I don't think people really do listen. We plug into music, and we have short attention spans. We tend to download individual tracks from iTunes rather than a whole album. We buy music DVDs and watch them once, and then they disappear into a drawer, or we loan them to a friend, and we never watch it again.

In writing lyrics - well, for me, anyway - it's about getting into character, you know? 'Who is writing this?' In the case of the original 'Thick As A Brick,' supposedly a precocious, very young child who's fantasizing about his future and the context of all the confusing elements to which school boys are subjected at that time.

I was not a great guitarist, so I sold my 1960 Fender Stratocaster in exchange for a Shure Microphone, made in Chicago, and a flute.

Why do the faithful have such a will, to believe in something? And call in the name they choose, having chosen nothing.

Seek that which within lies waiting to begin the fight of your life that is everyday.

Classical music only really came into my life in 1969. I wish I had heard classical music and church music when I was a teenager or even as a child.

A lot of pop music is about stealing pocket money from children.