If I can entertain people and get them to open up a little bit, then they're much more conducive to any ideas I might have, whether they're about relationships or politics. The most interesting songs, I think, are the ones where the two overlap.

Never trust anyone who has no doubts. And I'm not talking about scepticism either: scepticism can be a healthy thing. You can have an argument with someone who's a sceptic. When I say 'cynic', I mean someone who has given up, and they want you to give up too, so it makes them feel better about themselves.

All the great political music was made at the height of political confrontations.

You can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers while you're waiting for the Great Leap Forwards.

So, in some ways, the political songs tend to be a bit more like reportage, whereas the love songs tend to be like novels, you can pick them up off the shelf and go into them any time.

An isolationist America is no bloody use to anyone.

My theory is this; I'm not a political songwriter. I'm an honest songwriter.