Our records if you have a dark sense of humor were funny but our records weren't about comedy. They were about protests fantasy confrontation and all that.

Very often I don't make it through moments of recording because it is genuinely funny and absolutely ridiculous that a 60-year-old grown man is making these noises.

I recorded my hair this morning tonight I'm watching the highlights.

I don't have anything to prove anymore. I don't have a record deal no one has any expectations I'm in a position of freedom. I don't need anyone's approval.

Maybe a part of me recognized how right the improvising spirit of jazz is. Not the sounds but the freedom to work with musicians who work that way. It felt very natural to me but I think there's a way to do it without it being a jazz record.

I have just enough people paying attention that I have the freedom to be in charge. And I have a great record company - Nonesuch understands what I'm about.

I love to deer hunt and fish and drive down the back roads in my truck. All those things basically equal freedom to me - and not having to return that message or call from my record company or management. At some point I need to recharge.

Is it a coincidence that in 1998 Barack Obama talks about a majority coalition of welfare recipients and in 2012 we got a record number of Americans on food stamps while he's president? I don't think it's a coincidence.

I got IRS records to finance what I wanted to do.

I'd gone from being this art student messing about with music to this girl with a record deal magazine front covers and all this hype. In many ways it was everything I ever wanted but when it happened all I felt was total paralysing fear.