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I put myself into character for my songs.

I like to hide behind the characters I play. Despite the public perception, I am a very private person who has a hard time with the fame thing.

Sometimes it feels like my story overshadows my music.

Part of me wants to stay hidden; it's no coincidence that I write movie music. It lets me stay in the shadows, in a way, but still lets me be expressive.

Occasionally, you get a nice surprise when someone covers your song in an extraordinary way.

The more I got into presenting things to the world, the further it was taking me away from what I was, which was someone who just used to sit quietly at a piano and sing and play. It became very important to me not to lose sight of that.

It doesn't bother me when people try to deconstruct my songs - because at least they're looking at the lyrics, and paying attention to the way the story is told.

I manage to hide in my movies.

I see my life flashing before me when I see people in the audience singing along to something I wrote in the '80s, and they're maybe standing next to someone who knows the more recent stuff.

It always helps me connect with characters, to think about what music they respond to.