Most people think that I heard Bob Dylan first and got a cap and harmonica. Really, it was Woody Guthrie. He was so influential.

Poets have a sense of place. My place was London, and I sang about it.

I am so highly skilled that when I pick up a phrase and then pick up my guitar, a form comes out almost immediately -- a song -- and once I start, I have to finish it.

I was making the music and writing the songs which reflected the emerging consciousness of my generation.

I became a recluse many times and enjoyed a private life I didn't have during the '60s.

Coming from art school, I had a great sense of style -- as did The Beatles and the Stones -- and I enjoyed projecting that. Image, attitude, great music and great lyrics -- that was the '60s.

Linda's in all the songs. 'Sunshine Superman,' 'Hampstead Incident,' 'Young Girl Blues'... Linda's the muse.

Caterpillar sheds it's skin to find a butterfly within.

I feel strongly that having a disability in one area makes you explore others instead.

I think of myself as a poet. I grew up with poetic influences -- what I know from my background is the bardic poetry, which came down through oral tradition.

I didn't realise that I was so accomplished on the guitar until someone said to me, 'How do you do that?' That someone was John Lennon. He asked me to teach him my technique.

I've been vegetarian for many years and only eat fish if I have to.

It seems to be very clear that each new generation that comes -- not only audiences but young bands as well -- are very encouraged and enthused and inspired by my work.

I have always just experimented, and I come from a very ancient, acoustic root. It was very hard to put a finger on me.

The Faces are my old chums. We used to hang out.

My father was a part of that generation, and my mother, too -- the late-'30s, early-'40s big-band generation. Frank Sinatra, Art Blakey, Gene Krupa, Billie Holiday -- all that stuff was in my background.

Part of being a pop star is image. I'm told by many of my female fans that I was the poster on their bedroom walls. But if I only had that -- the image and the beauty and the curly locks -- I would have been a 'normal' pop star, one who comes and goes after one hit record.

My guitar-playing always included bass lines, melody lines, and rhythm-guitar grooves.

I've exhibited quite a few of my photographs. I expand them digitally till they're very big. It's an art school thing, I suppose.

A writer without a pen would be like a duck without water!