Zitat des Tages von Bob Seger:
That's a good way to live, go against the wind.
I just fell into the Dylanesque idea of recording. He is real fast.
I write probably 80 percent of my stuff over the winter.
I'm listing to music all the time. I have favorite artists. Kid Rock loves the Civil Wars' song 'Barton Hollow.' We both said that's our favorite country song of the year. That knocks me out.
I do try to go home as much as possible after each show. I've got my own plane. I'm very fortunate.
You can't get a good crew and a good sound system, and a good light system if you do a small tour. If you want the best, those guys want a commitment of about 4 to 6 months. And I'd want the best people and the best stuff.
It took me a long time to learn how to write a good song.
Even in junior high, I always knew I had a talent for music and I knew I could make money that way.
I really like the thing I did with Martina McBride. I had that song sitting around for a long time.
I don't have and have never had an email address. I'm old school. But as far as downloads go, my only objection is I like the sound of CDs better, so I buy those. I think the sound quality is better.
You don't know what inspires you. You like to think you know what inspires you, but in the final analysis I don't think you really do. It's great to look at a blank sheet of paper, you know, and walk up to an instrument and not know what's gonna happen. It's the most challenging thing I do.
Most of the time, I'm here in Michigan and I'm taking out the garbage every Monday.
Great sex is wonderful while it's happening, but who remembers great sex they had in 1983?
I'm not a tour rat. I'm not crazy about it.
Every now and then you'll nail one that's really, really special. And that's what you live for.
We've got to practice three weeks, get the kinks out, then we've got to practice three weeks with the crew, and then go out for four months. It's just a huge chunk of time out of life.
I had kids at age 47, and very late in life, and I'd been doing it for 30 straight years, writing songs, making a record and touring and starting the process right over.
My father left us when I was 10, so I had to make enough money for us to be able to live in a house because my brother went in the service during Vietnam and I was sole support of my mother. And she had no skills, really, except to clean other people's houses. So I had to have a bunch of jobs, you know, as well as music.
Unlike a lot of people, I don't need the affirmation or anything.
You go to LA, or you go to New York, and it's really fun to go there. But they're not grounded. Everybody is just competing all the time for the limelight. It's too much entertainment industry. There are too many choices. And it's distracting to me.
My management tells me, Don't be optimistic, because it's the young people's world now. They want to hear what they want to hear, and you're a classic rocker. I don't know if you're gonna get the play.
I always loved music. You know, my parents said I started singing when I was 4, in the car.
Radio is so fragmented, it's unbelievable.
Yeah, I'm just blessed to have this very strong thing, my vocals. I'm very healthy in that regard.
I can only get my drummer in the winter; he plays with Grand Funk all summer.
I had the opportunity to be around my kids a lot. I guess I could have kept working, but I had them when I was 47. You only get to see all this stuff once. I just chose to work at home and watch them.
I'm just trying to keep things simple, and just be a little more offhand and not get so deep into things. Enjoy what you got right now, because who knows what's going to happen tomorrow.
The two hours onstage is great. But I can only play a show and then take a night off. I have to sing for two hours, and then I've gotta rest it for a night. So it's the other 46 hours that are just boring as heck.
If I want to work, I can. If I want to play golf, or ride my motorcycle, I can. But the rest of it is family. Sometimes you're not really needed by your family, but you're there. And my kids like to know I'm there.
I write a lot of songs people don't hear. I really just enjoy the process. I finish 'em all. I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between the bad ones and the good ones.
I wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then.
I just start playing music and eventually I sing something, a line of a verse or a B section or a line of a chorus, and the line that I end up singing is related to the music I'm playing, if that makes any sense. And I go from there.
Be original. That's my best advice. You're going to find that there's something that you do well, and try to do it with as much originality as you can, and don't skimp on the words. Work on the words.
My band is so dedicated, everybody works very hard. The No. 1 priority is the show, and it's pretty cool because we all pull together, and it's fun. It's like being on a sports team or something.
When you have kids, you start thinking about their future and you forget about yours.
For a long time, I thought when you do a box set, you're giving up; you're saying, 'OK, I don't have anything left.' But now I've listened to some of the old stuff I haven't heard in 20 to 40 years with fresh ears. It's like, 'Oh yeah, I can see where people might want to to hear some of this stuff that didn't make it onto the records.'
