I wouldn't ever classify myself as a singer. I see myself as a songwriter first.

You can work for 10 years without making it... we aren't actually all living in mansions.

Most times, you walk into a room, and you don't really have a starting point. You have to create the starting point, and normally you'd do that by thinking of a title or a concept for a song, then working back from there.

I take enormous pleasure in seeing artists go out and sing my songs, or being in the corner of a festival, and everyone's singing along, and no one knows that you've written it.

In the '70s, there was no shortage of people taking themselves too seriously, as 'artistes,' if you will. I think we all had a tendency to do that at some point in our career. So looking back on that, it's fun to laugh at it.

One of these days, I'd like to put together a revue of all my music, which would probably turn into a marathon. There's a couple of hit songs from almost every phase of my career. At the same time, visually, if you don't handle it properly, it could be a cacophony of craziness, because there's just so many different kinds of music.

Years ago, as I was beginning my professional career on Wall Street, I volunteered as a Big Brother in New York City.

To be in the music industry, to be in any kind of entertainment industry, you really, really have to be passionate about it and love it and persevere, because if that passion isn't there, it's easy to give up. If you really want it, the ambition is there, it'll come. It's definitely harder work than some people think.