing since I was about 20, and at first I wrote in secret and never showed anybody. I was very concerned about making a living, so I conducted.

I have a musical called Goodbye and Good Luck, based on a Grace Paley short story. I also have King Island Christmas, and there are 20 different productions of it this year.

I don't like to produce albums. I hate producing albums, as a matter of fact, because I'm an obsessed mixer and I can't leave it alone.

Corn ethanol can help in the short term, but it has serious limitations, and none of this is going to work if we don't dramatically improve the efficiency of our cars and trucks.

As time goes by, I realize that I do trust the wind. And I often write my songs for myself.

As a person, I'm not that hopeful, but somehow the hopeful part of me reveals itself through my songs.

My first career was as a coach and a teacher.

I write and direct the Duke University Children's Hospital Benefit every year.