My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I'm killing somebody.

I think the criticism that I take to heart is from other writers that I respect.

To me, religion is an agreement between a group of people about what God is. Spirituality is a one-on-one relationship.

I'm not going to waste a second feeling sorry for myself because I'm not a bigger star than I am. I can walk down the street in most places in the world and I still drive really nice cars.

At home, I'm lucky if I can write three or four hours before the phone starts ringing and the kids want to go to soccer.

Politics and music don't necessarily go hand in hand. They just do for me.

You make decisions, and that's what separates art from some other pop music. It doesn't mean that you can't make an embarrassing amount of money, for a borderline Marxist, doing something that you love, but it does mean that this huge pool of money that was out there when I started making records in the '80s is gone.