I have to get up the fitness level, sing a lot, practice, get in the mood, and generally do lots of rehearsal. Get your body and mind ready.

There's no absolutes in life - only vodka.

Right now I can't be sure that I will be back on stage. We have been touring for two years and that is way too much.

Anyone taking heroin is thinking about taking heroin more than they're thinking about anything else. That's the general rule about most drugs.

I suppose you do think about the time that's allotted to you more than when you were younger. The mortality thing obviously has a stronger pull for you. It's an imminent truth; it's not necessarily a bad thing. You realize - much earlier than my age now - that you won't be able to play for England's football team, just to take a really crass example. So you can't have that life again. Unless you believe in reincarnation or whatever. Reincarnation? That's a whole other question. I find people who talk about that sort of thing in interviews idiotic. And I don't want to go down with them.

I don't think that being in a full-time relationship is necessarily for everybody all of the time. It's not necessarily some state of grace.

Music should elevate you. You can be raised, or left stranded. You can't be raised all the time, in my experience. This might be a rare moment. You might just go up to that level but that's always good.