I don't want to grow up but I'm sick of not growing up -​ that way. I'll find a different way of not growing up. There's a better way of doing it than torturing your body.

I think a lot of bad things have happened in the name of the church and in the name of Christ. Therefore I shy away from church...

I didn't really know that much about the Maoists, but I just knew that they seemed to be so few and yet they painted themselves green and stood in front of the police waiting to get picked off.

Songwriting is about getting the demon out of me. It's like being possessed. You try to go to sleep, but the song won't let you. So you have to get up and make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep. It's always in the middle of the night, or you're half-awake or tired, when your critical faculties are switched off. So letting go is what the whole game is. Every time you try to put your finger on it, it slips away. You turn on the lights and the cockroaches run away. You can never grasp them...

I think the music reflects the state that the society is in. It doesn't suggest the state. I think the poets and musicians and artists are of the age - not only do they lead the age on, but they also reflect that age. [...] Like The Beatles. We came out of Liverpool and we reflected our background and we reflected our thoughts in what we sang, and that's all people are doing.

We should be trying to reach the young workers because that's when you're most idealistic and have least fear.

How can I give love when I don't know what it is I'm giving?