"I think an artist's true worth comes through an inter-generational thing - when you go beyond your own time, and start influencing people in a greater way than just what surrounds you."

"I definitely dislike pomposity and artifice. I hope that I'm not that. Once I write a song, it belongs to the world, and the way people perceive it, it's cool."

"I always say the same thing - believe in what you do, do it, and don't veer away from the truth of it."

"Late 20th century music was a really important thing. It changed the world, and I'm part of that, and now I'm part of the museum that celebrates that."

"I'm a believer in belief. Faith is something that works - it causes people to do things, it has results. It's an intangible, indefinable, very real thing. And it moves people, sometimes to atrocity. And sometimes to survival."

"Not often do you approach a character where people know more about him than you do."

"They asked me to write it and zoomed me over there to do it. But they ended up sacking me."

"Christmas lights may be the loneliest thing for me, especially if you mix them up with reindeers and sleighs. I feel alone. I feel isolated. I feel I do not belong."