I’m afraid that reason will triumph and that the world will become a place where anyone who doesn’t fit that will become unnecessary.

I was blessed in the sense that I got handed so much early on in life. I got a lot of the things people go through their 20s and 30s craving.

Television sounded really different than the Ramones sounded really different than us sounded really different than Blondie sounded really different than the Sex Pistols.

People in Latin America… love America from afar and emulate America in some ways but also hate a lot of things that America does to them.

It’s very validating when you are new in the industry to get awards. It boosts your self-esteem.

Everything’s intentional. It’s just filling in the dots.

You think that religion is a thing that is there to help you and to see you through life, and then you wake up one morning and find the entire Irish situation, the civil war...

I’m guarded; I don’t talk much.

I would make tea for Joni Mitchell or clean her car, anything to be in the studio and watch her work.

All you needed was a couple of instruments and a few chords and you could be on an indie label.

Hearing is a form of touch. You feel it through your body, and sometimes it almost hits your face.

My mother has never been involved in my professional life. I am very close to my mother but we keep it on a mother-daughter basis and not a work-related basis.

I couldn’t talk to people face to face, so I got on stage and started screaming and squealing and twitching.

Any time I have to get on a plane and leave my kids for a few days, it’s kind of tortuous.

It’s not always been a happy marriage. I guess I wanted a quick fix.

I wouldn’t consciously pursue trying to make something for the charts. It’s just not in my scope now. I’d rather stick needles in my eyes.

Frank Lloyd Wright… his things were beautiful but not very functional.

I start with the subject matter I want to write about. Then I make a musical base for that and create an atmosphere with the music. Once I’ve done that, the lyrics come last.

My sole focus as far back as I can remember was all about my dream to become a singer.

I find rebellion packaged by a major corporation a little hard to take seriously.

Disco is just pop music you can dance to.

My favorite time of day is to get up and eat leftovers from dinner, especially spicy food.

I’d love to a duet with Luther Vandross.

I couldn’t take pictures of green rolling hills.

So I concentrated on the rhythmic side of things, and therefore left a lot of holes. I didn’t want to use big pad chords everywhere. All of the songs are built up of small melodies...

Prince used to call me up 3am in the morning and invite me to hear some of his new songs.