I couldn't have recorded this record 15 years ago. My voice didn't have the depth to pull these songs off.

I'm wide open and will entertain anything anybody has to say, but if it's MTV and radio, well, they're great things, but can't be the only thing. I don't know that it would work even for the Beatles.

You cannot expect the guy who drove the car into the ditch to navigate it out of the ditch. You have to put a new driver in the seat. I'm not saying the new driver is going to be any better, but we need a new driver. Kerry is the only choice.

I'm the guy who wrote The Authority Song. Did they think I was kidding? Did they think it was only a song to entertain?

I would never say John Kerry would be a great president. I will say that George Bush has divided us; he has filled this country with hatred.

I want to sell to people my own age, because that's the way I write songs.

I thought I knew a lot about music. Then you start digging and the deeper you go, the more there is.

I think it's ridiculous to try to sell records to teenagers, because teenagers don't buy my records. And there ain't that many teenagers out there in the marketplace.

If fans are going to turn on me because of this, they weren't my fans anyway. I couldn't betray a whole 25 years of record making and not do this. I had to.

I don't have to worry about any pop sensibility. I can write adult songs, and I don't have to worry about choruses and hook lines.

I'm your average Joe guy. I don't really care for politicians.

Do I think it's OK to fight authority as long as you're only talking about the high school teacher? No.

Bob Dylan's first couple of records in the 60's weren't considered cover records, but he only wrote one or two original songs on each album.

A lot of Woody Guthrie's songs were taken from other songs. He would rework the melody and lyrics, and all of a sudden it was a Woody Guthrie song.

A lot of record company people, even though they're our age, want to be perceived as young hip guys, and they're hurting the business.