I'm a great self-doubter. I constantly need to prove myself to myself. I've never run to heroin or alcohol to hide that. I always have to deal with it. Stage fright is always going to be there. I have nightmares about bad gigs.

You have moments of grief in life, and if you can put pen to paper and capture that, that's something wonderful. I can revisit actual songs about past deaths, and I know that emotion is as true now as it was then.

The only notes that matter come in a wad

I love pop music. It's not easy to write a good pop song. It may be easier to put out a fake jazz album, as Sting does from time to time.

Words cannot express quite a lot of feelings, whereas a noise or tone or drone or sound, an accordion falling down a staircase, can somehow capture an emotion much better.

If you give me the chance, I'll destroy America for you.

I've always despised the hippies.