Jarvis Cocker

I'm always nervous when I perform anyway.

Don't think that the things around you don't count, because they do.

In no way am I supporting or suggesting that a Conservative government is a good thing, far from it.

There's the famous thing that the A&R man from the record company is supposed to do: He's supposed to come into the studio and listen to the songs you've been recording and then say, 'Guys, I don't hear any singles.' And then everybody falls into a terrible depression because you have to write one.

Every woman I've had a relationship with has found this maddening; the fact that I will talk about anything on the stage, and reveal all this stuff, and yet when I'm at home, I clam up and won't discuss anything intimate or personal.

You know when you get into that thing where people want to discuss the relationship? I'd rather discuss what was on telly, avoid the issue, discuss anything other than the relationship.

My route so far through life hasn't been particularly logical, or even thought out.

In some ways, I always thought you're better off behaving like a rock star when you're a normal person. Because if you do it as a rock star, you'll end up in the papers and your life will be made a misery.

The things in my songs are the edited highlights of my life. I don't go seeking out strange sexual experiences every day of the week.

I think the credit crunch is a brilliant thing. We should all stop moaning and start celebrating. When times are tough, it's an opportunity to start looking at life in a different way.

If you get involved in music expecting to make a living out of it, then you've picked the wrong thing to do. That shouldn't really be in your mind.

The working class has been turned into a consuming class - a situation has been created where people value their worth by what they can afford.