I once wrote a song so beautiful that I myself couldn’t sing it. It’s called Plastic Government Cheese Swan, and it’s about how the world is plastic and full of government cheese swans.
Immerse your soul in love.
One little leak becomes a lake, Says the tiny voice in my earpiece.
I want to live, breathe, I want to be part of the human race.
Drying up in conversation, You will be the one who cannot talk, All your insides fall to pieces, You just sit there wishing you could still make love.
In an interstellar burst I am back to save the universe In a fast German car I’m amazed that I survived An airbag saved my life.
Ambition makes you look pretty ugly Kicking and squealing gucci little piggy.
Far up above, aliens hover Making home movies for the folks back home Of all these weird creatures that lock up their spirits Drill holes in themselves and live for their secrets.
Everyone has got the fear It’s holding on Holding on.
Don’t get any big ideas, They’re not gonna happen.
Time is running out for us But you just move the hands upon the clock You throw coins in the wishing well For us You just move your hands upon the wall.
The more you try to erase me The more, the more The more that I appear.
My dad spent his whole life getting into fights for telling what he believed to be the truth. Basically it comes from my dad-and he’s screaming right-wing, so there you are.
While you make pretty speeches I’m being cut to shreds You feed me to the lions A delicate balance.
And then computers got to a point where you could just record directly into them. So when that happened, funny enough, I thought, Right, I’m going to learn how to do this because then I can understand that part.
It’s maybe a good thing to try to make music that feels reassuring in some ways – something that’s got a good feeling, a good vibe about it.
In America, there seems to be more focus on the idea that it’s important to do things differently. In Britain, it’s not an issue.
I suppose one thing that’s always fascinated me is that thing where you’re a band and you want to start recording and you get a label and a producer, and then there’s that pressure to go out there and really toil.
When you’re a parent, then you still have to commit to this concept of, “Okay, I’m basically out of action now for three months.”
I’d go onstage doing this thing, trying to fill this arena that I can’t fill because I don’t understand what this is. It’s like you’re given a job that’s beyond you. And it’s taken me years to realize what works in those big situations.
There’s an upside to the digital thing from my point of view because I find that I have access to all this wacky, weird-ass dance-music stuff that I just can’t go into a shop and buy on vinyl.