And you will believe in love And all that it's supposed to be But just until the fish start to smell And you're struck down by a hammer.

You had to be an over-the-top, demanding, dramatic figure in order to progress as a woman in Europe over the last few hundred years. Now people say, "You're being such a prima donna," meaning you're being hard to deal with or crazy. It's a bit sexist.

Once illness strikes, you realize there's not a lot of time for you to do what you really need to do. And there's no time like the present.

I'd be hanging out in my bathrobe all day, stinky, just writing, and my mom allowed me to do this-as long as I was writing songs. She said, 'As long as you're seriously working on music, I'll support you. Don't get a job, because if you work, it will crush you.

What I love about my daughter is that she is going to definitely allow me and force me to change my life and slow down and make it more about the real things in the world.

Why be in music, why write songs, if you can't use them to explore life or an idealized vision of life?

I am ridiculously high-maintenance.