I think people in general, no matter what they do, first need a cheerleader. Then they can sit down and go, ‘Okay, what is wrong with it?’ or ‘What should we do now?’ But the first thing out of anybody’s mouth can’t be, ‘You’re not doing it right.

When you're younger, a lot of your . . . art or music or whatever is more about just trying to look like you're an artist . . . trying to look like you're a certain thing or trying to . . . just . . . fit in. . . .

Older artists kind of don't care about that as much. . . . That's liberating and feels more like what true art should be about. . . .

When I first started writing songs, all I wanted to do was a write a song that sounded like another song so that it sounded like . . . . a legitimate thing. Not necessarily . . . a song that expresses anything I'm actually thinking . . . or feeling.

Here's what I'm mostly thinking or feeling in my early 20s: 'I-I hope I fit in.' . . . And that's not that interesting. . . . 'I hope people don't think I'm a fraud. . . . I want to be liked.' . . .
That seems kind of anti-art, really. . . .

I became friendly with [a] bass player. . . .
He told me about this place called the Berklee College of Music, and said that you didn’t have to audition. . . . They had a summer session you could attend; that was “Come one, come all.” So I went there and it opened a lot of doors for me. First of all, the ear training — to work on your ear and learn to hear things you’d heretofore not been able to ascertain, individual instruments, chords and where they went, and remember melodies better . . . I’d just thought, either you could do it or you couldn’t. That plus learning about chord progressions and music theory, and which chords sound good going into other chords . . . that was really a revelation. . . .

So I started applying that to writing songs.
Which were all terrible. But you do it enough, and you get better at it.

That bastard making fun of me in front of all my peers
Those people think I own this town, you're stripping all my gears
Well guess what Mr. President, I'll be seeing you
In four years

Though on the campaign trail the papers paint me like a clown
Still all I see are crowds who want to fit me for a crown
I point out all my enemies just so my fans
Bring them down

Isn't anybody going to stop me?
I don't want this job
I don't want this job, my god
Can't you tell
I'm unwell

You try to pin me down but you don't really try that hard
I throw out any shit I want and no one trumps that card
So dazzled and distracted by your fantasy
Of Hildegard

Isn't anybody going to stop me?
I don't want this job
I don't want this job, my god
Can't you tell
I'm unwell

You ask about my plan but baby my plan is to win
I wind up all the tops and watch the others keep the spin
You handing me grenades is just compelling me
To pull the pin

Isn't anybody going to stop me?
I don't want this job
I can't do this job, my god
Can't you tell
I'm unwell