I discovered that my imagination came alive when I moved away from the immediate world around me.

The fantasy never got beyond that—I didn’t let it—and though the tears rolled down my face, I wasn’t sobbing or out of control. I just waited a bit, then turned back to the car, to drive off to wherever it was I was supposed to be.

So why not become a mongrel? It's healthy

Indeed — why should I not admit it? — in that moment, my heart was breaking.

Now when I look back to the Guildford of that time it seems far more exotic to me than Nagasaki.

I started as a songwriter and wanted to be like Leonard Cohen. I've always seen my stories as enlarged songs.

My friends and I took songwriting very, very seriously. My hero was and still is Bob Dylan, but also people like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and that whole generation.