"Do you want to know how to write a song? Song-writing is about counterpoint. Counterpoint is the key. Putting two dis…"

"Writing a good song is not mimicry, or replication, or pastiche, it is the opposite, it is an act of self-murder that…"

"Do I personally believe in a personal God? No."

"God has matured. He is not the impulsive, bowelless being of the Testaments - the vehement glorymonger, with His bag …"

"My responsibility as an artist is to turn up at the page or the piano or the microphone. The rest is up to God."

"The actualising of God through the medium of the love song remains my prime motivation as an artist."

"Of course I doubt [the existence of God], I would distrust anybody who didn't doubt. But I'm a believer. I have an un…"

"Oh, a passing, skeptical kind of interest. I'm a hammer-and-nails kind of guy."

"The concept of God in America is very different than it is in England. Because we see the horrendous outcome of relig…"

"The song is heroic because the song confronts death. The song is immortal and bravely stares down our own extinction.…"