There's always that struggle between me wanting to keep [song] new and fresh and then be - I can never get with pop songs being so repetitive.

Sometimes the word dictated the melody.

I guess I'm attracted to more archaic words because they can be imbued with more meaning, because their definition is elusive.

There's songs that could either be taken as a conversation between two people, like "The Privateers," or "Why," from a much earlier record. Or "Glass Figurine." That's my version of a relationship song.

I don't get particularly precious about things like this, though. Like the record company said, "We need a radio edit that delivers the hook" - I don't even know what they consider the hook in that song ["Oh No"] - "that delivers the hook sooner." So I'm like, "Okay. I see that." And they were all walking on eggshells, like is this going to be sacrilegious to me or something, to mess with this art I've created? And I'm like, "Great. I get to tinker with it, I get to mess with my song some more."

I think life is a wondrous thing. I'm happy to try pretty hard.

My favorite literature to read is fairly dry history. I like the framework, and my imagination can do the rest.