I really, really like writing songs. Capote wrote every day. He said that's the only way, you have to sit down every day and do it...Something that's written out is okay, but it's not always a clear indication of what a person means.

But as a writer and performer, I want to get paid for what I do.

I'm interested in Buddhism. Of all the organized religions, that to me is the only one that makes even vague sense. I just don't have the discipline for that kind of practice.

I don't think that the punk sound really became the punk sound until much later. The punk era wasn't really just one musical sound. There are a lot of differences among Television, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads.

I always work on New Year's Eve, no matter what.

If you were a painter and a rock and roll musi­cian and weren't established in either - to be an artist today you have to be as much a businessman to suc­ceed, you have to spend an equal amount of time doing business as you spend doing your craft.

In music the mystical element is definitely there all the time, and one can see it. When it comes to rock and roll, when it comes to any kind of industry, it's not there. It's not there. So it's a battle between the two. Music, Industry.