I'd done a very long project on Bridges To Babylon. I was on the road for ages with that. When I came off the road, I thought, the next thing I want to do on my own.

You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find, you get what you need.

My secrets must be poetic to be believable.

There's hundreds of different ways of writing songs.

The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or to regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either.

There is something I like about talking to journalists that really goes beyond promotion because you aren't just talking to the journalist, but you are talking through them to people who presumably are fans of the Rolling Stones. The interviews give you a chance to say a few things and maybe clear up some of the things people read about the band.

I enjoy doing different kinds of things. I just enjoy being not tied too much. I feel that I'm tied to myself as a kind of traditional musician and a singer, and the history that I have ties me down.