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“Other people’s shopping doesn’t interest me."

—on being told he was on Mark Chapman’s

1980 hit list, along with John Lennon

MOVING ON

“I’ve recently retired from military combat and I don’t want no more to do with fighting."

“The bus is still rolling … You can’t get off this machine, except when the wheels fall off."

“I don’t sit in trees anymore."

MUSIC and CREATIVITY

“All music is holy."

“Music’s meaning to people is one of the great mysteries."

“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones."

“It’s just the stuff to play it on that is a luxury."

“The album is called Talk Is Cheap because if we were able to talk about music, there would be no need for music. Music performs a function that can only be provided by the very fact that it is music … A function that is totally separate from anything else."

“How long has this human race been around? We don’t even know, right? They keep finding that we’re older than we thought. The first music probably came from a guy beating on a rock. ‘Here comes a tiger.’ That’s your first beat. ‘Warning.’ ”

“I hate to see music being used as propaganda. But then I think back and realize it always has been—national anthems and signaling. Music started out as a signaling process. When it comes down to it, music evolved out of necessity, not out of pleasure. Somebody got lucky, whipped the other tribe’s ass, and then they could use music for fun for a little while because there’s no competition. You get the rockin’ down: ‘We won, we won.’ You start to get those songs coming in, apart from just the signaling. And after that, there’s this progression."

“I love my kids most of the time, and I love my wife most of the time. Music I love all the time. It’s the only constant thing in my life. It’s the one thing you can count on."

“Certain sounds can kill. It’s a specialty of the French for some reason. The French are working with huge great speakers which blow down houses and kill laboratory technicians with one solitary blast."

“My music is about chaos. Nothing happens quite when you think it’s supposed to or when you want it to, but when it does, you’ve got to roll with it … It slams you the wrong way here, and then suddenly it’s in the right place … just like life."

“Good music comes out of people playing together, knowing what they want to do and going for it. You have to sweat over it and bug it to death. You can’t do it by pushing buttons and watching a TV screen."

“Is it just a distraction or is it a vision or God knows what? It’s everything to all kinds of people."

“Every sound has an effect on the body, and the effects of a good backbeat makes these people shiver in their boots, so you are fight-ing some primeval fear that you can’t even rationalize, because it’s to do with the chromosomes and the exploding genes."

“We’re only alive because the heart beat keeps going on all the time."

“I call it ‘marrow music.’ It’s beyond the bone."

—on Rastafarian chanters

“Imagine if Mozart and Beethoven had a fucking Walkman! You wouldn’t have had twenty-six overtures, you’d have fifty-bleeding-nine. Those guys would be green with envy. They would burn their wigs."

“Basically any beat that you’ve got on this continent comes from Africa. The climate and the people controlling your area—Spanish, French, or English—would determine from there on which way it would go … any music from the islands or Latin America is from Africa. It’s the predominant tribal beat of that area … Just another manifestation of the movement of rhythm and harmony and melody over the face of the planet. That’s what counts."

“I’ve seen people physically throw up from feedback in the studio. It’s so loud it started their stomach walls flapping. But on another level, if you go to Africa or Jamaica, you see people living to that rhythm. It’s magic in that it’s an unexplored area."

“I can give you the history of the world—just give me their music."

“Give