I felt that in order to do what I wanted to do, I had to do certain things, and one of them was to have a hit in my own right. At least one.

Be a military flier or be in a band; those were the two hippest things I could imagine.

Well, this is shortly after the idea was put to me because it wasn't my idea to do a Christmas record. We can talk about that a little bit, if you like, later on. But I wrote that song actually about two days after the idea was put to me.

If a hit came along, I wouldn't be unhappy about that. But I'm a bit too old for that now-doing videos and all those types of TV shows. I've kind of done all that, in the '70s.

You've got to really know your song, inside and out.

If anyone comes along, I'm more than happy to welcome them, but I'm not interested in world domination.

Cruel to be kind means that I love you.