I love the idea of leaving some of the original abstract thought in, because the problem is that when you pick up a pen you become a snob, your own worse critic. You edit yourself in a way that is non-creative.

A song is like a saddle: you ride it for a while, and if it's the right kind of song you can sing it for the rest of your life.

Keeping the pen out of your hand as much as possible is the best way to write a song, in my estimation. But the pen must come in to tighten it up.

We saw too much beauty to be cynical, felt too much joy to be dismissive, climbed too many mountains to be quitters, kissed too many girls to be deceivers, saw too many sunrises not to be believers, broke too many strings to be pro's and gave too much love to be concerned where it goes.

My dad was quiet, angry, shut down. So my thing is: I express everything that's there. I want to get it all out.

There are people who can sit down and write a song about any given subject, and they can do it really, really well.

Sometimes travelling really intensely for a long time is like having a continuous nervous breakdown.