I suppose when you do it correctly, a good introduction and a good outro makes the song feel like it's coming out of something and then evolving into something.

When I was growing up, there were two things that were unpopular in my house. One was me, and the other was my guitar.

For me, I was somebody who was a smart young guy who didn't do very well in school. The basic system of education, I didn't fit in; my intelligence was elsewhere.

There is a real patriotism underneath the best of my music but it is a critical, questioning and often angry patriotism.

If not for my family, I would have been in big trouble.

From my foster parents, the Deans, I received the love that was ultimately to strengthen me, even when I had forgotten its source. It was my foster mother, a half-Indian, half-German woman, who taught me to read, though she herself was barely literate. I remember her reading to me every day from 'True Romance' magazine.

I think a child should be allowed to take his father's or mother's name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.

I always used to put on plays when I was younger for my family to watch, when I was 10 or something. I used to force older members of my family to watch the plays and younger members of my family to be characters in the plays - and my personal favorite was Batman.