Tomorrow you might get a phone call about something wonderful and you might get a phone call about something terrible.

Most of the time I don't even talk about any direct lineage of songs, because I feel like it just chains them down into my own consciousness, and the whole fun of them is being able to live in others' consciousness.

Not everything in the world is easy or powerful.

I met this wonderful guy who owned an old pub near the Eiffel Tower called Malone's (he's French but it's an Irish name). He had a cellar with a piano and told me I could use it whenever I wanted to. I played lots of gigs down there. When I came back I played a show at the Knitting Factory.

You decide if you're ready for something. It can come in the guise of, "Oh, I don't think I like this."

You're using your headphones to drown out your mind

I used to be such a militant city-ist, but more and more I've seen forests and nature and oceans, and I don't know any more if this is the awesomest way to live.