What I have to say is all in the music. If I want to say anything, I write a song.

I am quite happy that the Beatles came and went. There is even a sort of glory in not having it go on forever. There is a complete body of work that went from A to Z and it is all pretty damn good stuff. The one thing I am particularly proud of is that nearly every single bit of it has some good message. I feel fortunate when I look back. Life is not easy, but I've been very lucky - and I'm touching wood as I say that.

I did study Shakespeare, that was sort of my thing; I got a Literature A-level, which is my only claim to academic fame.

I don't have any desire to learn. I feel it's like a voodoo, that it would spoil things if I actually learnt how things are done.

My dad, bless him, was a musician. And his dad had thought that his music was rubbish.

Sometimes when you write a thing you think, 'Oh, this is good', and it's not a modesty or an immodesty thing, you just... it's just the same with anything; when you write a piece you just figure, 'Oh yeah, I'm on a roll here. This is good; I'm getting the hang of this'. Some pieces are better than others.

When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted to be was Elvis Presley.