"In 1950, when I first came into the world, I was already grasping my umbilical cord as if it were a microphone. My sister played the piano, my mother screamed Musical songs while cooking, and my father just made sounds while shaving. A warm family. We lived in Kfar Bloom, and from there we moved to Ilanot Street in Haifa, to a house which stood on the main road which climbs up the Carmel Mountain. Often, incautious drivers dented our refrigerator. Our couch had third party insurance.

In all, I had an easy childhood. My parents -- a difficult one. For my sister, my parents saved up for the university; for me, they put money aside for bail. My mother spent more time in my school than I did.

From the age of 10 till 18 I lived in New York. My father was sent there to represent El-Al. We're talking the sixties, when El-Al didn't need stewards, since all the stewardesses had mustaches. I was shocked. I came from the Scouts and suddenly found myself in the middle of New York, the sixties, Hendrix, the Beetles, psychedelic, rock 'n' roll. Quite a leap from the scouts summer camp.

I attended a totally "freaky" high school. Not infrequently could we catch our teachers smoking grass in the bathrooms. During rock shows the audience was so high they didn't even notice that the stage was behind them. The police horses pranced around smiling. In short, when someone said he's taking a trip, he didn't mean Hawaii.

I was into playing. I played in rock bands from the age of 14, music for the school dances. It's strange, but even today, when I'm on stage, and I see a couple approaching the first row, I think they're coming to request a "slow". In 1968 I returned to Israel and was drafted to the Nahal Band [of the IDF] as a guitarist. In the Nahal I met the members of the "Kaveret" band, after that came the bands "Gazoz" and "Doda".

"Be'Godel Tivii" (Actual Size) was my first solo show. For two months, I performed, and suddenly the Lebanon War broke out. Strange how each time I played, a war broke out. The eighties were spent doing solo shows and albums. Fans joined here and there, but sometimes you have to take them with a grain of salt. Once, one came to me and said that I simply must perform in Tivon. So I came and indeed he was the only one there.

I live one day at a time, and even that is confusing, every day they tell me a different is a date. After all, I believe that each person should do what he does best. And it doesn't matter what you do. If you are an idiot, go all the way. Let them say, 'see that idiot? You can't find a bigger idiot than that.' Life is certainly worth a try, and I'm all for going for it.

Efrayim Shamir's mom always said a phrase I believe says it all. 'Life,' she used to say, 'is what you say it is, so don't be dumb and say something good about it.'"