The Artistic Process Seems To Be Mythologized

I Used To Believe That If I Could Do Certain Things - Write A Book Or Be A Successful Musician - That I'd Be Transformed Into A Happy Person, But It Doesn't Work That Way.

That's What We [outsiders] Feel America Is Really About - The Kind Of Crazed Ravings Of The Christian Right - When It's Probably Something Quite Different.

The Older I Get, The More I Feel Those Kinds Of Ghosts - Especially The Women In My Life - Moving Out Of The Shadows A Bit More And Becoming More Present In My Life.

There's An Element To Songwriting That I Can't Explain, That Comes From Somewhere Else. I Can't Explain That Dividing Line Between Nothing And Something That Happens Within A Song, Where You Have Absolutely Nothing, And Then Suddenly You Have Something. It's Like The Origin Of The Universe.

The Editing Of A Song Is Largely What Makes The Song For Me And I Think That Actually If I Had Started Going Like 'i Want You To Burn' It Would Have Pinned That Song Down To A Particular Thing And Made That Song A Smaller Idea Than What It Is. By Leaving That Off It's Much More Open, Broader.