Writing songs is like capturing birds without killing them. Sometimes you end up with nothing but a mouthful of feathers.

It's a battered old suitcase to a hotel someplace, and a wound that will never heal. No prima donna, the perfume is on an old shirt that is stained with blood and whiskey. Goodnight to the street sweepers, the night watchmen flame keepers and goodnight, Matilda, too.

The world is a hellish place, and bad writing is destroying the quality of our suffering.

My reality needs imagination like a bulb needs a socket. My imagination needs reality like a blind man needs a cane.

I think this whole division between the genres has more to do with marketing than anything else. It's terrible for the culture of music.

I'm trying to get music ideas that come and keep them alive. It's like carrying water in your hands. I want to keep it all, and sometimes by the time you get to the studio you have nothing.

The trick is to have a career and have a family. It's like having two dogs that hate each other and you have to take them for a walk every night.