In some of the greatest recordings ever made, the performance is a part of the recording. Dylan's 'Rainy Day Women No. 12 and 35' is all about the esthetic of that performance. You can hear the room.

There is a long and interesting tradition of really marginal left-field music that becomes commercially successful. And I will, for a brief minute, fit into that tradition.

I wasn't raised Catholic; I just really like the image of a neutral and benign Mary floating around somewhere, being nice to people.

The worst case scenario is you really like someone's work, then you meet them and they're a self-involved, entitled douchebag.

I was on food stamps until I was 18 and became an adult.

If I were to be really petulant, I would say New York is the one doing the betraying. Because the New York I fell in love with doesn't really exist anymore.

Under no circumstances do I ever want to see any part of me having sex! I wouldn't want to see video tape, pictures, in the mirror, nothing.