I tread in the footsteps of illustrious men... in receiving from the people the sacred trust confided to my illustrious predecessor.

On receiving from the people the sacred trust twice confided on my illustrious predecessor and which he has discharged so faithfully and so well I know that I can not expect to perform the arduous task with equal ability and success.

Some have called we rock and roll performers who never retire 'troubadours.' I enjoy this misnomer immensely. While there are many differences between me and my distant predecessors in L'Occitane I do believe there is a lineage that connects us of the last 70 years with those romantic singers of the High Middle Ages.

The lesson of the last year is this: foreign policy can't be managed through the politics of personality and our President would do well to take note of an observation John F. Kennedy made once he was in office - that all of the world's problems aren't his predecessor's fault.

We must not be content to memorize the beautiful formulas of our illustrious predecessors. Let us go out and study beautiful nature.

You want to do something that shows some type individuality and talent and imagination - at the same time you want to be truthful to the predecessors because obviously the audience liked something about them and you have to replicate that experience to a certain extent.

In art all who have done something other than their predecessors have merited the epithet of revolutionary and it is they alone who are masters.