"There is something kind of absurd about people who live in such a comfortable, cushioned, spoiled society tattooing themselves and piercing themselves to make them appear tribal. We're trying to act like we're some sort of tribe that's been discovered in the mall." "Be nice to the British boy. I'm the only ally you have left." "Sometimes doing an old song is like returning to the text of a play. It's not invalid, just because it's old, otherwise nobody would be acting Shakespeare. (Not to say that everything I do is Shakespeare!) But it's inevitable that it changes its meaning or impact. That's why I never really sing anything from a nostalgic point of view, because even if it's 25 years old, it's in the moment. That's the beauty of live performance." "You can always say it could be better, but if you're not careful with ambition, the next thing you know you're sailing a statue of yourself down the river..." (On Van Morrison's Astral Weeks): It might be the best record of original thought that anybody's ever made. It's so completely unlike anything that went before it. And the vocal performances are the freest that I think Van ever recorded. "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do."