Sound has spoiled the most ancient of the world's arts, the art of pantomime, and has canceled out the great beauty that is silence.

Music is art, and art is important and rare. Important, rare things are valuable. Valuable things should be paid for.

I went into the business for the money, and the art grew out of it. If people are disillusioned by that remark, I can't help it. It's the truth.

There is a lot of snobbery towards pop music, to me and pop in general - it's kind of a despised art form.

Artists reach areas far beyond the reach of politicians. Art, especially entertainment and music, is understood by everybody, and it lifts the spirits and the morale of those who hear it.

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.'