Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write.

This is a mad planet," David Bowie said in 1971. "It's doomed to madness.

I'll ruin everything you are, I'll give you television.

I think much has been made of this alter ego business. I mean, I actually stopped creating characters in 1975 - for albums, anyway.

I surrounded myself with people who indulged my ego. They treated me as though I was Ziggy Stardust or one of my characters, never realising that David Jones might be behind it.

I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on.

You should turn around at the end of the day and say I really like that piece of work, or that piece of work sucked. Not, was that popular or wasn't it popular?