I thought the only lonely place was on the moon.

At the end of the Beatles, I really was done in for the first time in my life. Until then, I really was a kind of cocky sod.

I think the pop industry is still a young man's game.

It's a lifelong gift, something you can call on at any time.

I did cocaine for about a year around the time of Sgt Pepper. Coke and maybe some grass to balance it out. I was never completely crazy with cocaine. I'd been introduced to it and at first it seemed OK, like anything that's new and stimulating. When you start working your way through it, you start thinking: 'Mmm, this is not so cool an idea,' especially when you start getting those terrible comedowns.

When a war is over I think it's a cowardly thing to leave the war behind you in minefields that hit women and children and the most vulnerable. Imagine the war is finished and you go to work and there are snipers shooting at you. Imagine taking your kids to the beach and you find that the beach is blowing up beneath you. Like there's nowhere safe.

I'm still looking to write a great song.... You always are. You know, you never think, 'Well, that's enough ... that's good enough.'