I don't have much to complain about in life, because I've lived a very privileged existence and continue to. I just think, What if I didn't have that confidence or strength of character, and I was left with certain perceptions of what a woman's place is in the world?

I love the way you can fall in love with a piece of literature; how words alone can get your heart doing that.

I feel sometimes that I'm in a constant state of being lost in translation, and I guess that why I write songs.

I remember my father playing me Same Situation when I was a nipper, and saying how nobody since has done melodies as well as Joni Mitchell. I concur. The thing that most affected me was just her resonance, and that is something she must have been born with.

I'd prefer to be good, but I'm not always. I struggle.

I get up, go and get a coffee, and go do the crossword - I'm loyal to one particular paper, the 'Guardian' - and that's my idea of a perfect morning.

I'm incredibly neurotic and a control freak. I like the thought that if there's going to be anyone to blame it's going to be me.