That smell of freshly cut grass makes me think of Friday night football in high school. The smell of popcorn and cigar smoke reminds me of the stadium. The cutting of the grass reminds me of the August practice.
In advertising, you have a small window to say the most you can. That's what songwriting is. The difference is, you get to put the leaves on the trees and colour 'em in.
Don't change a thing. That's one of the best gimmicks a band could ever come up with.
If God came down here with the box that had the reason for living in it, I'd like to find just 2 words: The Music. That would be neat.
I still use the guitar pretty much just to hide my gut.
I live my life by these little church signs you see as you drive around, and there's one near me that says, 'If we really knew each other, we would neither idolise nor condemn.' And that's it: if we all knew each other, then we wouldn't treat anybody any different. And there wouldn't be any big stars, I guess.
When I went to see Kansas and Queen and Styx, I don't even remember the music. But I know what I saw.
No matter what you say you might do, you never really know until you're in the moment. Every situation is so different.
Whatever I do, I hope it's quality, I hope it's something that's class.
It's the sweetest thing to be a parent of a daughter. When they hit their twenties, they become these lovebugs that come back. It's just so sweet.
Because of the changes in the Padres team I played with last year, I felt like a veteran recently when I worked out with Jason Kendall and he told me he's liked listening to my records since he was a kid!
That's what you want to do as an older artist - you want to reinvent, but there has to be that vein in there for why people were listening to you before in the first place.
I wrote 'The River' practically trying to rip off every lick that James Taylor had, so it was neat to hear him sing those lyrics because that's who inspired you to write them.
What I love about 'Midnight Train' is that it's a song about a journey, but the music actually takes you on that journey. It feels like you're moving through the whole song.
All the artists out there, I ask you and beg you: Take over your ship. It's your career. It's your life.
If the artists would just keep hammering away - unify, stick together - then music will become the king again, which is what it should be.
The most important days, more than any Grammy award thing or anything, is the day that you're responsible for snacks after the game.
Any pitcher who might throw at me should know I'm not giving up my day job or trying to get anyone else's job. I just can't think of anything cooler than being one of the boys of summer!
The hardest part about this business is accepting the back end with the same love that you accepted the front end.
I'm very square and proud of it. The flag stays on the porch here.
