Pastoral Resources

There's something inimical about the camera and song.

I don't listen to recordings of my songs. I don't avoid it, I just don't go out of my way to do it.

If you're dealing with a musical in which you're trying to tell a story, it's got to sound like speech. At the same time it's got to be a song.

A close-up on screen can say all a song can.

After the Rodgers and Hammerstein revolution, songs became part of the story, as opposed to just entertainments in between comedy scenes.

People thought me a bit strange at first; a blond haired, blue-eyed Norwegian who sang Mexican folk songs, but I used it to my advantage and got a job. And so the music became my ticket to education.

I am happy now, to recall that I was no only his son but his companion, and whenever there was a hunting expedition or any other pleasure, I was always with him.

David Burnett was the son of Martha Foley, who edited the Best American Short Stories series. She hired me to work with David and her to read stories for the anthology.

The next day I was in my school's production of All My Sons. This was the performance where I realized something was happening between me and the audience that I hadn't recognized before.

I had deeper, more reflective songs on the first album.

So don't get me wrong, I love my songs, and I still love hearing them. That's history, baby.

I love my songs, let's not get crazy here.

I love the fact that 35 years later, I still hear my songs on the radio.

I just like simplicity. I like simple songs, I like simple chords, simple vocals, simple lead guitar. I just like simplicity. That's just the way I like it.

When a child, my dreams rode on your wishes, I was your son, high on your horse, My mind a top whipped by the lashes Of your rhetoric, windy of course.

My own personal favorite Cher song is the unforgettable Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.

I've been writing songs since I was 14 years old, and that's my true love.

Being a songwriter does not rely on an audience or other band members or a camera. I can just sit in a room and write songs.

In the past, some of the songs that were the most fun, and the most entertaining and rocking, fell by the wayside because I was concerned with what I was going to say and how I was going to say it.

Yeah, my son likes a lot of guitar bands. He gave me something the other day which was really good. He'll burn a CD for me full of things that he has, so he's a pretty good call if I want to check some of that stuff out... The other two aren't quite into that yet.