I think of myself as a songwriter, a weaver of story and imagination in a way that a novelist might write a book.

I think I'm a maker of songs, and songs are like films or a picture: You put them over there, and they have nothing to do with you.

If you want to be good at anything, you have to work hard at it. It doesn't just fall from the sky. I work every day at trying to improve my writing, and I really enjoy it. Nothing fascinates me more than putting words together, and seeing how a collection of words can produce quite a profound effect.

When I'm writing for rappers it's kinda like switching, "Okay, you're not PJ. Now you have to act like a rapper."

You can sing a very aggressive word in such a way that it's very funny. You can change words, completely turn them around on their head so that they mean exactly the opposite of what they are written down. There are endless possibilities which I think Diamanda Galás is doing already. She turns everything upside down by the way she sings it. She makes you feel nauseous or horrified or ridiculous just by her voice. I think that's an incredible power.

I really don't pay too much attention; I don't go out of my way to read any interviews.

People have a tendency to see country life through rose-colored glasses.