“Lyricists play with words.”

When I sit down to write a song, it’s a kind of improvisation, but I formalize it a bit to get it into the studio, and when I step up to a microphone, I have a vague idea of what I’m about to do.

I meet so many people that just sort of say, “I want to thank you for your music. It really helped me” or “It changed my life.”

I don’t work at being ordinary.

When you were young, and your heart, was an open book. You used to say, live and let live.

My arrest was on every bloody TV set. The other prisoners all knew who I was and asked me to sing.

One of my biggest thrills for me still is sitting down with a guitar or a piano and just out of nowhere trying to make a song happen.

In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.

I have not practiced how to be a singer without an instrument.

Being in the audience actually looks like quite a lot of fun.

Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, Tomorrow I’ll miss you.

It’s also not unusual for writers to look backward. Because that’s your pool of resources.

I believe that in the future meditation could be as commonplace in schools and society as eco-awareness is now. It interests me that an ancient cure may be the solution to a modern problem.

What I have to say is all in the music. If I want to say anything, I write a song.

A lot of artists use memories. A lot of prose writers, a lot of poets, a lot of songwriters, refer back to something. Generally it’s all you’ve got, unless you’re brilliant and can write totally in the now.

The good Lord made this world and everything that’s in it. The way I see it, baby, you got to love it to the limit.

I still believe that love is all you need. I don’t know a better message than that.

Even at the time, I realised this couldn’t be right, that this interpretation didn’t fit with the rest of the lyrics. But that wasn’t an issue with me. The song was about what I said, and I used to listen to it again and again, on my own, whenever I got the chance.

I remember when I was very young, I read an article by Fats Domino which has really influenced me. He said, ‘You should never sing the lyrics out very clearly.

I can sing love; only I’m afraid the lyrics might get shattered again.

Lyrics are coming to you all the time. I get inspiration in the middle of the night.

The way I work uses a very on-the-spot flow, and I write the lyrics and the music when I feel them coming.

She won’t be that song you dance to, She’s that lyric you can’t get out of your head.

I’ve never heard anyone sing my lyrics with me while I perform so I think every song is going to be special because of that.

It’s starts with a story, then the music, Melody and lyrics last.