A song should stand on its own and on what a singer does with it. It shouldn't need a lot of extra help to be good.

— Oliver

I don't think any responsible performer would go on stage high. If he convinced himself he is better that way, he is deluding himself.

— Oliver

If there is one sin—or rather one waste—it is not doing what you have the inclination or gift for.

— Oliver

I gladly sacrifice pear-shaped tones in favor of down-to-earth emotion.

— Oliver

I like performing because it's direct contact with live people. I write a good deal of the time, but that's introspective creation rather than interaction.

— Oliver

I like working alone. I feel freer, less constrained. Furthermore, I know what I have to do, and I try to do it. There are no superficial hangups.

— Oliver

I think of myself first as a singer, meaning an interpreter. Then I think of myself as a writer. It is an outlet I have to have. I get very hard to live with without something happening to write about.

— Oliver

I think some entertainers have been very irresponsible in their part in making drug use a fad among young people. They say, look at so-and-so, he's a pot head and look what it has done for him. The truth is, he was talented to start with. I mean, if you have vacuity and expand it, you still have vacuity.

— Oliver

I try to make the music give people a chance to become engrossed with what they hear enough to possibly experience things they've probably experienced on their own but don't normally let themselves go to feel them fully.

— Oliver

I wouldn't say I'm happy, but I look at things in a soft way. I try to convey more personal interaction, rather than huge injustices.

— Oliver