I didn't know Kurt Cobain or Amy Winehouse, but I was affected by both of their deaths because I admired their work so much and mourned their youth and work they would never produce.

Who can know the heart of youth but youth itself?

I had a handful of records, but when I was 11 years old, I liked Puccini as much as Little Richard. They both made sense to me.

The issue of gender was never my biggest concern; my biggest concern was doing good work. When the feminist movement really got going, I wasn't an active part of it because I was more concerned with my own mental pursuits.

I would rather write or record something great and have it overlooked than do mediocre work and have it be popular.

I think we have a creative impulse where suffering can magnify our work, but so can joy. You can be in love and write the greatest love song ever. Sometimes I think too much suffering makes it difficult to do one's work.