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

When I sit down to write a song, it's a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I'm about to do.

Give Ireland back to the Irish, don't make them have to take it away.

The thing you must remember is that I'm the Number One John Lennon fan. I love him to this day and I always did love him

I have always adored Mahler, and Mahler was a major influence on the music of the Beatles. John and me used to sit and do the Kindertotenlieder and Wunderhorn for hours, we'd take turns singing and playing the piano. We thought Mahler was gear.

If you love your life, everybody will love you too.

One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.