Some people, like Leonard Cohen, write one album every 10 years, and labor over a song for five years at a time.

When I was young, I had idols that I thought were wonderful. I wanted to be just like them.

You shouldn't separate the piece from the way it's intended. I always feel like words shouldn't be unraveled from the music. They're all linked so much together.

I am someone that follows the news and reads newspapers yet what do you believe and what don't you.

I'm not a writer where I feel particularly blessed by great inspiration every day. I don't. I have to work really hard at it to try and say the things I'm concerned with.

Maybe I'm just purely lucky. If I've come up against obstacles I've always found another way around it.

I get to a point when I've collected together enough words that seem like they want to be songs rather than poems, or sometimes not.