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" I've always had self-belief, though my sensitive side has never been fully appreciated. For every 'Down in the Tube Station at Midnight,' I've written an 'English Rose.' People forget. "

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" When I listen to a record, or when I'm making a record, I listen to everything. I listen to the drums, the bass, the voice, the arrangement. I listen to the whole piece as an ensemble. I don't only listen to the guitar player. "

Paul Weller

Everything

Bass

Guitar

" The only time I ever really got into rap was back in the early '90s, and bands like A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Gang Starr. Musically, they were really interesting. But when hip-hop acts start sampling Sting or Phil Collins, then I just don't get it at all. "

" I'm very, very open to experimenting with different people and trying to find different methods of writing and making music. "

" People say you make your best work when you're in despair and all that, and at your lowest - but for me, I think happiness makes you positive, and I think that's a good creative place to write from. "

" Everyone gets frustrated and aggressive, and I'd sooner take my aggression out on a guitar than on a person. "

" I want to see where and how far I can go as an artist. I look back and see what I've done, and I want to do as much as I can in my lifetime. I love doing it. If I didn't have that passion or love for it, I wouldn't do it. "

" I think politicians are so far out of step with what people really want. "

" I kept the first Rickenbacker I ever got, a little short-scale John Lennon-type model. And I've got a couple of 12-string models, which are really nice, and I've got a Pete Townshend model, which Pete gave me a few years ago. But that's about it. "

" I'm not big on rap, to be honest. I just don't get it. It's angry people shouting. I like a song, melodies, people singing. "

" It is nice to make a record and people like it, and it's encouraging. "

Paul Weller

Make

Encouraging

" I get labelled as just being about one thing, but there's lots of layers to what I do. It's just lazy journalism, but people start to accept it. If people spent an hour in my car driving around London and listening to the stuff I listen to, they'd hear some interesting stuff. "

" For me, the best thing I can do is play live. The best way for me to put over what I'm trying to do is to play live. Whether it's an acoustic show, electric or whatever... if I shine at all, that's where it all really happens - it just took me a while to rediscover that. "

Paul Weller

Live

Best

" Playing music is a lifetime's work. And if you want to carry on with it, you have to try to better yourself. You have to see where the music can take you. "

" I think people are just really disappointed, disappointed with Blair as well, who's just like Bush's lapdog. I think everyone's just disillusioned with politics in our country, and it must be the same in your country. "

" Playing live is what it's all about for me. It's cathartic, it's emotional, it's about communing with people. The way you feel after a gig is a such a powerful thing. "

Paul Weller

People

You

" There is a shy side to me that evaporates when I play on stage, and I like that. I think it's another facet of my character, and I need to do that. "

" I'd like to think I've left something in the world. Without in any way trying to be morbid, but life is very short, and I'd like to think I'd leave some body of work that would inspire other musicians long after I've gone. "

" Most people my age, their musical life ended in the '80s. They stick with what they know. But my tastes are much broader. And I don't want to stop learning. "

" Right from the start with music, I was like, 'I'm just going to do this, and I don't care about anything else. There are certain things you have to give up, even at 13, 14: your Friday and Saturday nights, having a regular girl, lots of things like that. I look at Amy Winehouse, and I think perhaps she just don't want to do it that much. "

" I'd heard a lot of Motown and Stax when I was a kid, but the more well-known end of it. On Jam tours, we had a DJ called Ady Croasdell who ran a '60s club. He turned me on to underground stuff and what people call northern soul. It just blew my mind. "

Paul Weller

Soul

People

" We can't stop a baby in Africa from starving to death... but we can afford enough technology and weaponry to blow the world up a million times over. "

" Music is the most natural thing in the world. When we go to a gig and we all like it and we share that experience, it's the same sense of communion as a sacred rite in Borneo or wherever it may be; it just gets dressed up different. Its good for the soul. "

Paul Weller

Good

Experience

" I was such a massive fan of all the '60s pop bands, but if I had to single out one band, it would definitely be The Beatles. "

" I come from a time when every kid dressed up. Everybody. If you didn't, you wouldn't be able to hang out. It was very tribal. There's nice things in that. It's culture; it's roots for me. "

" In the '90s, I think I rediscovered my guitar. The Jam was obviously very guitar-based, but in the Style Council I just got really disillusioned with playing the guitar. The further it went on, the less and less I played, to a point where I couldn't pick it up any more. "

Paul Weller

Point

Guitar

" Led Zeppelin would never have reformed if he or Jimmy Page were bald. "

Paul Weller

Never

Led

" I really enjoy playing America. I like the audiences there. It's the home of a lot of music I grew up with. "

Paul Weller

Music

Enjoy

" If you're making music, you must want to turn other people on to it, whether you're number one in the charts or number 60. I don't know, that's a commercial thing, but just the fact that other people like you... there's no point in making music, otherwise. Otherwise, you might as well make it in your bedroom and leave it there. "

" There were aspects of stardom I didn't like, which were of no consequence, really, but the positive things far outweighed the negative. By the time I came to write 'Setting Sons,' I felt my writing was more like prose, set to music. "

" No man should have cowboys boots in his wardrobe. That's fair enough, isn't it? Unless you're a cowboy, of course. "