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The sounds and rhythms of words are really important to me.

The human brain is a funny thing: it's very susceptible to tempo and melody. You put the right words to it, and it becomes very influential.

Perhaps of all the most basic elements of music, rhythm most directly affects our central nervous system.

For me writing is a question of finding a certain rhythm. I compare it to the rhythms of jazz.

I've always felt, even as a songwriter, that the rhythm of speech is in itself a language for me.

Whatever is original in my writing comes from my musical apprenticeship. I look for rhythm in words. I imagine words as if they were musical chords. Often I'll write something, read it, and find it musically unsatisfactory. There is a musical imperative in my choice of words.

I read a lot of poetry, and I love what it does with language. I love music, too, and I think there's probably no coincidence there, that the rhythm of the words is almost as important as the words themselves, and when you can get the two working together, which usually takes me about 20 goes, I feel a huge satisfaction.

I never think about rhythm versus melody; I've always just played to what's in my head.

When I was younger, I had a much better connection between words and music. Somewhere along the way, I had kind of an aspiration to disconnect them, to just kind of go into a totally musical world.

Music fills in for words a lot of the time when people don't know what to say, and I think music can be more eloquent than words.