I was singing about six notes higher than I had to, in a range that kept me up in a bubblegum sound.

I wasn't accepted because I didn't accept the drug culture that most of my peers were involved in. Now it's like a locked room.

I think most people are aware of the garbage in the tabloids and dont give them a lot of credence.

You keep lyin' when you ought to be truthin'.

You keep thinking that you'll never get burned, I just found me a brand new box of matches.

The Columbia years are the most sentimental for me. My parents were together through most of that time and we were a happy, sort of normal family.

The one hit song that I have tremendous gratitude for is Boots, because it has a life of its own. It's like being identified with a brand name.

I didn't just want to be Frank's daughter who sang Boots. I take my music very seriously and studied very hard. It's not a joke to me.

Morrissey wrote to me and said, I have a song for you and if we release it as a single, you'll be on the charts for the first time since 1972, I said, what time, where?

Morrissey wrote a really gorgeous song for me. I'm crazy for that man. And he thinks I'm hip!

After 50, the rock 'n' roll road is a little absurd. It's very difficult to play these little places. You're out there on a rickety old bus with no place to shower.

Christ! What are patterns for?

Anything can happen. But almost always, just normal things happen and people have happy lives.

Charity is one of those remarkable words that helps to identify the fault lines of a culture.

Faith is a bridge across the gulf of death.

I don't want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.

I feel like I have had the most amazing life in my public service.

Modern man has both feet firmly planted in mid-air

Most teachers are not enlightened. Very few are. That doesn't mean they are not great teachers.

Memories are perhaps the best gifts of all.

I think it was important that I learned to love to dance eventually for its own sake, as opposed to wanting to be a ballerina.