I like to write my lyrics on clay tablets.

Sometimes what I'm writing is more important to me than the rest of my life. It's more important to me that I'm writing well than anything else.

I always thought my best album was 'Trouble in Paradise.' I was the happiest with that one.

I like the performing. And interviews, even. And the stuff that's not sitting in a room by yourself with empty paper. But I never loved writing, to tell you the truth.

I've often written about places that are totally different from anything I know. Sometimes they turn out better.

It's funny; people get so doctrinaire about music. It should be the last thing you don't have an open mind about.

In England, in France, in no other country would a black man have a chance to get elected. There's no two ways about it. Our country [USA] has been better about dealing with immigration and people who are different from each other than any other country in the world, that I know of.