You've got to really know your song, inside and out.
— Nick Lowe
They tell me I produced songs. I just stood in the back, wore a good suit and said, Yeah, that's happening.
The number of contemporary artists who appeal to me is infinitesimal.
If a hit came along, I wouldn't be unhappy about that. But I'm a bit too old for that now-doing videos and all those types of TV shows. I've kind of done all that, in the '70s.
I suppose I was waiting until I was old enough to have some sort of experience to sing about. When you're young, it's hard to sing the blues. Nobody believes you.
Elvis Costello had a brand new bag. He was a musician, but he knew all about the attitude part of it.
All those years we'd spent learning these chops, and all those gigs in Germany where you'd play all night, and along comes punk. It has nothing to do with that. A lot of people went out of business.
When somebody like Elvis Costello comes along, anybody can make a good record with him.
These days, rock 'n' roll is much more about rock than about roll. I don't do rock. But I'm interested in that roll part, because that's the funny little bit that makes it hip.
In the '70s, you had to come up with an album every year whether you were ready or not.
I'm playing to the sort of people who like the same records.
I like being a big fish in a small pond. I'm not interested in a huge audience because it brings headaches.
Be a military flier or be in a band; those were the two hippest things I could imagine.
When punk rock came along, the one thing you were not supposed to be was musical.
The world is full of musicians who can play great, and you wouldn't cross the road to see them. It's people who have this indefinable attitude that are the good ones.
If anyone comes along, I'm more than happy to welcome them, but I'm not interested in world domination.
I work very hard on getting the songs as direct and examined as I can before I go in the studio.
Going to Nashville to meet the in-laws was the first time when I'd been in America and not been seen as some sort of eccentric character with a cute accent.
As long as my body holds out, I'll be grooving when I'm 70, and not some sort of horrible spectacle.
