I probably wrote three-quarters of the songs without an instrument in my hands.

There is in fact a controversy over Darwin's theory. Clearly both theories have religious implications. But this is not about God.

They came in the thousands from the whole human race to pay their respects at his last resting place.

I think there are shades of political songs; some are more subtle and can be more effective for being subtle, for being more metaphorical. I've written a lot of songs like that, where it's not really clear if it's a war song or a relationship song. The metaphor can be the most powerful thing of all, but sometimes you have to speak more clearly to more people, and I think this is one of those times.

I try to make songs visual and tactile to kind of put you into the action.

You want the audience to be uncomfortable.

If you're up there performing a song for the first time, it's as if you're hearing it through their ears. You become acutely self-conscious of the song in performance, so that's a good thing before recording. But I like to have some surprises for the audience; I don't want the audience to know everything that's going to be on the record, because these days, with the Internet, people become avid collectors of pre-knowledge.