"It was blazing sunshine and I went on in a turquoise neck muff, glamorous dress and muddy boots and just had the best gig, really emotional. I've had emails from people saying that they cried. They promised it wasn't the drugs."

"On the whole, I'm a positive, skippity-la-la person but I love the dark side of music and I will always want to explore that. It's a positive-sounding album but there's stuff underneath for sure."

"I managed to win Battle Of The Bands with one mandolin player! It was me and eleven goth bands and I won."

"I was really into sci-fi books as a kid. My dad is a physicist and he used to take my brothers and I into his lab when we were little. We played games with liquid nitrogen and Van de Graaff generators. He had the keys to the observatory at St Andrew's University and he'd get us up in the middle of the night to show us Halley's Comet. That's partly why the album is called Eye To The Telescope."

"My songs examine and explore little specific emotions or situations or stories... They're kitchen table songs, like a conversation between me and one other person. It's almost like an alien has been sent to get emotional samples from human beings and put it all together on a record."

"I grew up knowing I could have had a million different lives. It makes your life mysterious and your imagination go wild."

"Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) This is what I wanna be Suddenly I see (Suddenly I see) Why the hell it means so much to me."

"Her face is a map of the world Is a map of the world You can see she's a beautiful girl She's a beautiful girl. And everything around her is a silver pool of light The people who surround her feel the benefit of it — It makes you calm She holds you captivated in her palm."

"When you're on your own I'll send you a sign Just so you know I am me, the universe and you."

"Well my heart knows me better than i know myself So I'm gonna let it do all the talking."

"Can you help me Can you let me go And can you still love me When you can't see me anymore? The fire fades away."

"Over the sea and far away She's waiting like an iceberg Waiting to change But she's cold inside She wants to be like the water. All the muscles tighten in her face Buries her soul in one embrace They're one and the same Just like water. Then the fire fades away And most of everyday Is full of tired excuses But it's too hard to say I wish it were simple But we give up easily You're close enough to see that You're the other side of the world to me."

"Many good things come from the left! [at the House of Blues on August 12th, 2008, while instructing the crowd to do a 'side-wave.']"

"I had that Paul McKenna come up to me once and he said, 'I love that song of yours about bicycles.' So I said to McKenna, 'And I loved the stunt you did in that glass box above the Thames.'"

"It's lovely to get to say hello to people you've always admired from afar, but the fun really starts out front with people going commando whilst wearing daring mud suits."

"I was traveling in Greece as a teenager, and for those who haven't been to Greece, it's absolutely covered in olive groves — stunted, gnarly little bonsai-type trees. And I was driving on a moped and a huge black stallion had pulled away from its stake and was just going nuts in this tiny, tiny, hobbit-like forest. It was just such a powerful image, this enormous beast let loose and going wild in a fairy-tale wood of tiny trees... The song itself is really about going through the process of making the first album. It was a very strange experience and a very steep learning curve. For the previous 10 or 15 years, I'd been completely my own boss — when you play a gig, you just play your new song, the new song is always your favorite. And here I was having to make an album of stuff that's never gonna go away. I was being asked to make these huge decisions, so really the song is just about learning to listen to your guts again. There's actually very few times in our lives now when we have to do that."

"Growing up in such a stunning landscape is inevitably going to have an effect on you, whether you rebel or whether you embrace, because it's so striking. I lived on this rugged, rugged coastline with the North Sea hammering at the cliffs, and the weather changes literally every half hour. My parents met as rock climbers, so they're absolute outdoors fiends, and we were constantly up hills and under canvas and camping and tramping around. They're very fond memories and something I still love to do."

"I went down to London with the idea that I was going to do vocals over this crazy, crazy trip-hop digital beat. Within two or three months, I heard Hunky Dory by David Bowie and that changed me in one way, and I realized what I actually wanted was to have an E Street Band — individuals, not session musicians."

""Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" is inspired by old blues, Nashville psycho hillbillies & hazy memories. It tells the story of finding yourself lost on your path, and a choice has to be made. It's about gambling, fate, listening to your heart, and having the strength to fight the darkness that's always willing to carry you off."

"I love Nature."

"``How wonderful it is to celebrate a 27 years career! When you moved from basket ball to music, the world of sports lost a great player, but music won a great singer. You transmit good vibrations, a wonderful energy on the stage.´´"

"``Her songs are a part of my life, from Começar de Novo (Malu Mulher). I like to watch her on the stage. She transmits security, but is also strong and sweet.´´"

"``I am specially moved by her performance on the stage. She has an enormous capacity of expressing hersel´´"

"``The first thing that comes to my senses is your tone of your voice, remarkable one, warm, heady and involving.´´"

"``You are generous and your voice is blessed. When I was sick with back problems, you even made a promise to quit smoking if I´d recover. Only a great friend can do this.´´"

"``Your voice is extraordinary and doesn´t need support. When you are sentimental, that´s when you are at your best. Your talent is revealed by this.´´"

"``I Like Simone very much. Potentially, there is a talent to bloom out. She is a beautiful woman, her repertory is very good and she is very well orientated by Flavio Rangel and Nelson Ayres´´."

"``I only met Simone last year and it was like meeting Sarah Vaughan or Dinah Washington. She has a very strong identity, she sings with a lot of passion and grace.´´"

"``When Simone opens her arms on the stage no one is more powerful on MPB´´."

"If I had to choose a song to listen to before I died, it would be Simone singing Começar de novo."

"Simone is one of the best singers in the world"

"When we are young we believe to be adults; when we are adults we believe to be young."

"The only person who could make me stop singing is the one who made me sing: God, the beauty up there!"

"Yes, I would, if they are the kind that shakes."

"I think an interpreter has to sing everything, to sing what wants to sing. It cannot be with that foolishness, that here in Brazil we face this thing that when one records a song, later no one can rerecord it. This is madness, absurd. Music doesn't have an owner, the music doesn´t belong to anyone."

"``The roses are a form of gratitude, it is my memory to the public. And the white clothes already comes from a long time. The white is the unification of all the colors and it symbolizes my spiritual master, that accompanies me always."

"Music for me is like a balsam. I always whish that when people are watching me or listening to me, they take with them this energy I receive from God."

"God is a white Light, cosmic, gorgeous one..."

"Broadway has been very good to me. But I've been very good to Broadway, too."

"She is one of the most talented people that ever lived. I mean, either in stand-up comedy, or acting, or whatever you want, you can't beat Madeline Kahn."

"Laughter is a strange response. I mean, what is it? It's a spasm of some kind! Is that always joy? It's very often discomfort. It's some sort of explosive reaction. It's very complex."

"What's wrong with musicals now is all the gifted men who've died of AIDS—who would otherwise be here today creating great theater."

"How can I believably be a dumb blonde. I'm the furthest thing from it. I am intelligent. I don't mean I have a great IQ. I just mean there's always an intelligence present in what I do."

"Mel is sensual with me. He treats me like an uncle - a dirty uncle. He's an earthy man and very moral underneath. He has traditional values."

"Me, as myself, I don't think I'm particularly funny. But I've noticed that people in my life always have found me amusing. Which, when I was little, really bothered me."

"I can't even really tell a joke. I find being funny very hard work. I am always asked about it and I feel guilty saying that, but it's the truth. I love my work but it ain't easy."

"I don't like to be my own audience, I find that being my own audience, being in the audience, makes me self-conscious, basically. So I tune in sometimes, with the sound off, to check it out and I back up to it. In the future I will look at it when some time has passed."