Rock Singers

"I want him to be remembered for what he was – not this tragic figure he has been turned into by nit-pickers and people who used to stalk us and collect photographs and 'evidence' of what we were doing on a certain day. He could be grumpy, and he could be terrible in the studio, getting exactly what he wanted – but he was fun, he was charming. I want people to remember the man I knew."

"You never told me he was that fucking good."

"Individual is unable to conform to military rules and regulations. Misses bed check: sleeps while supposed to be working: unsatisfactory duty performance."

"There's so many tight-lipped ideas and laws around, and people put themselves in uniforms so tightly, that it's almost impossible to break out of that. Subconsciously, what these people are doing, they're killin' off all these little flashes they have, cutting off the idea of wanting to understand. They forgot, didn't believe, or just snuffed the feelings or thoughts off to continue with their crazy soul. They don't have the patience to really check out what's happenin' through music, theater and science. It’s like a spaceship. If a spaceship came down and you know nothin’ about it, the first thing you’re going to think about is shooting it. In other words, you get negative in the first place, which is not really the natural way of thinking. It’s like shooting at a flying saucer as it tries to land without giving the occupants a chance to identify themselves."

"When the power of love overcomes love of power the world will know peace."

"I used to live in a room full of mirrors, All I could see was me. Then I take my spirit and I smash my mirrors, And now the whole world is here for me to see, Now I'm searching for my love to be."

"I'm a Voodoo Child, Voodoo Child, Lord knows I am a Voodoo Child"

"You're just like crosstown traffic So hard to get through to you. Crosstown traffic. I don't need to run over you. Crosstown traffic. All you do is slow me down. And I'm tryin' to get on the other side of town."

"Anger he smiles towering in shiney metallic purple armour, Queen jealousy envy waits behind him, Her fiery green gown sneers at the grassy ground."

"Castles made of sand, fall in the sea, eventually"

"I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to."

"White collar conservative flashin' down the street, Pointing that plastic finger at me, Hoping soon my kind will drop and die, But I'm gonna wave my freak flag high."

"Well she's walking through the clouds With a circus mind, that's running round. Butterflies and Zebras, and moonbeams, and fairytales- That's all she ever thinks about. Riding with the wind."

"The traffic lights, they turn a blue tomorrow And shine their emptiness down on my bed The tiny island sags on downstream Cause the life it lived, is, is dead"

"You got me blowin, blowin my mind, Is it tomorrow or just the end of time?"

"Purple haze, all in my brain Lately things just don't seem the same, Acting funny, but I don't know why, 'Scuse me while I kiss the sky."

"Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand? Hey Joe, I said where you goin' with that gun in your hand? Alright. I'm goin down to shoot my old lady, You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man. Yeah,! I'm goin' down to shoot my old lady, You know I caught her messin' 'round with another man. Huh! And that ain't too cool."

"Have you ever been experienced? Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful."

"We’ll hold hands and then we’ll watch the sunrise From the bottom of the sea But first, are you experienced? Uh-have you ever been experienced? Well, I have"

"Listen here, baby And stop acting so crazy You say your mum ain't home, it ain't my concern, Just play with me and you won't get burned. I have only one itching desire: Let me stand next to your fire."

"(Hey man) oh leave me alone you know (Hey man) oh Henry, get off the phone, I gotta (Hey man) I gotta straighten my face This mellow thighed chick just put my spine out of place."

"Ziggy played guitar."

"Making love with his ego Ziggy sucked up into his mind Like a leper messiah. When the kids had killed the man I had to break up the band."

"There's a starman waiting in the sky He'd like to come and meet us, But he thinks he'd blow our minds."

"Pushing through the market square, so many mothers sighing News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in. News guy wept and told us, earth was really dying Cried so much his face was wet, then I knew he was not lying."

"It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair But her mummy is yelling "No" And her daddy has told her to go But her friend is nowhere to be seen Now she walks through her sunken dream To the seat with the clearest view And she's hooked to the silver screen. But the film is a saddening bore 'Cause she's lived it ten times or more."

"Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes Turn and face the strange."

"I watch the ripples change their size But never leave the stream Of warm impermanence. So the days float through my eyes But still the days seem the same. And these children that you spit on As they try to change their worlds Are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through."

"I always had a repulsive sort of need to be something more than human. I felt very very puny as a human. I thought, "Fuck that. I want to be a superman.""

"Still don't know what I was waiting for And my time was running wild. A million dead-end streets and Every time I thought I'd got it made It seemed the taste was not so sweet. So I turned myself to face me But I've never caught a glimpse Of how the others must see the faker I'm much too fast to take that test."

"When all the world was very young And mountain magic heavy hung The supermen would walk in file Guardians of a loveless isle."

"We passed upon the stair, we spoke of was and when Although I wasn't there, he said I was his friend Which came as some surprise I spoke into his eyes I thought you died alone, a long long time ago."

"Live to your rebirth and do what you will (Oh by jingo) Forget all I've said, please bear me no ill."

"Man is an obstacle, sad as the clown (Oh by jingo) So hold on to nothing, and he won't let you down."

"Day after day They send my friends away To mansions cold and grey. To the far side of town Where the thin men stalk the streets While the sane stay underground.Day after day, They tell me I can go. They tell me I can blow To the far side of town Where it's pointless to be high, 'Cause it's such a long way down."

"In the corner of the morning in the past I would sit and blame the master first and last. All the roads were straight and narrow And the prayers were small and yellow. And the rumour spread that I was aging fast. Then I ran across a monster who was sleeping By a tree. And I looked and frowned and the monster was me."

"I'm the cream Of the great utopia dream. And you're in the gleam In the depths of your banker's spleen."

"This is Major Tom to Ground Control. I'm stepping through the door, And I'm floating in a most peculiar way. And the stars look very different today.For here Am I sitting in a tin can, Far above the world. Planet Earth is blue, And there's nothing I can do."

"Ground Control to Major Tom. Ground Control to Major Tom. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on."

"If our love song Could fly over mountains, Could laugh at the ocean, Just like the films, There's no reason To feel all the hard times, To lay down the hard lines. It's absolutely true.Nothing much could happen Nothing we can't shake Oh we're absolute beginners With nothing much at stake As long as you're still smiling There's nothing more I need I absolutely love you But we're absolute beginners. But if my love is your love We're certain to succeed."

"All the young dudes Carry the news Boogaloo dudes Carry the news."

"I had to resign myself, many years ago, that I'm not too articulate when it comes to explaining how I feel about things. But my music does it for me, it really does. There, in the chords and melodies, is everything I want to say. The words just jolly it along. It's always been my way of expressing what for me is inexpressible by any other means. What is very enlightening for me right now is that I sense that I'm arriving at a place of peace with my writing that I've never experienced before. I think I'm going to be writing some of the most worthwhile things that I've ever written in the coming years. I'm very confident and trusting in my abilities right now. But I've got to think of myself as the luckiest guy. Robert Johnson only had one album's worth of work as his legacy. That's all that life allowed him."

"Heathenism is a state of mind. You can take it that I'm referring to one who does not see his world. He has no mental light. He destroys almost unwittingly. He cannot feel any Gods' presence in his life. He is the 21st century man. However, there's no theme or concept behind Heathen, just a number of songs but somehow there is a thread that runs through it that is quite as strong as any of my thematic type albums."

"Strangely, some songs you really don't want to write. I didn't like writing "Heathen". There was something so ominous and final about it. It was early in the morning, the sun was rising and through the windows I could see two deer grazing down below in the field. In the distance a car was driving slowly past the reservoir and these words were just streaming out and there were tears running down my face. But I couldn't stop, they just flew out. It's an odd feeling, like something else is guiding you, although forcing your hand is more like it."

"It's odd but even when I was a kid, I would write about "old and other times" as though I had a lot of years behind me. Now I do, so there is a difference in the weight of memory. When you're young, you're still "becoming", now at my age I am more concerned with "being". And not too long from now I'll be driven by "surviving", I'm sure. I kind of miss that "becoming" stage, as most times you really don't know what's around the corner. Now, of course, I've kind of knocked on the door and heard a muffled answer. Nevertheless, I still don't know what the voice is saying, or even what language it's in."

"Ageing is an extraordinary process... If you are pining for youth I think it produces a stereotypical old man because you only live in memory, you live in a place that doesn’t exist … I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been."

"Never play to the gallery... Never work for other people in what you do. Always remember that the reason that you initially started working was that there was something inside yourself that you felt that if you could manifest in some way, you would understand more about yourself and how you co-exist with the rest of society... I think it's terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfil other people's expectations."

"[While filming 'Ashes to Ashes'] So we're on the beach shooting this scene with a giant bulldozer. The camera was on a very long lens. [The camera is along way away, but the artist fills the frame] In this video I'm dressed from head to toe in a clown suit. Why not. I hear playback and the music starts. So off I go, I start singing and walking, but as soon as I do this old geezer with an old dog walk right between me and the camera... Well, knowing this is gonna take a while I walked past the old guy and sat next to camera in my full costume waiting for him to pass. As he is walking by camera the director said, excuse me Mr do you know who this is? The old guy looks at me from bottom to top and looks back to the director and said... "Of course I do!!!! its some cunt in a clown suit." That was a huge moment for me, It put me back in my place and made me realize, yes I'm just a cunt in a clown suit. I think about that old guy all the time."

"Music has given me over 40 years of extraordinary experiences. I can't say that life's pains or more tragic episodes have been diminished because of it. But it's allowed me so many moments of companionship when I've been lonely and a sublime means of communication when I wanted to touch people. It's been both my doorway of perception and the house that I live in. I only hope that it embraces you with the same lusty life force that it graciously offered me."

"I think fame itself is not a rewarding thing. The most you can say is that it gets you a seat in restaurants."