“You must not demand the failure of your peers, because the more good things that are around in film, in television, in theater - why the better it is for all of us.”

“'Hound Dog' took like twelve minutes. That's not a complicated piece of work. But the rhyme scheme was difficult. Also the metric structure of the music was not easy. 'Kansas City' was maybe eight minutes, if that. Writing the early blues was spontaneous. You can hear the energy in the work.”