When I started covering The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in a rock 'n' roll band, it helped me realize that my natural voice is actually really high. It helped me find my voice.

Often times at a concert, I just close my eyes. Music is very transportive and visual for me like that.

I could quite happily just make music because it conjures up a whole visual world for me in my mind.

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness, Like resignation to the end, Always the end.

Through the music I hope to give it an arc that gives it a greater sense of a journey through the set rather than a bunch of songs.

Emotionally, I feel mostly out-of-depth, like I will never quite learn how to be what I should be. And that makes me feel pretty vulnerable a lot of the time.

What makes me vulnerable? Well, my ego, probably. I kind of like to try to let go of it. Or feeling out of my depth. In various aspects of my life, whether it's musical or personal.

Have your friends collect your records and then change your number.

Music makes me want to dance but I'm not sure that's something anybody wants to observe.

I tend to just do whatever I want on an album and try to make it work. I'm just adventurous. It's most exciting to be at the edge of your abilities. I want to see how far I can push things.

I've been very lucky to work with many amazing animators and directors who can interpret and extend the music I make. When it's done well, it can create extra meaning and new context for the song.

Call me a sinner, Mock me maliciously: I was your insomnia, I was your grief.

If ever I am a mother I will zealously strive against this crime of over- indulgence. I can hardly give it a milder name when I think of the evils it brings.

I do not think any reasonable person can doubt that in India, China and Japan, if the knowledge of birth control existed, the birthrate would fall very rapidly

I never want to sort of put all the cards on the table all at once, because that's somehow there's always a journey to go on. There's always something to be revealed, in my mind, about characters.

What I am proud of is I have searched for the best of me and I have been a team man without fail.

[On Ronald Reagan:] Jane Wyman seemed more upset with her husband's obsession with politics than I. I tried to make her laugh. 'He'll outgrow it,' I told her. To her it wasn't funny.

One can never take the cynicism one comes across in life too seriously.

Accepting the gift may take the accumulated wisdom of some trodden miles, but it also opens the welcome windows of joy.

Violence [in Palestina] is part of the resistance to occupation. The basic fact is not the violence; the basic fact is the occupation.

I was born into a very important family in Japan. My grandfather was a descendant of the Emperor, and we were very wealthy.