I'm looking forward to being able to retire from being a public figure and being able to afford to be myself!

But it's only after you've played it on the road 20 or 30 times that it becomes really finished and polished...and you realize what it means, and you get the phrasing right.

That's the motivation of an artist - to seek attention of some kind.

What I've always done as an entertainer is try to come up with things that people will find interesting, or compelling, or humorous.

I started being a songwriter pretending I could do it, and it turned out I could.

['Fire and Rain'] is sort of almost uncomfortably close. Almost confessional. The reason I could write a song like that at that point, and probably couldn't now, is that I didn't have any sense that anyone would hear it. I started writing the song while I was in London...and I was totally unknown.... So I assumed that they would never be heard. I could just write or say anything I wanted. Now I'm very aware, and I have to deal with my stage fright and my anxiety about people examining or judging it. The idea that people will pass judgment on it is not a useful thought.

If you think my music is sentimental and self-absorbed, I agree with you.