My records are basically a litany of complaints against the world, and I'm quite like that in real life as well.

Guns are part of the American psyche, aren't they? This is collateral damage for having a Wild West mentality. It's intrinsic to the American psyche. It's never going to change.

But if you're gonna dine with them cannibals Sooner or later, darling, you're gonna get eaten . . .

That's what I like about watching a movie: you enter an imagined world that's more interesting, more engaging than your own. Or less painful than your own.

I think there is a certain perversity in my music in that I continue, you know, to eat at the same ball of vomit year after year.

I'm a believer. I don't go to church. I don't belong to any particular religion, but I do believe in God. I couldn't write what I write about and be creative without a certain form of belief.

I love being manipulated by what I see. I love weepies and romantic comedies where you're reaching for the Kleenex at the right moment.