“It’s not specifically about Rush Limbaugh, but it might be about what’s wrong with Rush Limbaugh. But that might also be what’s wrong with somebody else who’s liberal. I try to make them a little bit more human than specific in that sense, so that “Baby I Can’t Please You” is a broader concept. It could be in a love relationship. It could be in a political relationship. Hopefully there are many levels you can take any of my songs on. That is always my aim.”Sam Phillips (389)

“To me, that’s one of the most basic spiritual principles; just staying in the moment and really living life to the fullest. In the moment and staying present. Being aware of what’s going on around you. Don’t get too far ahead of yourself and start worrying about things you have no control over. Don’t get too far in the past and beat yourself up over things you might have done wrong. Those kinds of things, to me, don’t even seem spiritual because they’re so large.”Sam Phillips (389)

“Well, it’s just a different way of saying things that you want to say. “I’d be lying if I said this,” you know. So just a different way to say something. It’s a little provocative in that I said I don’t want what I don’t have and all the answers are enough. There were some philosophies going around and some self-help that I didn’t agree with, so I put that in a song.”Sam Phillips (389)

“Sister Rosetta Tharpe was someone I found a few years ago. I didn’t really know her music very well, but I thought she was an interesting combination of swing and gospel. At the time she was a woman who was doing swing and gospel on the radio in the ’40s, and I thought that was such an odd thing, because there weren’t many women doing that at that time. There weren’t that many women playing guitar at that time. Wonderful guitar player. So that alone was inspiring, and the interesting hybrid of her styles. But I thought the most interesting thing, the thing that I was really talking about in “Sister Rosetta Goes before us,” was quoting her lyrics, “Up above my head, I hear music in the air, there’s strange things happening every day.” I was using her to talk about the things that we can’t see that happen all around us – the inspiration, the good things that happen to us all the time, and where do those things come from? I think through music and art is how we get to ecstatic experiences. There are other ways, too, but I think for us the familiar ways are through music and art.”Sam Phillips (389)

“”Old Tin Pan” was inspired by Aimee Semple McPherson [the Canadian evangelist – Ed].”Sam Phillips (389)

“In the last few years I realized how much suffering I can put myself through in my mind. On the other side of that is clarity, stubborn optimism and faith in love.”Sam Phillips (1054)

“When you love someone, that love doesn’t completely disappear when you break up. The hardest thing is to not kill that love because you are hurt, but to let it be and to let the hurt go. In other words, I like to reach for the almost impossible.”Sam Phillips (1054)

“I was thinking about humans and how brave they can be under the most impossible circumstances. Our civilization feels fragile right now, like we are on the high wire without a net.”Sam Phillips (1054)