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I make a lot of pieces of music that I never release as CDs.
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Try to make things that can become better in other people’s minds than they were in yours.
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I was always more of a rock drummer than an experimental drummer.
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It's nice to know that there are several different avenues I could pursue.
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For instance, I'm always fascinated to see whether, given the kind of fairly known and established form called popular music, whether there is some magic combination that nobody has hit upon before.
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I can never predict what's going to happen.
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I describe things in terms of body movements. I dance a bit to describe what sort of movement it ought to make, and that's a good way of talking to musicians. Particularly bass players.
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Cooking is a way of listening to the radio.
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You can never get silence anywhere nowadays, have you noticed?
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I don't really have a great deal of spare time. I still have a house in the country, but I'm in London 90 percent of the time.
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What matters in modern music is not the part you can write down, the words and the tune, but the rest - the texture, the atmosphere, the references and associations.
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In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America.
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I didn't really want to give up music.
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I had a lot of trouble with engineers, because their whole background is learning from a functional point of view, and then learning how to perform that function.
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Sometimes something intrigues me about particular sounds, how they work together, and I think "Okay, I've found something here; I'm going to take it somewhere." And sometimes just to find a name for that sound, whatever it is, ends up becoming a title of the piece or becoming part of the title.
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I believe in singing to such an extent that, if I were asked to redesign the British educational system, I would start by insisting that group singing becomes a central part of the daily routine. I believe it builds character and, more than anything else, encourages a taste for cooperation with others.
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Attention is what creates value. Artworks are made as well by how people interact with them - and therefore by what quality of interaction they can inspire.
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I like lots of songs, and I find it quite interesting to do [cover songs] from time to time. My first solo hit was in 1973, the Dylan song “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.”
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The problem with computers is that there is not enough Africa in them.
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I'm fascinated by musicians who don't completely understand their territory; that's when you do your best work.
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Other bands wanted to wreck hotel rooms; Roxy Music wanted to redecorate them.
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If there is a new fascism, it won't come from skinheads and punks; it will come from people who eat granola and think they know how the world should be.
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Words can be very powerful. I find them very difficult.
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When I stopped touring in the early '80s for a few years, it was a mistake looking back. I lost touch with my audience in a way and I think that was a bad career move.