My father really was not the dominant person who raised the family, it was my mother who raised the family.
Music, at its essence, is what gives us memories. And the longer a song has existed in our lives, the more memories we have of it.
I'm still experimenting.
Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.
First of all, I'm no better than the next person.
I know there are thousands of images of me.
I've had some incredibly triumphal things happen in my life.
Time is long but life is short.
I am what I am. I love me! And I don't mean that egotistically - I love that God has allowed me to take whatever it was that I had and to make something out of it.
When I was a child, kids used to make fun of me because I was blind. But I just became more curious, 'How can I climb this tree and get an apple for this girl?' That's what mattered to me.
I can't say that I'm always writing in my head but I do spend a lot of time in my head writing or coming up with ideas. And what I do usually is write the music and melody and then, you know, maybe the basic idea. But when I feel that I don't have a song or just say, God, please give me another song. And I just am quiet and it happens.
You know, I have seven children, so I guess I know some things about life.
This is like one thing that I've tried to do, and I think successfully, that when you realize that nothing really belongs to you, you begin to appreciate having an understanding of just where your head is at, and you feel so much better.
I've had threats.
Ya gots to work with what you gots to work with.
