-
I met John Lennon and he was with his wife in Tokyo. I met him there.
-
I make a lot of pieces of music that I never release as CDs.
-
It's nice to know that there are several different avenues I could pursue.
-
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.
-
I can never predict what's going to happen.
-
I was always more of a rock drummer than an experimental drummer.
-
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.
-
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.
-
Cooking is a way of listening to the radio.
-
You can never get silence anywhere nowadays, have you noticed?
-
In the wake of the events of 11 September 2001, it now seems clear that the shock of the attacks was exploited in America.
-
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.
-
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.
-
I didn't really want to give up music.
-
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.
-
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.
-
I'm fascinated by musicians who don't completely understand their territory; that's when you do your best work.
-
The problem with computers is that there is not enough Africa in them.
-
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.
-
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.”
-
I often say to people that producing is the best-paid form of cowardice. When you produce things, you almost always get credit if it's a good record, but you hardly ever get the blame if it's not! You don't really take responsibility for your work.
-
Other bands wanted to wreck hotel rooms; Roxy Music wanted to redecorate them.
-
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.
-
Words can be very powerful. I find them very difficult.