My family, although they're very large on both my parents' sides, they don't know much about their family tree. Occasionally, they try to dig, but they can't get very far, and it's baffling. In Dublin, it seems that so many public records were wiped out; it's proven to be very difficult, so I know very little.

Doing nothing gives me great pleasure. And believe me, I succeed wonderfully in it.

Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body? I dunno.

I don't want to get too involved in marketing budgets, online promotions and download set-ups because it would be a bit like Gertrude Stein mapping out a TV campaign. I want to sing. I want visibility. I am essentially Al Martino, not Seymour Stein.

The Smiths was an incredibly personal thing to me. It was like launching your own diary to music.

It was probably nothing, but it felt like the world.

When they bury me in a church and chuck earth on my grave, I'd like the words 'Well, at least he tried' engraved on my tombstone.