"We knew we did not want to record at Impulse Studios again, after the experience of recording in a 'real' studio in London for the Radio One session we did"

"TV gives everyone an image, but radio gives birth to a million images in a million brains"

"It's not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on"

"It is the folly of too many to mistake the echo of a London coffee-house for the voice of the kingdom"

"I think I owe thanks to the people who have listened to me over the years, who tuned in on the radio. They have given me a warmth and loyalty that I've never been able to repay. The way they have reached out to me has certainly been the highlight of my life"

"I wrote a lot of stuff quickly: pages and pages of notes that seemed pretty incoherent at first. Most of it was taken from the radio because -suddenly being a parent- I'd be confronted by the radio giving a news report every hour of the day"

"If London is a watercolor, New York is an oil painting"

"I think some people record songs and make records a certain way to cater to radio. If you're born to make commercial music that's cool. But if you're born to not make commercial records, maybe you're meant to cater to another market"

"London is a modern Babylon"

"I worked in rep for six years, then I came to London and to the National Theatre. What's better than that?"

"The first song is called "London." It's about two Russian soldiers who desert the Russian army and escape to London, where they indulge in a life of crime"