The whole business is built on ego, vanity, self-satisfaction, and it’s total crap to pretend it’s not.

My faith, inasmuch as I have any, is more like a kind of Joseph Campbell thing, and even that frequently finds itself tested to oblivion in siren waters.

I’m proud of my kids, they are doing what they want to do.

I love Gibsons, and Nationals, too. There’s something magical about them.

No, I mean we’d all definitely involved in the music business someway or another, because we’re all living with it, and in it, and also we’ve got all sorts of things we would like to...

At last a dream come true. The Instrument of Instruments.

Artists are never complete people. But if it’s art that completes them, then what is taken away?

It doesn’t matter about money; having it, not having it. Or having clothes, or not having them. You’re still left alone with yourself in the end.

I didn’t think before that I’d done enough to justify publishing an autobiography but after 40 years in show business I’m now ready to tell my story.

I think the media is a real demon.

I have a rude thought every three seconds!

The best thing about this band is I’m the leader!

We didn’t have a lot of success with that first album but we sold a few thousand and we’d done a John Peel session which got some plays.

When you start out without a record nobody knows you, but if you have a record it’s a lot easier.

Man is created to be God’s deputy on earth and it is important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation for the next life.

My first record I owned was by Les Paul.

I mean, it didn’t matter to me that there were people, it didn’t matter that I was shy Just the sound was so captivating that it helped me to get rid of those inhibitions.

I know I always worked hard on making sure we came out with the best possible product and of course we were working with four other people, you have to balance that as well.

I didn’t really escape that gravity until I moved 300 miles south to go to college at 18, where authorship no longer seemed something liable to induce vengeful punishment.

Find a good teacher, as I found for my sons. I feel the worst thing you can do is to try and teach your own children yourself, because there is a natural rebellion that occurs.

After a while, though, the group just wasn’t a good vehicle for the songs I’d written.

I mean basically I was the newest member in a way, because the band was formed for 6 months with a few other bass players when I came along.

I can’t moan about any of it. I had a great time in the goldfish bowl.

I found a religion that blended scientific reason with spiritual reality in a unifying faith far removed from the headlines of violence, destruction and terrorism.

I was listening to music long before rock ‘n roll.

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.

You’ll never find peace of mind until you listen to your heart.

Now I’m having to live with sales of around 50,000 per album – but I’m pretty content with my place in the general scheme of things, even if it’s meant I don’t drive a fancy...

I’ve gone through hell and back.

I was into playing American music, especially the blues.

No, we have our ups and downs, but we’re all very up at the moment.

I really understand what that process is all about and how important it is, especially with young folk and creative folk that love looking for some platform that makes it easier for them to express...

Being natural is one of the most irritating poses I know in people.

The biggest misconception people have about me is that I’m stupid.

The best advice he gave me was to carry on. It would have been difficult to set foot back inside a TV studio if I hadn’t carried on – I don’t know if I would...

I want to make a pop album – something more upbeat than my stuff was in the ’90s.

I’m an expert at kissing girls necks, they love it. Girls say I’m quite sensitive, but I’m hyperactive too.

There’s a clip where he had someone miming me running around from keyboard to keyboard. Oh dear, I am sure a lot of people didn’t know what he was going on about.

Arguments are healthy. They clear the air.

Yes, it is a rehearsed show, yes, it was analogy of going to see a play at the theatre, where everything has to be in place and whole things, everything being works, all works together...

Music is a lady that I still love because she gives me the air that I breathe. We need all sorts of nourishment. And music satisfies and nourishes the hunger within ourselves for connection and...

I love to play smaller crowds with the Rhythm Kings.

I mean, the sound of an amplified guitar in a room full of people was so hypnotic and addictive to me, that I could cross any kind of border to get on there.

You’re only as big as your last hit.

I don’t know to what extent someone can BECOME an artist – you either are or you aren’t – and if you are you’ll HAVE to make your way to some kind of sickly light,...

I consider everything I compose a gift.

And another thing: Stay responsive to any environment that comes along, and try to reflect what you feel in a wide variety of styles and songs.

I mean the only thing that is hopefully good about us is after the arguments we can actually still face each other the next day or the day after and talk about something else and...

Old men do it better. We’re not so sensitive in certain areas.

The greatest legacy is that which benefits the widest number of people for the longest period without limit to value. No one but the Prophet Muhammad was given that role as the seal of God’s...