My skills are musical, not lyrical.

Politics goes in one ear and out the other. I don't even know the president's name for sure. That's how stupid I am.

Pop music has been exhausted. The innocence has been exhausted. I think we've lost the ability to be blown away by music.

Probably not much of a song left in me, you know, if any, because I've written so many, some 250 songs or 300 or whatever it is.

Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun.

The audiences in the U.K. like me more than in America.

The Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Phil Spector. Those were my idols.

There's no outdoing The Beatles.

To wear a floral shirt is an experience.

What in the world is a hangover cure?

When I can't write, it depresses me.

You know what? I'm not always in a positive, happy place. But I'm able to concentrate enough to come up with a really good song.

You know, Rolling Stones songs all sound kind of the same.

Don't get married until you're certain that you're marrying the right girl. How did I know my wife was the one? I'd seen her for a couple of months. I liked her. She was a very creative person and she had a very good grip on politics and business.

Every now and then I hear voices in my head, but not very clear. I can't understand what they are saying. It's a mental illness. I have been diagnosed as a manic depressive.

First of all, I want people to understand that I'm here to create for them. To create music for people so they'll know that I'm a source of love. And they can depend on my name.

I believe that writers run out of material, I really do. I believe very strongly in the fact that when the natural time is up, writers actually do run out of material. To me it's black and white. When there's a song there's a song, when there's not there's not.

I have to tell you that J.S. Bach was easily the greatest musical innovator in the history of the world. He was so advanced for his time. There's a spiritual depth to his music. You can listen to it and it's like meditation.

I think I need the demons in order to write, but the demons have gone. It bothers me a lot. I've tried and tried, but I just can't seem to find a melody.

I think I'm a vocal genius, not a musical genius. I like background vocals. I consider myself a voice, not a singer. A voice is a sound, and singing is what you do with that sound.