I can create a vibe without saying anything, just by being in the room.

She's my best friend, better than a dog or car.

I'm waiting'/for my man/ got twenty-six dollars in my hand/ he's never early/he's always late/ the first thing you learn/ is you always gotta' wait' -Waiting for the Man

Some people are like human tuinals

The myriad choices of his fate Set themselves out upon a plate For him to choose What had he to lose

I don't like the word rock opera, but I'm trying to write on that level that's reserved for plays still, or novels.

The music business doesn't interest me anymore.

Me, I've concentrated on music pretty much to the exclusion of other things.

I always thought martial arts was the most modern choreography we could have right now, and I always wanted to put it to music.

I wanted to be an actor. That was my real goal. But I wasn't any good at it, so I wrote my own material and acted through that. That's my idea of fun. I get to be all these things in the songs.

I have no control over the audience. I have no idea what they think. My heart's pure. I can't do anything. I really can't do anything. I don't know what goes on in the crowd.

For a while, I felt a little self-impelled to write Lou Reed Kind of songs. I should have understood that a Lou Reed song was anything I wanted to write about.

The first generation of CDs sounded terrible. Any chance to remaster would make the music sound better than what was already out there.

Music was what bothered me, what interested me.

I'm not joking around when I've said occasionally, trying to learn how to play a D chord properly has been a very big thing for me.

I don't like overdubs, never liked them.

I cleaned up my act because otherwise I would have kicked the bucket.

I'm too old to do things by half.

I'm in this business for too long to be halfhearted about anything.

I don't really think about what the subject of my next album will be. I just know that I'm going to make another album.

I can concentrate on my art.

You're a musician: You play. That's what you do.

I don't know what goes on in the crowd. I've had them show up and throw beer cans at me. I caused riots in most of the major cities.

In the late '70s I started to search for the perfect sound - whatever that might be, before that I was mainly interested in drugs, insanity and the rock'n'roll lifestyle.

People think that I work out but it's all t'ai chi.

Perfect Night has that magic and it has the raw energy that grabs you by the throat.

I don't know anyone actually who does care what a critic says.

But I'm also talented and I know when I created something great and Perfect Night is something great, no doubt, no but.

I am very emotionally affected by sound. Sounds are the inexplicable... There is a sound you hear in your head, it's your nerves, or your blood running.

The music is all. People should die for it. People are dying for everything else, so why not the music?

One of my rules is: Never listen to your old stuff.

I love Ornette Coleman. I love Don Cherry. I love the way those guys play.

It's depressing when you're still around and your albums are out of print.

My God is rock'n'roll.

I don't think anybody is anybody else's moral compass. Maybe listening to my music is not the best idea if you live a very constricted life. Or maybe it is.

I was a product of Andy Warhol's Factory. All I did was sit there and observe these incredibly talented and creative people who were continually making art, and it was impossible not to be affected by that.

I don't believe in dressing up reality. I don't believe in using makeup to make things look smoother.

Raymond Chandler managed to write about L.A. his whole career. Should I keep going writing about New York? Is that what I should be doing? Songwriting doesn't work that way.

Raymond Chandler managed to write about L.A. his whole career. Should I keep going writing about New York? Is that what I should be doing? Songwriting doesn't work that way.

You can't ask me to explain the lyrics because I won't do it.

When I was in college, I had a jazz radio show. I called it 'Excursion on a Wobbly Rail,' after a Cecil Taylor song. I used to run around the Village following Ornette Coleman wherever he played.

I've never been super confident about anything. The work is never as good as it could be.

If it has more than three chords, it's jazz.

You can't beat 2 guitars, bass, and drums.

I don't like nostalgia unless it's mine.

The most important part of my religion is to play guitar.

I think it's pretentious to create art just for the sake of stroking the artists ego.

One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz.

I think I just don't know.

It takes a busload of faith to get by.