Another one of my favorite tracks is "Back to Love." Are there any stories related to that song?
I was sick with pneumonia and I heard this record over the phone. My wife said, "You ought to hear this record." I said, "I'm sick, sick, sick." Another day I probably would have ended up with strep throat. I was so sick I needed antibiotics. I heard this song on the phone and I said, "Man, play me the song again. Oh, my gosh. Where is the guy?" He said, "He's in Vegas." "Vegas, that's just like about 45 minutes." My wife was standing there and she turned around and she said, "Oh, no. Oh, no. You ain't. Now you're not going anywhere. You are sick." I was like, "You got to hear this one. Play it for my wife." I hear her on the phone. She was like, "Yeah, it's good but you're not going." I said, "Book me a flight. We'll be there tomorrow." She did not like that. It was already late at night. He booked the flight and I went and did it. I was sick and did the vocals. We do need to get back to love, real love. We definitely just need to get back to that. There's so much craziness in the world. Love brings you out a lot of things. It can stop you from killing yourself. Just think about how many middle to upper-class people are homeless right now in this economy. They had no clue that they'd ever be homeless right now. Some people have been killing themselves and all that. We need to get back to love, just nothing but love. That's what I'm trying to share and pass the message on to the people.
You've been sharing and showing a lot of love to the Armed Forces troops. You've even spent time in Iraq — meeting with soldiers and performing for them. Why was it important for you to do that? And what was their response?
First of all, I did it because they needed the morale. They're working everyday. They go outside those walls and they take care of business. They put it on the line everyday. When I got there, the way they received me was incredible. You got a mixed group of men and women from different parts of the country – white, black, they're all young. They're all just about teenagers. Most of them knew who I was. Some of them didn't. When I finished, they were like, "I'm going to get your CD now. I'm going online." I performed an hour-and-a-half and signed autographs for about three hours. The lines were long and I made sure I signed everybody's autographs. A lot of them had my CDs already. It was an amazing journey. I'll never forget it. I remember a guy walking up and telling me he had been deployed for 15 months and he said this was the best day of his life. I'll never forget that. That made it all worthwhile right there. The guy had tears in his eyes when he said it to me. I was in awe. It made it all worthwhile. I will cherish that for the rest of my life. They were going outside the walls and taking care of business right there. When we arrived in one place called Mosul, it was like rat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat all day and all night. Man, you'll hear bombs blowing and all of this craziness, you know. It was amazing. To be there with them while they were under fire – I got more respect for the men and women of the Armed Forces than I could ever have. It's through the roof for them.
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