I write music with my mouth — first lyrics, then song, then rhythm.

There are a lot of ways to do a solo album. One way is to take a tune and work it out, decide on changes, intro, and ending, modulations, tempos – work it out, and go in and do it. What I did, though, was just go in, and somebody would say 'Why don't you play How High The Moon?' I'd say 'Yeah, that might be nice.' I had no tempo in mind, no key, necessarily. I just tried to make it from beginning to end. I found myself getting into traps and having to get out of them.

There's always rhythm going in my mind. … I'm either singing them — June will tell you, I'm either singing them, or I have got the beat going from one, or I'm writing one.

Sitting and writing music on your own makes you think a lot about your life. Who are you? Would you change anything about yourself? This is where it comes from. It is like having a mirror held up in front of you, looking into yourself and asking these questions.

If they cut off both hands, I will compose music anyway holding the pen in my teeth.

I've always spent a lot of time on my records with what I think were unique rhythmic approaches … but no one ever writes about your rhythm playing

What is very strange musically is that the only music that can really inspire me now is my own music — and I think that’s perfectly normal.</br>I’ve found what I wanted: solitude and the space to think. [...] Soon my piano will arrive, because for composing I really need my instrument.

I used to see songwriting like editing a film or something. You can edit music like you can edit a film. Or if I was painting or making a picture or something, that night I could sit down and write a song. I think it really helps to break things up. Sometimes when you sit down to write songs, you write three or four songs in a row feeling the same sort of vibe. But if you stop in-between that time and change something, you break the pattern – you prevent yourself from unconsciously falling into a format.

What I have to say is all in the music. If I want to say anything, I write a song.

His rhythm is the only one I can sing my songs to.

Once I dreamed I'd write songs.

On working alone: "I enjoy working alone. I know myself, and I know what I want... and all this allows me to create my music before my thoughts can interrupt".

At the end of the day I have to please myself. And I've made a record to please myself.

For me, how I feel about what I wrote down turns into a song.