Sometimes ideas are coming so fast that I have to stop doing one song to get another. But I don't forget the first one. If it works, it will always be there. It's like the truth: it will find you and lift you up. And if it ain't right, it will dissolve like sand on the beach.

I always wanted to make a three-record set. 'Sign o' the Times' was originally supposed to be a triple album, but it ended up as a double.

I don't live in the past. I don't play my old records for that reason. I make a statement, then move on to the next.

I don't talk about the past.

I've built a career on the survival skill I honed early on: being a smart aleck who is good with a fast comeback.

Like any actor, I want to be able to have a long career and show different characters and a range.

When I'm talking about the white working class, here's what I'm defining: high school degree, no more, and working in a blue-collar job or a low-skilled service job. When I'm talking about the white, upper-middle class, I'm talking about people who work in the professions or managerial jobs and have at least a college degree.

I was not a very good mother. I was always running out to do a movie or something. If I had to do it over, I would either have a career or children. I wouldn't do both unless I could work in my home. I spent 20 years feeling guilty, which is not a very nice emotion.