The Results Do Not Equal Success (Commentary)

I think that, the real reason that success happened
Is because of the way I sing, you know
And I don't think it was the way I play guitar
And I think in some cases it was that I wrote a good song
You know, that it–that it got up the charts and did what it did but it was still–
I think at the end of the day, what that's about most is, uh–
Is a good singer singing a good song
People don't ever get tired of that

To follow up on that point, um, I've always–
I think I've always felt like that, um–
Success never really was a, uh, to me the definition of something, you know, um–
It was not the results that, then all of a sudden defined it, you know
Whether the whole world heard Guy Clark sing "Homegrown Tomatoes"
Or just a handful never took away the greatness of what that is
Same with John Prine or any of those folks, you know, I don't think, you know–

I think there's, sometimes there's, there's that grass is always greener, if-if–
If something's commercially successful, then it's not any good
You know, and yada, yada, yada
I just don't, I don't think that holds water at the end of the day, you know
But it just does what they do to, to the best of their abilities
And none of us can control, how any of that's gonna pan out

It was, it was awkward to me to go into the Hall of Fame before Emmy, you know
Um, I didn't see that as, as making a whole lotta sense
You know, but I can't, you know I can't, uh–
I don't know It's hard to look at your own work objectively
And you know I think that–
That as, as I look back on, on how I got there–
It's because I did all those other things

I went in there as a songwriter, I went in there as a musician
I went in there, you know
I went in there for a lot of people, you know that, that I think I championed
And then I think I was like
And I wasn't just the guy up there with a hat singing a song
You know, I wrote songs, I played as a session guy, as a session singer
As a session musician and a producer and, and–
I've worn, I've worn all the hats, you know, in a way
Differently than, than probably most folks