Quotes from Michael McDonald

We've reached a point where people don't even know how to look for anything fundamentally important anymore.

I know that things change and markets change. Those are the realities of the business.

For me, one of the best things of having been a Doobie Brother is that the people involved always were great people.

Working with Thundercat was really a thrill.

There have been albums I've recorded in the past that have had success, and then there have been ones I've had extreme faith in, and they ended up as commercial failures.

It's funny how, as we get older, what become our fondest memories are not necessarily the happiest times of our lives but the times of our lives that shaped us the most.

I do love the Nat King Cole stuff, the classic Christmas records. There's something about putting those records on and hearing his voice at Christmastime that brings back a lot of great memories of growing up.

Hey, I'd love to have a hit single, but if that doesn't happen, I'm not going to complain.

When I was younger, I was pretty cavalier about my voice - I don't know that I even thought about it that much, to be honest with you.

I just don't think many people would have crossed the street to hear me doing a hip hop-influenced album!

I've always had a dream that I might write a Christmas song that might resonate with people during the holidays.

I'm always like the guy who wants to date the pretty girl so bad, and when he finally gets the chance, he blows it because he spends too much time worrying about it.

I've never felt that I was doing anything more worthwhile musically than when I was with Steely Dan.

I tell my son, when your music becomes less relevant, your pathetic comic value might be of some use. So you've got to go with it, you know.

We try to promote the Christmas season and remind people that it is a season of peace. That's what the season's real meaning is about. No matter what religion you are, there is that point in time where we should celebrate that idea of peace and humanity.

I enjoy it immensely, but I'm not comfortable on stage as a person.

Most of my life is taken up with family. It takes me awhile to get a record together that I feel is worthy of putting out.

I was attracted to black music for the same reason that I loved those old Irish ballads. Both were social statements of sorts, and both were indigenous to their respective cultures: Ireland, where my father had grown up, and towns like St. Louis along the Mississippi River, where I was growing up.

Rap is like any other genre: There are the people who are very creative with it and do remarkable things... and then there's that whole quadrant that sounds alike. There's great stuff that's taken the genre to a new level over the years, and 'Regulate' was one of those tracks that was kind of a landmark.

I remember one of my favorite all-time records was by Edwin Starr: 'Stop Her on Sight.'

I went to Catholic grade school, so we sang a lot of religious songs: 'O Holy Night,' 'Silent Night.'

Whenever I sing blues from the '50s or the kind of blues that you might have heard Eric Clapton or Duane Allman emulate, I often feel the similarity of some of the ragtime stuff I sang early on. A lot of the phrasing and the harmonization is the same.

Whether artists know it or not, I think we're all a little influenced by what came before.

I think when you're not prepared for something, success can be as crippling a thing as failure to people. I think it touches whatever insecurities you have, that you may not be as in touch with you as you should be or whatever.