I never bought the commercial thing, at any stage of the game.

I write songs. Then I record them. And later, maybe I perform them on stage. That's what I do. That's my job. Simple.

Somebody's going to hear a song that will key in a nerve or something in their experience that represents their own vision. And the next person is going to see it completely different. So even what it means to me is probably irrelevant. It's totally irrelevant. What matters is what it means to each person listening to it.

I felt kind of bored at the prospect of writing some more of my own songs because I really wasn't saying what I wanted to say.

The Eternal Kansas City song came from a dream sequence. It was actually kind of weird. I had this dream about a Kansas City type of thing while I was up at Stevie Winwood's place near Cheltenham, in Britain. I went into this small town and I was walking along and this dream thing was still in my head.

I think Paul McGuinness and U2 created the Irish music industry. It certainly wasn't there before that.

Definitely Muddy Waters has been a prime influence for anybody who's ever done anything rock 'n' roll.