Every songwriter lives to have at least one song that a cab driver who asks 'You write anything I know?' will recognize.

I didn't want much. I wanted much more. In fact, I wanted everything.

Kipling said that Success and Failure are both imposters, and we should all listen to Kipling, if only because none of us are likely to know anybody else named Rudyard. But having been bitten in my life by the jaws of both victory and defeat, I must rush to add that success is to failure as butter pecan ice cream is to death.

I've tried in my career to do most everything, because it all intrigues me. And I've found the first time I work in a new form, I discover all the things that make that an exciting medium. I've been very busy most of my career. I've had very few vacations.

If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape, you're the love that I've looked for, come with me and escape.

I don't want to own her, but I can't let her have it both ways. There is one too many of us.

I type even faster than I talk. I'm very proud of that. I type so fast. And I have to because the characters are living in real time and I've got to keep up with them. It's a miracle they even give me a royalty.

In all my years of performing, no audience member has ever actually assaulted me. I consider this to be the singular triumph of my performing career.

I first had the thought about making a musical of 'Edwin Drood' as far back as 1971.

I always try to keep in mind that while the characters in a farce may find themselves in outrageous dilemmas, and may behave in a way that the audience finds amusing, the characters themselves don't have the consolation of knowing they're in a comedy.

Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain. I'm not much into health food, I am into Champagne.

The truth is, I initially became a singer-songwriter while still in my teens because it was the only way to guarantee that somebody on earth would sing the songs I was writing. Since then, I've performed just about everywhere: rock clubs, concerts halls, arenas, TV.