At no point did I ever doubt I would be as near as anybody could be to England's Elvis Presley. Even from eight or nine years old, I thought, Well, I'll be the greatest rock star in England. I just made up my mind.

I think music should be tarted up, made into a prostitute, a parody of itself. It should be the clown, the Pierrot medium.

I am a moderately good singer. I am not a great singer but I can interpret a song, which I don't think is quite the same as singing it.

Am I Machiavellian? I don't think I'm quite the mastermind people would have me be. Everything I do tends to be very successful and it may have something to do with the fact that I'm very good, not necessarily that I manipulate. But that doesn't often occur to people.

I don't profess to have music as my big wheel and there are a number of other things as important to me apart from music. Theatre and mime, for instance.

I always write well in New York.

Don't let me hear you say life takes you nowhere, angel.