“It was all based around this somewhat Utopian view of the world. The idea was that music would lift man up to a higher plane, and that world leaders, if they were able to sit down on some big grassy knoll where the sun was shining and hear music – such as the type I was playing – would figure out that everybody had more in common than they had not in common, and it was certainly not worth getting in such a bad state of affairs about. Everybody in the world would therefore benefit from this point of view. Just basically that music would make everything better. And of course I’ve since kind of realized it doesn’t work that way.”Tom Johnston (437)

“The words were written last, and they were made up around this whole idea of this wacky little town with a sheriff that had a Samurai Sword and all that sort of thing.”Tom Johnston (437)

“That was based on breaking up with a girlfriend. And that’s basically what that was all about. Including the park and all the rest of it. You know, that was a single, and actually got put out, and was doing real well, and then it got yanked off the radio for the line, “And the radio just seems to bring me down,” because the song being played reminded me of the girl. But radio took it as, “Oh, yeah? The radio brings you down, huh? Well, guess what?” – yank.”Tom Johnston (437)

“Toulouse Street is a street in New Orleans and it was the last date we played on our first tour right after were released out first album. It was the first time I’d ever been in the South and this was the place that impressed me the most. I spent a lot of time down in the French quarter and a lot of time on that particular street. The South is so mysterious — I think the whole South is epitomized by Dr. John — and the last date of our tour made a big impression on me because I had no idea where we were going to go from there.”Pat Simmons (656)

“[Neal Cassady, the man who started with Jack Kerouac, went speeding on to Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters, and died a counterculture hero in Mexico several years ago – Ed.] He’s one of our local boys. His wife and son still live up in Los Gatos. Neal was a local legend. I wrote the song while I was driving.”Pat Simmons (657)

“‘Taking It To The Streets’ is about the day-to-day situations we all find ourselves in. It’s about the fact that all of us are all in the same bowl of soup. We’re all much in the same situations so let’s get it together and do something constructive.”Jeff Baxter (658)