If You're Gonna Sing Meaningful Songs, You

"nasty Man" Isn't A Laughing Matter, But You Have To Laugh Anyway. The Song, Itself, Becomes Something Of A Laughing Matter Because We'd Go Crazy If We Didn't Keep Laughing.

Back Then I Was Still Listening To Rhythm And Blues, And My Aunt Took Me To See A Pete Seeger Concert. And It Gelled. He Made All The Sense In The World To Me. I Got Addicted To His Albums, And Then Belafonte And Odetta - They Were The People Who Seemed To Fuse Things That Were Important To Me Into Music. I Think Pete The Most Because He Did What He Did To The Point Where He Took Those Enormous Risks And Then Paid For Them.

I Wish It Was Clear For Me How It Happened [stop Writing Songs], Then Maybe I Could Start Writing Again. But It's Kind Of An "it." It Just Submerged Itself. Because The Way I Had Always Written Was Just That It Came Out. It Just Happened.

I Was Writing "diamonds And Rust' And It Had Nothing To Do With What It Turned Out To Be. I Don't Remember What It Is, But I Think I Was Writing A Song. It Was Literally Interrupted By A Phone Call, And It Just Took Another Curve And It Came Out To Be What It Was.

When I Was 16, The Guest Speaker Was King. And I Was Completely Overwhelmed Because I Had Been Studying Nonviolence, Talking About It, Reading About It, But Here It Was Happening, Here It Was People Boycotting The Buses And People On The Streets And Taking Risks, Which I Think Was The Key.