My sense of rhyme used to be more involved in my songwriting than it is... Still staying in the unconscious frame of mind, you can pull yourself out and throw up two rhymes first and work it back. You get the rhymes first and work it back and then see if you can make it make sense in another kind of way. You can still stay in the unconscious frame of mind to pull it off, which is the state of mind you have to be in anyway.

At art school, a teacher said: 'The best paintings are when you get lost in a piece of work and start painting in a stream of consciousness.' I wanted to do music, not art, so started writing lyrics that way. The first song I wrote was called 'Ice Cream and Wafers.' The next was 'Holding Back the Years.'

Writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down.

Since day one, since the first time I touched the pen, I wanted to be the best at what I do.

My experience with songwriting is usually so confessional, it's so drawn from my own life and my own stories.

Effectiveness of assertion is the alpha and omega of style.