The only two things that matter to me, the only motivation points for me writing all these songs are revenge and guilt. Those are the only emotions I know about, that I know I can feel.
Somebody should clip Sting around the head and tell him to stop singing in that ridiculous Jamaican accent.
Basically, Elvis Costello is a brand name, like Ferrari.
Michael Jackson? He'll be forgotten in 50 years. He'll be like this person who statistically was famous… He's just a facsimile of excitement.
Somebody wrote me a letter that they really loved "Shipbuilding" because it was such a great song about that couple going boating! It's always worth leaving enough leeway for people to hang themselves.
I made 12 albums in eight years. Inevitably a quarter of the songs must not be worth having written, let alone recorded.
I can be watching a programme about tadpoles, and some sort of poetry will appear out of it. I don't know whether that's a talent or a nervous tic.
My mother tells me I could work a record player before I could walk!
I think I walk my own road; occasionally I intersect with other things, small, windy roads that take me somewhere I want to go, and other times I hit Main Street.
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