"I'd stand there staring out of the window or at the black wooden floor with a guitar, just trying to pull stuff out. I thought, I'm going to write a single. How do you write a single? What's the most moronic thing I can think of? I know, Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1"."

'Some (songs) are autobiographical, but very few. I don't live an interesting enough life to write about it all the time"

" Our manager was saying we need to shorten everything, the ayatollah was saying: "I don't like rock'n'roll."

"Adults bring their own filthy minds into a thing. They don't quite perceive it as a child does. Oh, Johnny's used a naughty word. "Bodies" was from two different points of view. You'll find that theme runs through a lot of things I write like "Rise" – "I could be wrong, I could be right". I'm considering both sides of the argument, always."

"He wrote in rhyming couplets nearly always. They were well constructed sentences that Ian would just do on the beat, and because he was the master of lytic writing they had their own natural rhythm"

"I enjoyed the interview very much. What did the guys have to say?"

"I’ve always been very wary about analysing songwriting. It’s always been a mystery to me where ideas come from."

"I was astounded by his knowledge and even after all these years to be asked original questions that surprise you was very impressive."

"I know you’ve had glowing reports from others - it’s really interesting how you did it."

"I still wake up and wonder what I’m going to do when I grow up. Why am I a songwriter? That’s the way it ended up. I used to describe songwriting – when I was writing Waterloo Sunset – as like whittling down a stone and smoothing the rough edges."

"'This is without doubt the finest book I've ever read about songwriters and the songs they write. Fantastic insightful interviews. I remember being interviewed for it at the time and thinking I wish all interviews were like this.' Noel Gallagher"