Comedy is a very big part of the English culture, the sense of humor; it's a very dominant trait.

I suppose in some ways doing some of the songs in the show felt a bit like I was doing cover versions. I was covering myself. Not that they didn't feel like my songs, but the way I was approaching them was from a place so outside where they were written. The fact that these songs were in the context of a live show was a new thing.

With some of the songs, we brought the pitch down to alto.I'm older, so naturally my voice is lower now.

My desire was never to be famous. It was to try and create something interesting musically if I could.

I think as a mature artist, you're probably always trying to undo the compromises of one's self [in general]. It's not necessarily to do with youth.

It's not that I don't like American pop; I'm a huge admirer of it, but I think my roots came from a very English and Irish base. Is it all sort of totally non-American sounding.

I think what is great is that if anything that I do is interesting to somebody else, then I really don't think it matters at all what I had originally intended.