We're going through this super-uptight era, which I think comes entirely from literacy, actually. It's the result of machines that were designed as word processors being used for making music.

In the 1960s, people were trying to get away from the pop song format. Tracks were getting longer, or much, much shorter.

The lyrics are constructed as empirically as the music. I don't set out to say anything very important.

I describe things in terms of body movements. I dance a bit to describe what sort of movement it ought to make, and that's a good way of talking to musicians. Particularly bass players.

I wanted to use the studio like a microscope for sound, which is what good engineers do.

Look closely at the most embarrassing details, and amplify them.

Repetition doesn't really exist