I've always been interested in relationships and the break-up of relationships.
— Gilbert O'Sullivan
I think I'm a good lyricist.
I think if every song I had was, 'I love you, you love me,' there would be a problem.
Success isn't dependent on the market place, because I can't control that. It's about completing a good song.
Nobody likes going to court.
Whenever I write lyrics and an Americanism slips in, I always cut it straight out. I can't use the word 'babe,' for instance. It makes me cringe.
The basis of everything I do is down to the song. If I don't have the song I don't sing, and if I don't sing I don't perform.
Success for me is to write what I think is a good song. When I'm pleased with it, that, for me, is a magical moment. I never lost that buzz.
There are two types of session guitar players. One reads and only plays what the 'dots' say. The other adds that something special and plays notes and solos you dream of. Big Jim Sullivan was such a player.
I always want to keep moving musically and trying new things.
I have learned to avoid the coverage, good or bad - and it's mostly bad.
It's ridiculous that people would judge my songs based on what I wore, but that's how it is... superficial. I don't really care, though - I am confident in the quality of my own work.
As long as I can write songs, make a record and do concerts, I'm really quite happy.
Just because you sell millions of records it doesn't guarantee bums on seats.
I do believe that any conflict has a better chance of being resolved if two people can come face to face.
I'd go to meetings with record companies - CBS, Decca, EMI. They'd tell me to wear a pair of jeans and grow my hair and look normal. And I'd say, 'Sod that,' and storm out. And I do think that belligerence is important when you're young.
I only think in the following terms: writing, recording, releasing. That's what I have control of. What I don't have control is whether critics or the public like what I do.
The perception that if you're not on 'Top Of The Pops' you're dead and buried is a good one for pop music, because 'TOTP' is a catalyst or barometer for pop success.
We all try to increase our length of life, but we all have to pass. It's highly interesting as a lyricist.
I wanted to look different. I liked being original.
You see, I read reviews of people like Paul Simon, and they don't talk about the fact that he's looking old or whether he is fashionable; they talk about the music, which is how it should be.
I am immensely proud of my Irish roots.
I used to play music all night and sleep during the day. I was very career-minded. The music dominated everything and anything that interfered with that, I put a stop to it.
I often meet people who say, 'I thought you were dead.'
At school, I was basically a loner, it was hard until I was 15 or so. Then I went to art school and was gifted with freedom to do the things I really wanted to do.
I work in the studio all day, and then I go for a walk with my dog, listening to music on headphones. And Saturday and Sundays, work is strictly out of bounds. It has to be.
I used to get these reviews in American newspapers saying that they didn't understand what my lyrics were about. I saw that as a compliment. That's exactly what English songwriters should be doing!
I've never recorded anyone else's songs. I'm not interested. If you gave me a song by Bono and Edge and promised me a number one hit with it I'd still say no. That, for me, is not the kind of success I want.
I do pick up on contemporary issues.
I do like to write about dark subjects.
I bought my mum a new house when the money started to come in; it's that old cliche.
The music is the thing. I am not writing for critics; I don't want to become a personality.
I know I can cut it with any songwriters in the world.
