Music is the marriage of the feelings of the living to the wisdom of the dead.
I don't think music is my job - I don't think about it that way, because I don't really get paid. There's no paycheck at the end; it's more of a 'whatever is left over' kind of situation.
Opinions only carry weight in the second or third person.
Making music and art is about expressing something that's universally human, maybe even beyond human, at best. To make it about the artist and to dwell upon biographical information can only make it singular, and I am really, really disgusted by that.
I write for myself, and I write for my friends and people who I have a connection with. I try to give some dignity to peoples' lifestyles that tend to be ignored.
I don't need to control anything. Even with romantic partnerships, I don't need to control anyone.
I don't care much about politics. That kind of witchcraft I stay away from because people end up dead. I'd rather die for music.
Beggars can't be choosers. We don't have all the money in the world. So anyone who wants to be in the band and be broke - that's their own death wish.
I don't think I'm a particularly somber human being.
A baseball team is like a band. Because, conceptually, there are no heroes in baseball - there's just the team.
That's what I mean by "Western morality," is the lack of morality. There is none. People are out for themselves, and they'll stab you in the back.
As it turns out, it's really expensive to make movies, much more than records.
If it's possible to have an enemy without making it personal or moral, then that's what I'm trying to do.
Once biographical information contaminates your consciousness, it's impossible to erase it and look at someone's work the same way again.
Dead men always have the last laugh. They win. They're dead. You can't hurt their feelings anymore.
This is rock'n'roll, not classical music. It's about people working together.
As long as there are a few people there, I can lose myself, which is the ultimate goal. And that's happening more and more; the non-musical world is becoming less and less interesting to me.
People just wanna see someone talking about themselves constantly. I'm not interested in that.
You can't just explain a joke. Either it isn't funny, or the person just totally missed the punchline.
People expect not just songwriters but all personalities to pontificate about their egos.
It's not my way to talk about my feelings. They're impudent to myself, so it wouldn't make any sense if I tried to explain them to anyone else. I've never been to therapy - not interested in it.
I do like the word timeless. That's a great word.
I don't think anyone knows anything and I don't trust people who say that they do. Don't give me a plan, give me action.
This is a transitory world, we're all spirits just looking for love and finding it, and holding on. Even if it's a moment it's true love, true love doesn't mean that it goes on for eternity. Eternity is a terrible concept.
The writing of the record didn't take long, because I just have a huge stack of papers and I just pluck from the stack. It took a long time because it's very expensive to make records; in fact, I think it's a complete rip-off.
