I used to want to be a war photographer, and I used to want to be a ballerina and a comedian. I used to want to be a writer. I invalidated myself; it's a mistake for me.

There's just a lot of stuff that really moves me, and I don't know how to express it, and I just want to try to do the best I can and surround myself with good people who don't invalidate me.

Usually, I'll just sit down at a piano or with a guitar, and I'll just be relaxed and playing music. Because that's what relaxes your subconscious. That's why everyone from animals to humans love music.

Life is hard and it gets worse and worse and worse.

From folk to tribal to Cab Calloway, Cole Porter, Gershwin to the Rolling Stones, whose first record was all covers, to country-western, bebop, blues, and even the referencing in classic hip hop to cliched love ballads of the '80s or whatever - that is kinda gone, and that's just terrifying to me.

Everybody tends to think I'm crazy, which is the biggest problem in my life.

Hip-hop and R&B is mostly what I listen to. I don't have a connection with punk rock - I just never had that experience.

I am human and I make mistakes.

I don't come from money or an educated family background or any sort of supportive family life, so all of my choices are made on my own.

I got more guts than brains, and that's my problem.

I moved to Los Angeles to be with a man I loved.

I need to be able to face things.

I still haven't been able to capture the joy of what it's like when I sing - you know, when I'm by myself, or like when I was a little kid.

I think the hardest thing about my life is that I've met so many people all over the world who I love, but they're not friends with each other.

I'm not a professional entertainer. I'm not Neil Diamond.

I've always done things myself. I've never bragged or screamed that I produced a record before. I never told anybody.

I've always dressed like a dude.

I've never had a clique. It's impossible when you're always traveling.

If your parents gave you fire to play with when you were two, you'd be standing in fire by the time you were an adult.

Nobody considers a covers record an album.