Top 118 Quotes & Sayings by Paul Young - Page 2

When people come and see Los Pacaminos the first time, the first couple of songs they're in shock. But it's pretty infectious and they'd have to be in a very bad mood to walk away and not like it.

My bajo sexto, a big Mexican acoustic guitar, comes from a shop in L.A. run by three generations of Mexicans.

I'd been really shy as a kid, I had a terrible stutter, and I thought music would be a good outlet. And it definitely seemed to improve things for me, so I stuck with it.

It doesn't pay to get too familiar with your songs. Going off to do other things in between recording sessions gives you a chance to think.

People forget that scenes and fashion trends changed very rapidly during the '80s. We went from glam rock to punk, to new romantic, to flashy sportswear... and this all happened just as I was coming up through the ranks.

I'm not a big fan of reality TV shows.

When I'm not doing solo shows, I'm performing with my cowboy band Los Pacaminos - we play the kind of music you'd hear in Tarantino films.

Swimwear on TV is something I should have done in my 20s.

In the early 1970s, I got a milling machine apprenticeship at Vauxhall in Luton. My dad was a pattern maker at the factory. He worked every day of his life there and my brother worked there, too. I remember the pamphlets on all the new models arriving home.

When 'Wherever I Lay My Hat' went to number one in 1983, I was still driving a green Viva HC that my dad had given me. People would see me drive past and say, 'It can't be him,' but you don't get any money until about six months after a record is a hit.

I don't remember how much money we got when I was in Streetband. It was whatever cash was left at the end of the night once we'd paid off the roadies etc for a gig.

When I'm in the truck on my own I play big, open space music, such as Ry Cooder or Latin stuff.

I did 'Hell's Kitchen' and 'Celebrity MasterChef.' I was quite good at those, and did a cookbook.

The Prius does about 55mpg and it always amuses me. I love it when you pull up at someone's house and all you can hear is the gravel crunching under the tyres. I don't have to pay the central London congestion charge, either.

I've always liked Iggy. He did an album, 'New Values,' in the punk days that I played to death. When you see him live, the way he moves, what he does - nothing is planned.

When you're playing Wembley Arena the emotion comes in waves, but in a tiny club it hits you in the face.

I was quite shy of fame. It took some getting used to.

I was in L.A. with my wife in a restaurant, and I spotted my great hero David Bowie at another table. Of course I wasn't going to bother him. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder, and it was Bowie, and he squatted down to talk to me. David Bowie came down to my level - so gentlemanly.

I was trying to do L.A. style in the U.K. and it didn't really work.

I'm interested in all types of music.

The availability of downloads is fantastic, but you don't know which musicians are playing on the songs anymore. It's kind of making musicians faceless, you don't get musical solos on records anymore. You know who the singer is but it's the poor old musicians who suffer.

I'm a mad fan of American guitarist Ry Cooder and he made a record using Mexican musicians, but with American soul singers doing the backing. It opened my eyes to the fact that the Mexicans played very differently.

When I was young music was life or death.

In the early 90s, I did not want to get stuck in pop music.

Rick James was a force to be reckoned with. He was an underground success here but huge in the U.S. - people used to compare him to Prince. Sadly, he had an early death.

If you stay in the studio for a long period of time, you start to drive yourself around in circles.

I'm a musician and I go places and perform to people that want to listen to good music.

I've done more than a few concerts on the same stage as Nik Kershaw, and I've done a couple with Go West.

When I was at the height of my fame I got my first what you could loosely describe as a mansion! I didn't even find it myself, my keyboard player was leafing through a homes magazine at the dentist's and said, 'You'd like this.' It was art deco and I loved art deco, I lived there for about 14 years.

It makes no sense to me at all to give away music for free. The very fact that we have to do that cheapens the music. And there's a huge effect to that of music not playing such a big part in peoples' lives anymore.

The great thing about people in the '80s is there was a great zest for life. It was a really exciting era and the people who were around then are growing up very slowly. They almost don't want to!

I don't think you can be as successful as an artist like Robbie Williams unless you're thinkin' about yourself 24 hours a day.

I love the road.

I don't know how you can hope to run a family unless you accept what's in front of you.

I suppose I was lucky to be born in a time where I was in my early '20s in the '80s. It was just a happening time to be around.

Whatever I do, I do it in moderation.

Since I'm known for recording other artists' material, I'm absolutely deluged with mail from all the publishing companies. They take all the songs that've been lying around the office for months and throw them at me. Most of them are terrible, but you have to listen... just in case.

Recording everything with analogue equipment, as we did with 'No Parlez,' left space for the sorts of happy accidents that can make the most interesting sounds.

I love playing live and I love to travel. I don't get bored by either one.

I remember being 12 or 13 and listening to 'Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp' by OC Smith. It reminds me of holidays in Cornwall, driving in a big estate car, me and my brother sleeping in the back, we would get up early and my dad would put pillows on the back seat and we would lay on the back seat while we drove off on holiday.

You have to be entrepreneurial and use your name.

I led a sheltered life. I didn't know how to book a flight.

Money came my way but wasn't really in the plan, so I didn't know how to deal with it.

I was a dreamer. When I was on stage I didn't have to think about whether I could pay the rent. I was just having a great time.

The Oscar nomination is the best marketing you can get.

Can't go on singing the same theme, 'cause baby, can't you see, we've got everything going on? Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you.

I always wanted to be able to buy nice things, but the appeal of music was the escapism.

Emotions are the color of the soul.

My dad was very worried that I wasn't saving and didn't have a pension. I've never invested well.

I suppose that since most of our hurts come through relationships, so will our healing.

The journey is the destination. The process you're in is the goal. Success is never defined by the outcome but by the process.

In the Eighties, live work had to be very extravagant.

I work and work and if I have a surplus I book a holiday.

A man doesn't need to be flawless to be a perfect father, but the commitment to his family is a precious responsibility.

I don't see a future in music unless you are one of the 5pc of massive artists.

I don't indulge in anything extravagant but I can't keep money in the bank.

If something great comes off with the potential TV series, I will go straight to an investor this time and put my money in whatever they invest in.

I just consider myself lucky that I've been a musician this long and not had to find another job.