Paul Weller Quotes

I think part of what we do is there is a bit of dandy influence, always, or a little sprinkle of it. Not literal Savile Row dandy, but there's a bit of sartorial dandiness in everything that we do - every collection that we do.

I wanted to make a record that sounded like a continous piece

You have to keep challenging yourself. I've always tried to do that, and I'm not saying I've always been successful. Maybe I've rewritten the same song; it's inevitable, but I've always been mindful of taking the writing somewhere else. You can't stick in your little comfort zone.

Our campaigns have always been based on what we consider music icons that transcend generations and they're not of the moment - they continue to evolve.

I suppose it's nice to have some surprise in life and to surprise yourself in life and see what else you can do.

I love soul music, that's my real love in life and in whatever shape or form it is.

I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music.

I still love playing music. It was all I ever wanted to do, and I got the chance to do it.

I think the biggest influence for me is when I hear a great piece of music, whatever the style, I'm kind of inspired by that greatness and I'm inspired to try and obtain something that comes close to that greatness.

When I'm dead I wanna leave a body of work, like authors or great painters do.

For me, my entry point, when I was old enough, was the skinhead/suedehead thing, sort of like '70/'71. People didn't have much money - they would save up, or whatever - but everyone always dressed up. You'd go to a dance at the football club on a Thursday night and all of us kids - all of us from maybe like 12 to 16 - were all dressed up.

I try to have an open ear, but at the end, it would never change direction to where I think I should go. Because if I listened to everybody else, they're thinking about what's right now or what was the last thing - they're not thinking about what's next.

If we get through for two minutes only it will be a start!

There's such a wealth of great music, clothes or whatever. There is so much great stuff out there, that why would you not still be interested if you've grown up in that kind of culture?

I think the world is really small today, and fashion, from that end of it, it's instantaneous everywhere.

I was always taught as a kid that if there's anything you want in life, you've got to work towards it. I guess that sort of stayed with me, really. But also, for me, from the time I was like 10 years old, all I ever wanted to do was be in a band and make music. So to get the chance to do that, to live your dreams or wishes, I just seize it and try and run with it. I never sort of think, oh, the pressure, or it's too much. You're lucky to be doing it. It's a great gift to have, and I appreciate it.

It is nice to make a record and people like it, and it's encouraging.

Worldwide, most people dress more casually these days, don't they? They have done for the last 20 or 30 years, I suppose. So, every place that I go to, the majority of people really wear jeans, trainers, T-shirt - everybody seems to dress more for comfort. Whereas, even in my lifetime, even up to the early-'70s, there was still that thing of dressing up.

Coming from a little suburban town, I wasn't a hip city kid. I was quite the opposite, really. Songs like 'Saturday's Kids' rang a bell for kids all over the country. That song was about the kids I grew up with.

I think you have to satisfy yourself first and foremost. There have been records I've been really, really pleased with that haven't connected with people. But I felt good about them. If you're making music, you must want to turn other people on to it, whether you're number one in the charts or number 60. I don't know, that's a commercial thing, but just the fact that other people like you... there's no point in making music, otherwise. Otherwise you might as well make it in your bedroom and leave it there.

A lot of young artists and musicians that we work with, you think they're gonna want to come in and buy the rock star-looking leather jacket - whatever it is that you think they're gonna want. They all want a suit. They want a tuxedo jacket, they want a suit. They don't want to look like their dad in it, but they want a suit.

It's always good to play New York. The Apollo is a great gig. I loved that.

Nothing wrong with pop.

I still want to do what I want to do, but we also have to think about some sense of protecting the business that's out there as well.

If you gave me a fresh carnation, I would only crush its tender petals.

I wear jeans and a T-shirt sometimes. I just like clothes - since the first time I can remember, like age ten or eleven; I was just obsessed with music and clothes. Just like a lot of people in England from my generation.

The Jam were a good band, however I feel that the Style Council were better. A lot of people I know will disagree with me. Some things we did with The Style Council were misinterpreted or over their heads.

I look for that stimulation constantly. I'm looking for inspiration and stimulation. Not bored with what we've done.

I don't like to get pigeonholed. I don't like it when people think they have you sewn up.

Music's totally eclectic now. I saw a DJ the other day, he was on Virgin radio over here, and he said he played "Going Underground", the Jam song, on his breakfast show. Then he got a text from some young kid asking if was a new band. I think a lot of people these days, younger people as well, are aware of all sorts of music, really. If you're into the Libertines you probably also have to be aware of the Beatles, or the Kinks. I think there's a better, possibly greater appreciation for all music, of all eras, I think.

Going to college was never an option. I was passionate about music, but how much talent I actually had was another matter.

I think politicians are so far out of step with what people really want.

I really enjoy playing America. I like the audiences there. It's the home of a lot of music I grew up with.

I have to do what I'm doing at the time. That's the most important thing. You might lose some people along the way, and you might gain other people on the way, that's just the way it is. But nevertheless, if you're driven by something, there is no argument about it; that's what you have to do.

When recording, whatever you first think about, you come out with something totally different at the end of it. Whatever plans you have you throw away, because it's always going to end up sounding pretty different from what you initially thought of. I probably only had about five or six songs when I started, and it just sort of flowed from that.

There's always peripheral things that you like that you don't know, but starting with whatever his British influences are, are some of my favourite artists, and the American things are what I grew up on as well. In the end, for me, it's those foundations of the music business - those things that are a lot of the foundations of what music today is. You can hear a bit of all of those things that we talk about in almost all music today.

Life is a drink and you get drunk when you're young...

I don't really wanna talk about politics, I'm not clever enough.

When I lived in a little flat in Pimlico in 1981, I'd write in the hallway. As you walked in, there was a tiny little recess type thing, hardly a hallway, really, and I'd sit there writing songs with my guitar.

There's this British elegance that we, at times, have really missed in the States. We've always been more of a sportswear culture.

For me, there's always an early-'70s sense. There's always a sprinkle of it - if I do it exactly like that, sometimes it becomes too costume-y or too thought out. But the influences are there, without a doubt, always, because to me, that was the part that I also felt was the most defining of my own personality and my own style, and I also think that it's timeless. You never look wrong.

When you look at so much of what we all love, there's either soul-based to it, or it's the blues. It's really the beginnings of any kind of music. It really is; it all starts there. Because after that, it's music of the moment.

The first thing I bought that was really stylish was in 1969 when I was eleven. I saved up for a black, grey and white tie-dye grandad vest. It was too big - they weren't catering for kids my age - and hung off me, but I loved it.

I'm fine with being thought of as a guitar player, and if I can get any recognition or respect for doing that, that's a pretty good thing for me.

People say that if you're still angry at 52, you're not an angry young man, just a grumpy old git.

It can get boring. Not the playing the songs necessarily, or doing the clothes. You know, you need stimulus.

In the early-'60s, when you look at that period of time - up to the mod time - when everybody was wearing skinnier suits and skinny lapels and skinny ties - that came out of the States, and that was quite cool.

I get labelled as just being about one thing, but there's lots of layers to what I do.