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" 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. "

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" The Jam were a good band, however I feel that the Style Council were better. A lot of people I know will disagree with me. Some things we did with The Style Council were misinterpreted or over their heads. "

" 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 so lucky, I'm just really grateful for what I've got around me - children and my wife and everything else. "

" I could write songs about politics, but I'm conscious of not writing songs that sound the same as the ones I wrote 30 years ago. "

" 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. "

" 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. "

" I'm always looking for something. Not in an unhappy way. I just like to try different things. I don't want to be morbid, but I'm not getting any younger. "

" 'Ageism,' or whatever you want to call it, is a very English phenomenon. You don't get it too much in many other cultures. And no one says it about authors or poets or filmmakers. 'Oh, they're too old to make films or write books.' "

" 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. "

" I suppose I was much more serious-minded in the '70s and '80s. "

" I never saw myself as a spokesman for a generation. It was all a bit heavy for me. I saw myself as a songwriter and wrote for myself, which I still do, and I also wanted to communicate with my audience. "

" There was a time in my 40s where I thought, oh, it's all over - not just work, but I'm never going to feel young again, I'm always going to feel like I know what's going to happen, I'll know what to expect. Looking back I don't know if that was a midlife crisis, I don't know - but I don't feel that now. There's possibilities. It gets better. "

" I don't like the royal family, I don't like the establishment, I don't like the civil service. "

" When I told my mum I was going to play my first gig when I was 14, she couldn't believe it, cause I was painfully shy at that time. But I just done it, put my head down and got through it. And I suppose there's still a little bit of that, even though it's many years later and I've been doing it for a long time. "

" 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. "

" I've always liked my clothes, even before I could properly afford them. Clothes for me were never a cloak, a cover. They were how I chose to express myself. "

" 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 my old age, my mind gets more open, and I listen to so many different types of music and I guess that all reflects in my work. "

" There have been records I've been really, really pleased with that haven't connected with people. But I felt good about them. "

" 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. "

" You can't live a lie. You have to follow your heart. "

Follow Your Heart

" There are so many artists who get to my age that get comfortable and just stick in a groove, and I really don't want to do that. "

" 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. "

" Pop music was supposed to be a flash in the pan, but here we are 50 years later and it means something to us, and it always will do. It's incredibly important. "

" Nothing wrong with pop! "

" The Zombies were really unique - they had elements of jazz and classical music in their songs and songwriting. They had a very, very different sound compared to a lot of their contemporaries at the time. "

" You have to keep challenging yourself. I've always tried to do that, and I'm not saying I've always been successful. Maybe I've rewritten the same song; it's inevitable, but I've always been mindful of taking the writing somewhere else. You can't stick in your little comfort zone. "

" I think I come from a time when all the artists I grew up with and I loved always used to try and push the boundaries, and there doesn't seem so much of that, really. "

" 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. "

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