Even at the time, I realised this couldn't be right, that this interpretation didn't fit with the rest of the lyrics. But that wasn't an issue with me. The song was about what I said, and I used to listen to it again and again, on my own, whenever I got the chance.
People really listen to your lyrics if you rap. So, I had to make sure that they were clear and concise.
When you're dealing with a constant rhythm, no matter how great your lyrics are, if you don't switch it up, people's heads are going to start bobbing. And they're going to stop listening to what you're saying, so consistently keep the ear fresh and keep the audience surprised.
Did you write the words, or the lyrics?
I write my songs usually while I'm walking around. Or in a car. Or in a bus, a plane, something like that. I jot down lyrics wherever I am. Usually it's on a vomit bag on an airplane or something. I just look for a pen.
I want to say my life inspires my lyrics, but I also try to abstract them as much as possible because I don't want to refer to my life explicitly. I'm definitely really embarrassed by my lyrics.
[The lyrics and melody] usually come a little simultaneously, but I would say the lyrics are first; usually I have the idea for a story in my head, or few lines.
Anyone who wants to know who I am can just read my lyrics - I've always written about who I am.
I might lie a lot but never in my lyrics.
Strangely enough a lot of my ideals are christian in a sense but I don't like the way that religion is portrayed in America but, I think, the album "Antichrist Superstar" really expresses, when you look at the lyrics it expresses, how I feel. I mean it's based in individuality and, strength and believe in yourself, believe in, you're your own god.
There were times in my career I went a little further than I wanted because of expectations. Doing certain things onstage when children were in the audience, wearing certain clothes, singing certain lyrics.
Bob Dylan has a way with words that simply blows me away. When he forgets his lyrics he just makes up new ones on the spot, that is what I called talented!
It was a period when they used to read into our lyrics a lot, used to think there was more in them than there was.
I told Bernie Taupin that his best lyrics were for Song For Guy just because it doesn't have any words in it. But there you go. . . I'm a wind up! But a good Elton song for karaoke is I Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues. . . "laughing like children, living like lovers, rolling like thunder under the covers. . . " Everyone can join in!