No one told me I had to make something that would sell, but I personally want everyone to like my music.

In Japan, people don't really sing about sexual content.

I figure no matter how old you are, it's always going to be your first marriage and no life experience is going to make you a better judge of who you should marry.

No one told me I had to make something that would sell, but I personally want everyone to like my music.

I can never really enjoy being famous.

Americans are somehow obsessed with her, and something about me hit a spot with people in Japan.

It's a fairly recent thing but I've become very fond of making drinks myself.

People do ask me if I think I can make it in the States.

There really aren't any completely Asian people singing right now.

In English, the sounds and melodies I created were an inspiration to me, and words came to me as I explored the sounds, and from there I was able expand on the meaning.

For cubic U I didn't know how it all got started at all.

The world is in motion, as it seems.

I'm not like a gorgeous bombshell or anything like that.

It's just that, when I'm in Japan I could foretell to a certain degree what would be accepted, so I certainly don't come up with any crazy arrangements.

Since I was doing all of it myself, I had to decide where I wanted to go with the songs, how to proceed with the chords, if the sound was alright, and all that detail on my own.

For me, it's an experiment to see what people are gonna think of it.

The Japanese version comes with a translation, but that's different from the lyrics, so people could look things up and find a translation of their own if they're interested.

I don't like going to the gym because I don't like being with people I don't know in that intense environment.

The same parts of my brain get as excited as when I study bio or read a novel and write a paper on it.

I squeeze oranges every morning to make juice.

I've been missing Japanese literature so much of late.

I bought an espresso maker and coffee maker and make them myself every day.

And also, I think Japan places great value on the lyrics.

Sort of like, I have to make the Japanese lyrics really deep.

Actually, the fun part was not knowing what the heck I was going to be doing.

And it was then that I realized wow, I'm able to write lyrics and sing and stuff like that.

I do feel really determined, and that I have to pull myself together, but I don't really think like, my market has changed and my company has changed, and I'm going to make it BIG in America!

But in Japanese, there's actually not much of a relationship between the music and the words.

The thing is, in English I'm able to write the lyrics as I'm making the song, once I'm done with the melody.

For the version of this CD released in Japan, a translation of the English lyrics is included, but there are lots of places where meanings are lost in the process of translation.

I get strangely obsessed about the cleanliness of my house.

When people ask me exactly how much time I spend in each country, I always tell them I have no idea.

I just want people to see that I do my own stuff, that I'm not stupid, and I can make fun of myself.

When you use music to worship you are not attempting to entertain.

Pop music, disco music, and heavy metal music is about shutting out the tensions of life, putting it away.

When I did the record, I was coming off a time when my contract had been sold and the music industry had changed a lot. I didn't understand how to make records for big labels. I was waiting for a new kind of record label to emerge.

You've got to realize. In the western world, regardless of what color you are, what title the music is, it's all played by the same notes.

Don't make music for some vast, unseen audience or market or ratings share or even for something as tangible as money. Though it's crucial to make a living, that shouldn't be your inspiration. Do it for yourself.

Whether I'm doing music or I'm walking down the street or I'm in a record store buying a record or I walk into a comic store and I'm buying comics or having a drink with my friends, it's the same me.

When rock came along the lyrics and melodies became less important and it bothered me to think that perhaps they might not regain the value they have to music - they are music.

I want to promote poetry to the point where you got all the baldhead kids running around doing poetry, getting the music out of the way and having only words, the spoken word, and then see what happens.

There is no music that can't be used politically, but the motives behind the creation of that music can be non-political.

The kind of music or the kind of arrangements that I do, the kind of musicians I choose, is just what I like to hear.

If not for music, I would probably be a very frustrated scientist. It's one way to answer the question, 'What is the meaning of life?' I feel music answers it better.

Since I'm allergic to various things, the army wouldn't accept me during the war, and I got into the Office of War Information, which sent music to Europe.

My singing is my hobby. It's me and my brother. We just enjoy writing music.

I was determined to carve out a music of my own. I didn't want to copy anybody.

I have tried to make the music a bit easier for them to understand.

What makes my approach special is that I do different things. I do jazz, blues, country music and so forth. I do them all, like a good utility man.