Keyboardists

"It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims, and in my case it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist. The harm done is often difficult to repair."

"I wanted a break. I had been on the road more or less since I was 18, you know? And I hadn't known any other life, other than, you know, hotel rooms and concerts and records and studios and press conferences. … and to me, here was a chance to jump off that kind of wagon and see life for real. You know, actually my last album was called Back to Earth. So that was the meaning of it. I wanted to join the human race again. I didn't want to be a star. I didn't want to continue with that thing, because so much illusion and non-reality is connected to it. I wanted to be real. And so I — I kind of — I found an opportunity. And the actual point about music was — the imam who I met and who I first embraced Islam with in London's Central Mosque, he actually told me to continue making records."

"We understand the anger, the anguish and suffering which this act of international terrorism has created amongst people. What we are worried about is the impact of the wrong kind of response to it. … We believe that the civilised world is a multicultural, multi-religious world. That is the type of message we want to get across. … I think there are many who are Muslims and non-Muslims, who are not warmongers but peace makers and want this world to be a better place. We believed the unison of the voices of so many people standing together against international terrorism is something to be valued and something to be built upon."

"I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attacks, it must be stated that no right thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action: the Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims at this sorrowful moment."

"I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention Leviticus 24:16."

"In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again."

"If Rushdie turned up at my doorstep looking for help, I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is."

"Rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing."

"Geoffrey Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die? Yusuf Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie? Robertson: Yes. Islam: Yes, yes. Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner? Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act — perhaps, yes."

"Art was what I originally started out to do and music came second at first. I had a year at art college but I left because it was too much like school. I give all my paintings away to people I like."

"It seems as if I am making a comeback but I have never really been away. It’s very strange because the whole attitude changes and everything is turned inside out. Now I am seeing the shiny side again."

"I woke up this morning and fell out of bed; Trouble waiting to happen. Should've quit while I was ahead; Trouble waiting to happen. I turned on the news to the Third World War, Opened up the paper to World War IV. Just when I thought it was safe to be bored, Trouble waiting to happen."

"My shit's fucked up. It had to happen to the best of us. The rich folk suffer like the rest of us, It will happen to you."

"You know I hate it when you put your hand inside my head And switch all my priorities around. Why don't you go pick on someone your own size instead?"

"I can saw a woman in two. But you won't want to look in the box when I do"

"Life'll kill ya, That's what I said. Life'll kill ya, Then you'll be dead. Life'll find ya Wherever you go. Requiescat in pace That's all she wrote."

"We contemplate eternity Beneath the vast indifference of heaven."

"And I'm searching for a heart, Searching everyone. They say love conquers all. You can't start it like a car, You can't stop it with a gun."

"Down in the basement I have a Craftsman lathe. Show it to the children When they misbehave."

"I'm very well acquainted with the seven deadly sins I keep a busy schedule trying to fit them in I'm proud to be a glutton and I don't have time for sloth I'm greedy and I'm angry and I don't care who I cross."

"When I was young, times were hard. When I got older it was worse."

"I wrote my songs despite the fact that I was a drunk, not because of it."

"Sickness, doctors, that scares me, not violence — helplessness. That's why I turn to violent stories."

"You know, you put more value on every minute … I mean, I always thought I kind of did that. I really always enjoyed myself. But it's more valuable now. You're reminded to enjoy every sandwich, and every minute of playing with the guys, and being with the kids and everything."

"Well, first of all, let me say that I might have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years. It was one of those phobias that really didn’t pay off."

"It just sort of happened. I wrote like what I'd always read and what was in the movies … I'm sure popular music is supposed to be like this."

"I write songs about things that I'm simultaneously trying to not think about."

"I'm insane. I'm fucked up. I have problems. But I don't get depressed and I don't get bored."

"From what I know about alcoholism, I'd say there's nothing romantic, nothing grand, nothing heroic, nothing brave — nothing like that about drinking. It's a real coward's death."

"They made hypocrite judgments after the fact, But the name of the game is be hit and hit back."

"Every day I get up in the morning and go to work And do my job — whatever. I need some Sentimental Hygiene. Everybody's at war these days. Let's have a mini-surrender. I need some Sentimental hygiene"

"So I'm gonna hurl myself against the wall, 'Cause I'd rather feel bad than not feel anything at all."

"Now I'm hiding in Honduras I'm a desperate man Send lawyers, guns and money The shit has hit the fan"

"I'm the innocent bystander Somehow I got stuck Between the rock and the hard place And I'm down on my luck"

"Send lawyers, guns and money. Dad, get me out of this!"

"Well, I went home with the waitress The way I always do How was I to know She was with the Russians, too"

"We made mad love: Shadow love, Random love, And abandoned love. Accidentally like a martyr. The hurt gets worse and the heart gets harder"

"I saw Lon Chaney, Jr. walking with the Queen Doing the werewolves of London. I saw a werewolf drinking a piña colada at Trader Vic's... His hair was perfect."

"He's the hairy-handed gent, who ran amok in Kent. Lately he's been overheard in Mayfair. You better stay away from him. He'll rip your lungs out, Jim. Huh, I'd like to meet his tailor."

"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand, Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain. He was looking for a place called Le Ho Fooks. Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein."

"He took little Suzie to the Junior Prom. Excitable boy, they all said. And he raped her and killed her, then he took her home. Excitable boy, they all said."

"Roland the headless Thompson gunner, Norway's bravest son. Time, time, time For another peaceful war. But time stands still for Roland 'Til he evens up the score. They can still see his headless body stalking through the night In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun; In the muzzle flash of Roland's Thompson gun."

"Except in dreams, you're never really free."

"And if California slides into the ocean Like the mystics and statistics say it will, I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill.Don't the sun look angry through the trees? Don't the trees look like crucified thieves? Don't you feel like Desperados under the eaves? Heaven help the one who leaves."

"Carmelita hold me tighter, I think I'm sinking down. And I'm all strung out on heroin On the outskirts of town."

"So much to do, there's plenty on the farm; I'll sleep when I'm dead. Saturday night I like to raise a little harm; I'll sleep when I'm dead."

"Loneliness and frustration, We both came down with an acute case. And when the lights came up at two, I caught a glimpse of you. And your face looked like something Death brought with him in his suitcase"

"Poor, poor pitiful me. Poor, poor pitiful me. These young girls won't let me be. Lord have mercy on me. Woe is me."

"She's so many women, He can't find the one who was his friend. So he's hanging on to half her heart. He can't have the restless part, So he tells her to hasten down the wind."

"I believe that any "awareness" of life is "spiritual" since awareness can only be a quality of the spirit not of the material world or of matter and machines. Only a spiritual being has awareness. But if you mean "spiritual" in the sense of a kind of "celebration of Life", then yes, I write music to celebrate life. I think most artists do, no matter how they themselves describe it. It's the joy of creating. It's a way of life."