Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I like conflict in songs.
I think I'm a good lyricist.
I do pick up on contemporary issues.
I do like to write about dark subjects.
I am immensely proud of my Irish roots.
Song writing is very serious; it is hard.
I was a big fan of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.
I know I can cut it with any songwriters in the world.
I'm not a great socialiser. Nor am I a red carpet person.
It is ironic that losing makes you more liked than winning.
I always want to keep moving musically and trying new things.
I have learned to avoid the coverage, good or bad - and it's mostly bad.
Just because you sell millions of records it doesn't guarantee bums on seats.
Some artists say 'Don't categorize me.' I'm saying 'You can't categorize me.'
As long as I can write songs, make a record and do concerts, I'm really quite happy.
I think if every song I had was, 'I love you, you love me,' there would be a problem.
My motto is, 'You may not be as good as you think you are, but thinking you are is good.'
I'd love to see myself on sale in shops. It tickles me, does the idea of me being marketed.
The music is the thing. I am not writing for critics; I don't want to become a personality.
To be successful to me meant to have a hit record in England. I never looked outside England.
I couldn't live without Radio 1. They condemned me to oblivion, but they're what I grew up with.
I always tell people that I went through long hair. I was a typical art school scruff. It was good then.
I do believe that any conflict has a better chance of being resolved if two people can come face to face.
We all try to increase our length of life, but we all have to pass. It's highly interesting as a lyricist.
I see myself in competition with Blur and Oasis. But everyone else just sees me as this guy with a history.
Success isn't dependent on the market place, because I can't control that. It's about completing a good song.
Lennon and McCartney became great songwriters because they were prepared to listen to and learn from all types of music.
It's all very well making records, but the joy of performing is that you get to meet people who give you instant feedback.
I've only recorded my own songs. I don't consider myself a great singer, so I wouldn't be comfortable interpreting other people's songs.
I always take a teapot with me on tour. I suppose it's only natural that I've just written a song called 'Where Would We Be Without Tea?'
Success for me is to write what I think is a good song. When I'm pleased with it, that, for me, is a magical moment. I never lost that buzz.
When it comes to my songs I'm confident. Back in 1967, I would go to a publisher's office, and tell them they just had to listen to my music.
The way I do that is to keep coming up with good songs and when I do a concert, I make sure I give a good performance. It's not rocket science.
Whenever I write lyrics and an Americanism slips in, I always cut it straight out. I can't use the word 'babe,' for instance. It makes me cringe.
I'm basically as shy a person as I was when I once worked in an office in London in the late Sixties. I like my own company. I didn't need a lot of friends.
At school, I was basically a loner, it was hard until I was 15 or so. Then I went to art school and was gifted with freedom to do the things I really wanted to do.
The perception that if you're not on 'Top Of The Pops' you're dead and buried is a good one for pop music, because 'TOTP' is a catalyst or barometer for pop success.
It's very easy to think about rhymes and just usage of words that sound good but don't mean anything. Basically, I try to put into song the way people actually talk.
Nothing Rhymed,' my first single in England, was a nice ballad, which I thought would sound like a songwriter typical of the day - denim, jeans, long hair, early 20s.
I didn't come into the music business to make money. I came into it to be a success. Of course, if you're successful, you'll earn money and I was happy to receive it.
Technology has very little to do with what I do. I have a purpose built studio but all I need for writing is my piano and a cassette recorder as I still use cassettes.
I'm very much a home bird. I sometimes think I should have been a domestic. I like sweeping up, getting everything tidy. I'm obsessive compulsive. I don't mind admitting it.
I work in the studio all day, and then I go for a walk with my dog, listening to music on headphones. And Saturday and Sundays, work is strictly out of bounds. It has to be.
I used to play music all night and sleep during the day. I was very career-minded. The music dominated everything and anything that interfered with that, I put a stop to it.
I only think in the following terms: writing, recording, releasing. That's what I have control of. What I don't have control is whether critics or the public like what I do.
It's ridiculous that people would judge my songs based on what I wore, but that's how it is... superficial. I don't really care, though - I am confident in the quality of my own work.
I thought my singing and songwriting were good, but nothing different. Then you're presented with this picture image that contradicts the impression you get from listening to the record.
You see, I read reviews of people like Paul Simon, and they don't talk about the fact that he's looking old or whether he is fashionable; they talk about the music, which is how it should be.
I used to get these reviews in American newspapers saying that they didn't understand what my lyrics were about. I saw that as a compliment. That's exactly what English songwriters should be doing!
The quality of my songs will get through to people. They are good songs. Lyrically, some of them are interesting: there's stories, a bit of humour. I'm very confident about the music I play, you know.