Certainly in terms of my life - anybody's life - you go through death, childbirth and marriage, glory and defeat, and so on.

As an artist, you put so much into what you do and it can all be torn down in a nanosecond.

A diaper is as inspiring as a drink.

When I was young, my mother [folk singer Kate McGarrigle] brought home this recording of Verdi's Requiem and we listened to it from top to bottom. By the end of it, I was a completely different person. It was literally a requiem mass for my former self. I was about 12 or 13. The Requiem just totally hooked into what I was going through emotionally - discovering my sexuality right at the time when AIDS was devastating my community and dealing with intense parental situations.

I think the minute you mention death, people run for the hills - unless it's heavy metal. People do not like death.

I believe a lot of our lives are spent asleep, and what I've been trying to do is hold on to those moments when a little spark cuts through the fog and nudges you.

I may not lead the most dramatic life, but in my brain it's 'War and Peace' everyday.