What I took back, because of my exposure to the Jewish music of the 30s and the 40s in my upbringing with my father, was that kind of theatrical songwriting. It was always a part of my character. This desire to make people laugh.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I didn't want to be on the losing side. I was fed up with Jewish weakness, timidity and fear. I didn't want any more Jewish sentimentality and Jewish suffering. I was sickened by our sad songs.
I think songwriting was the biggest way that I found my identity.
I have to go back to my younger days, when I just adored Hollywood musicals.
My songwriting and my style became more complex as I listened, learned, borrowed and stole and put my music together.
I think I was affected quite a bit by musical and creative influences that go all the way back to my childhood.
Great classic music that I've been turned on to has not only inspired and influenced me, but it has had an effect on my songwriting.
I loved a lot of different kinds of music, but for my own thing, I went for the singer-songwriters.
I had given myself a sort of early retirement when I left the scene in 1985. All of the people in my family worked until they dropped, including my father. I decided to take a little time to enjoy life. I traveled, built my dream house, rescued a few dogs. My return to music, and acting, was deliberate, part of my musical arc.
In my early shows, I wanted to put myself through a new childhood, disintegrating my whole identity to let the real one emerge. I became a human jukebox, learning all these songs I'd always known, discovering the basics of what I do. The cathartic part was in the essential act of singing.
It wasn't so much that I had to leave to make it in the music business as I was curious to be out on my own and sort of explore. I never felt that where I was ever influenced my songwriting.