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When I was a teenager in Iceland people would throw rocks and shout abuse at me because they thought I was weird. I never got that in London no matter what I wore.
Bjork
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My first album didn't come out until I was 27, which in pop years is late, you know. But when it came time to arrange it, I became a kid in a toy shop. I had a harp and a saxophone quartet and a symphony orchestra. I went berserk for a time.
Bjork
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Come on, I'm from Iceland; I don't do hip-hop.
Bjork
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Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I get so much grounding from Iceland because I know it's always going to be there. I have a very happy, healthy relationship with the country, so it's really easy to go everywhere because I always have Iceland to go back to.
Bjork
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Sometimes when I write lyrics there are images in them, usually on a quite simplistic level, like colors. But most often music comes first and then later I sit down with visual people and we chat about what we want to do. I don't look at myself as a visual artist. I make music.
Bjork
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I don't expect people to get me. That would be quite arrogant. I think there are a lot of people out there in the world that nobody gets.
Bjork
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When I was 20, political music was the uncoolest thing on earth.
Bjork
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I've been traveling in Guatemala in the rainforest, and here all these houses are made of sticks. It seems so easy to make one.
Bjork
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I get embarrassed listening to my last CDs. I've got a lot of work to do, let's put it that way.
Bjork
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Part of me is probably more conservative than people realise. I like my old string quartets, I don't like music that's trippy for trippy's sake.
Bjork
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We didn't really have television when I was a kid. Around 30, I discovered films and started systematically catching up. I collect interesting documentaries and films, and watch a few nights a week.
Bjork
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The funeral business is so manipulative emotionally. I would want to be thrown into the sea or burned - something that's not a big hassle.
Bjork
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There is such a big chunk of me that is David Attenborough. I think he is my biggest inspiration.
Bjork
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The reason I do interviews is because I'm protecting my songs.
Bjork
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In '96, I was in a very specific place with my own music - I was only listening to beats. You would come to my house, and I would just play beats all day.
Bjork
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I have written most of my melodies walking and I feel it is definitely one of the most helpful ways of sewing all of the different things in your life together and seeing the whole picture.
Bjork
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I do love one-upmanship sometimes, like when you see kids breakdancing and who can do the best tricks. It's common, it's in our nature as animals, like the birds of paradise who've got the best feathers and that sort of stuff. But it's fun when it's impulsive and it's about fun.
Bjork
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Most Icelandic people are really proud to be from there, and we don't have embarrassments like World War II where we were cruel to other people. We don't even have an army. So it's sort of like an all-around good, innocent place.
Bjork
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Now that rock is turning 50, it's become classical in itself. It's interesting to see that development.
Bjork
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Sometimes, when I have a lot of ideas and I want to do a lot of things, or when I'm traveling, I lose energy and I can't do as many things as I want. So I have to plan days when I'm not doing anything. I find that a bit boring, but it's necessary.
Bjork
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I've always appreciated working with people I have chemistry with, who are friends, and where you feel that the work is growing while you are getting to know each other better.
Bjork
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I would like to teach music. It's weird the way they teach music in schools like Julliard these days.
Bjork
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I'm not going to talk like I know about politics, because I'm a total amateur, but maybe I can be a spokesperson for people who aren't normally interested in politics.
Bjork
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The English can be a very critical, unforgiving people, but criticism can be good. And this is a country that loves comedy.
Bjork
