Any Idiot Can Be Complicated. It Takes

I Never Intended To Make A Living From Music. That's The Funny Thing. I Wanted To Be A Journalist.

When I Got Out Of School, I Spent Two Years Just Hitchhiking Around. Every Time I Met Some Old Farmer Who Could Play Banjo, I Got Him To Teach Me A Lick Or Two. Little By Little, I Put It Together.

And This Is The Origin Of Pop Music: It's A Professional Music Which Draws Upon Both Folk Music And Fine Arts Music As Well.

My Mother Wanted Me To Learn How To Read Music. She'd Given Fiddles To My Two Older Brothers, But They'd Rebelled. I Came Along And My Father Said, "oh, Let Peter Enjoy Himself." What She Did Was Leave Musical Instruments All Around The House. Whistles, Marimbas, Squeeze Boxes, A Piano And Organ. By Age Six Or Seven, I Could Bang Out A Simple Tune On Almost Anything. I Developed A Good Ear, So I Didn't Learn To Read Music Until I Taught Myself At Age Eighteen, 'cause I Was Hearing So Many Good Songs I Couldn't Possibly Remember Them All.

Some Of My Ancestors Were Religious Dissenters Who Came To America Over Three Hundred Years Ago. Others Were Abolitionists In New England In The Eighteen Forties And Fifties.