I never really had much of an interest in fashion.

I don't like talk and I don't like talkers. Like Ma Barker. That's what she always said, 'Ma Barker doesn't like talk and she doesn't like talkers.' She just sat there with her gun.

I've made over 25 studio albums, and I think probably I've made two real stinkers in my time, and some not-bad albums, and some really good albums. I'm proud of what I've done. In fact it's been a good ride.

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

I don't like people probing into my life, so I reveal as little as possible or lie about it as much as need be so as to give them something to write about.

When I was 9 years old, I wanted to be the baritone sax player in the Little Richard band.

I wish myself to be a prop, if anything, for my songs. I want to be the vehicle for my songs. I would like to colour the material with as much visual expression as is necessary for that song.