我是在巡演途中接到这个出人意料的消息的，我好半天才回过神来。我开始想到文学界的伟大人物威廉·莎士比亚。我猜想他把自己视为剧作家。他不会产生他写的是文学作品的念头。他的文字为舞台而写。用来说而不是读。我敢肯定，他在写《哈姆雷特》时想的是许多别的事情：“都有谁适合扮演这些角色?”“这一段要怎么演?”“真要把丹麦作为这个故事的背景吗?”创意和雄心无疑是他最先要想的东西，但还有一些比较琐碎的事情要考虑和处理。“资金到位了吗?”“给资助人提供的好座位够多吗?”“去哪里弄一颗颅骨?”我敢打赌莎士比亚最不可能想到的问题是：“这算文学吗?”

　　When I started writing songs as a teenager， and even as I started to achieve some renown for my abilities， my aspirations for these songs only went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars， maybe later in places like Carnegie Hall， the London Palladium. If I was really dreaming big， maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind. Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had set out to do.

　　我年少时开始写歌，在我开始因自己的才能小有名气时，我对这些歌抱有的期望也仅限于此。我想着也许能在咖啡馆或酒吧听到它们，或许日后还能在像卡内基音乐厅和伦敦守护神剧院这样的地方听到。如果我真的敢想的话，或许我会想象出唱片、然后在电台里听到我的歌。那的确是我心目中的大奖。出唱片并在电台听到自己的歌意味着会拥有众多听众，如此一来也许就可以将最初要做的事情继续下去。