At some point in your life you have to engage with the fact that you are part of a society. Yeah the individual is the most important facet in societ….

I enjoyed so much working with the guys from Wilco, and riffing off of them, and having someone come up to me with ideas, because normally in the stu….

I've had songs written during the Falklands war, and during the first Gulf war I got letters from soldiers saying they were listening to these songs,….

I'd like to think that in a generation or two we'll have politicians whose life experience reflects that of the people who are voting for them..

An isolationist America is no bloody use to anyone..

If there is a single trait in our character that has historically set us apart from other nations, it is our determination to limit the authority of ….

Even with politics, stuff comes around again. Woody Guthrie would recognize America today..

By the time I was 19, punk had occurred. It had a completely different cultural dynamic to it which rejected everything and started again from the ye….

Being spokesman for a generation is the worst job I ever had..

Don't saddle me with your ideals, and spare me all your guilt. For a poet with all the answers, has never yet been built..

Just because you're gay, I won't turn you away. If you stick around, I'm sure we can find some common ground..

You have to recognise your responsibility to your community for your actions. Liberty doesn't mean that you are not held accountable. Without account….

[A]s long as you're comfortable it feels like freedom..

I was in a little punk band and we put out a few punk records that weren't very political, at all..

I think if you're going to make political art, you have to engage at some level. You can't just write about politics, you have to try and be politics….

But, in the end, even a song that's as politically bland as Blowin in the Wind, you probably wouldn't get up and sing that now, whereas some of Bob D….

Never trust anyone who has no doubts. And I'm not talking about scepticism either: scepticism can be a healthy thing. You can have an argument with s….

The most important thing for anyone, I think, is to be engaged, whether you're an artist or a journalist is to be engaged in the process at some leve….

If you've got a blacklist, I want to be on it..

War what is it good for? It's good for business..

I don't mind being labeled as a political songwriter. I've chosen to do that. What really annoys me is being dismissed as a political songwriter. Tha….