I didn't really get London until I read Dickens. Then I was charmed to death by it.

I think that's more a reflection of the fact I've never been a student of any particular school of writing, or even listening.

I said I'd stop for a year, which was inconceivable to me and everyone around me. It seemed like so long. But then, after that year, I looked up and I still hadn't gotten my land legs back at all.

I've never been drawn to concert DVDs because they take away the part of the equation that's most important to seeing a live show: getting jostled around and feeling the energy in the room. I definitely didn't want to make one of those.

I don't think that village idea of actually knowing what you're contributing to the whole exists anymore.

And of course, pop music is all about memorability and simplicity and positive messages and a little dash of joy.

If you calculate every single thing you could possibly need in your life, you would need no more than 200 people to keep all that afloat: a doctor, food, wine, cheese-eating friends, the person who makes paper, the shoemaker.