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VH1: You also wrote one with Ty Murray that plays with gender perspective - "Til We Run Out of Road." It seems written from his point of view.
Jewel: It was New Year's Eve and we were camping in a cabin. I just wanted to show him what it was like to write a song - what the process was like. Until you go through it, you don't actually quite know what it involves, the mechanics of it. It's a mysterious. I thought we should write about something he knows about. So we wrote about him being on the rodeo trail, which he's done professionally since he was 18. There are many similarities between rodeo and rock 'n' roll. Very few people make a good living at it, very few get rich. Most do it because they love it, and they spend a lot of time in a rental car, just like young bands going around from place to place, trying their hearts out. So it's written from his perspective, but he really wanted to make sure the song wasn't exclusive - that you could relate to the song if you weren't familiar with rodeo. He also didn't want it to be clichéd, so we stayed away from all 'bucking bronco' images and things like that. So it can sound like me being on the road, but it mentions his friend Willy Fields - a famous cowboy. It's definitely from his perspective.
VH1: Have you ever written a song from a male perspective before?
Jewel: That's an interesting question. I tend to write a lot of my songs from a male perspective. I've always wondered about it. I think I grew up reading so many male authors that my mind works in a somewhat male manner. My love songs definitely aren't. But even then sometimes I write songs from a male perspective that as a woman I would like to hear a man write for me! I can name 15 or 20 songs I might have written from a male perspective, actually.
VH1: This is a more sensual record than before. Your lyrics have kinkier twists than people might expect from you. Can you comment on that?
Jewel: You're the first person to ever actually brought that up. Since my first record there have been quite a few whatever you want to call it - racier, kinkier - references. Even on my first record - I was sort of shocked that I got away with nobody commenting on it. Like in "Morning Song" it says, "You remind me of the man I used to sleep with." Sort of very strange, bold, casual lyrics. I've read explicit love poetry since I was young. Neruda gets very detailed. Bukowski's the same way. I grew up reading writers like that, so it's always infiltrated my songwriting.
VH1: You said that "New Wild West" was a more appropriate song for the September 11 tragedy than even "Hands." What's the background behind "The New Wild West"?
Jewel: I began writing it at least five years ago when MTV's Rock the Vote asked me to host the Democratic convention. I think it was in Chicago that year. It never got finished. It was just one of those songs that started out as an idea but just never quite came together. I was driving through the county roads in Texas while recording the new record and it just came out. It speaks to American social and political trends that I find relevant - that sort of tell us where we're at today. As this terrorist bombing has become a part of current culture, I think the song's also relevant to that.
VH1: What do you think of the new relevance of "Hands"?
Jewel: I was pleased. Who wouldn't be flattered? My dad was like, "Wow! It's President Bush over my daughter's song!" I felt really proud that I think music at the least is entertaining and at its highest is able to inspire all sorts of things, from fear to hope. "Hands" is about walking the line between blind optimism and crippling cynicism, which can be different sides of the same coin. I don't think it helps a situation when you rub a crystal and say everything's okay when it really isn't. You're ignoring the problem as much as you're trying to say everything's fine. Cynicism can cripple you. It makes it unable to feel like you can ever have an impact on anything. So there's this middle ground of how you stay informed, stay aware of everything that's happening in the world and retain any sense of usefulness. I think a lot of young people ask themselves, 'How do you keep going and feel any sense of hope about this world?' I was pleased that this older song was used in a situation like this, that it was hopefully healing, and not just inspiring more terror and anger.
VH1: Any chance of teaming up with Moby when you tour?
Jewel: Yeah. He and I have been trying to work together for so long. I was supposed to work with him on Play, and then I ended up doing that movie and I couldn't get away. We sat down and kind of wrote a song together at his apartment, and I've never put words to it. We've been lazy! 
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