"The reflection of the world is blues, that's where that part of the music is at. Then you got this other kind of music that's tryin' to come around"

"Music is my religion"

"We worked very hard to make the lyrics suit the music. I can't, like Elton John, for example, compose by lyrics. Elton has a great talent for that. Whatever you give him, including your questions, he composes in half an hour and makes a great song out of it"

"I just had lunch with Slash two days ago. He loves Axl. He holds no grudges towards him. Twenty years of great music wasn't created because of some stupid grudge. That's a shame"

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away"

"It didn't even occur to me that I'm the last person in the world who should play salsa or Brazilian music"

"Music is the best way for me to say I love you"

"I record all of my music with authentic instruments in a studio before we start editing, doing many, many versions. The music shapes the film as we edit so it has an organic relationship to the content"

"The dance can reveal everything mysterious that is hidden in music, and it has the additional merit of being human and palpable. Dancing is poetry with arms and legs"

"I think musicians and artists are the most philanthropic people I know. Their charity record of the music business would hold up to the work of anybody"