“It’s been very important throughout my career that I’ve met all the guys I’ve copied, because at each stage they’ve said, ‘Don’t play like me, play like you.’”

I grew up playing in clubs – that’s my spiritual stomping ground.

I just managed to convince my grandmother that it was a worth while that was something to do, you know, and when I did finally get the guitar, it didn’t seem that difficult to me, to be able to make a good noise out of it.

Up until I became a father, it was all about self-obsession. But then I learned exactly what it’s all about: the delight of being a servant.

You can’t mastermind everything. You’ll go crazy. Just show up and play.

It sounds strange for me to be saying this, but I’ve come around to the idea that sex really is for procreation.

Only ask and you will get what you are needing, the rest is up to you.

Before you accuse me, take a look at yourself.

The point of being at home is to be with my family as much as possible.

Every time you pick up your guitar to play, play as if it’s the last time.

Given the choice between accomplishing something and just lying around, I’d rather lie around. No contest.

The music scene as I look at it today is a little different from when I was growing up. The percentages are roughly the same – 95 percent rubbish, 5 percent pure.

I got a problem, can you relate? I got a woman calling love hate.

Lately I’ve been running on faith.

For me there is something primitively soothing about this music, and it went straight to my nervous system, making me feel ten feet tall.

I often enjoy singing in an acoustic setting more than an amplified one.

This moment in time, on this tour, you know, I’m discovering a lot of new things. And to be 45 and doing that, it’s a mixture of pleasure and pain, I can assure you.

I can only listen to what I’m working on, at the time. I can’t listen to anything else because I don’t want to copy it.

An original artist is unable to copy. So he has only to copy in order to be original.

How I can’t find a physical copy to my own shit.

You can copy someone else’s paper but you’ll never know how you arrived at your answer. 

If you can’t imitate him, don’t copy him.

Do your own thing. Others own their own thing. If you copy too much, you’ll find yourself in late night cocktail lounge cover band limbo.

Sometimes it’s flattering when people copy you, but sometimes it gets to a breaking point.

Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself, and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others. It leads to sterility.