The dominant theory coming out of Hollywood is that peoples' attention spans are getting shorter and shorter and they need more stimulation.

I'd rather hold one note for an hour and modulate it so that it means something than play 3,000 notes in 15 seconds.

I suppose I am reluctant about being any sort of 'star' and I didn't particularly want to be portrayed as one.

I think, if you spend a day or - as many people do - a life working only with that aspect of your being, the cerebrum connected to a finger, I feel that the rest of you atrophies, essentially.

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

If you are part of a religion that very strongly insists that you believe then to decide not to do that is quite a big hurdle to jump over. You never forget the thought process you went through. It becomes part of your whole intellectual picture.

As soon as you externalize an idea you see facets of it that weren't clear when it was just floating around in your head.