"I was still learning about songwriting and by the time I got to Something/Anything? [1972, featuring I Saw the Light] I was slipping into formula verse, chorus, bridge and so on, always about the girl or boy who broke your heart. I moved my hands about the keyboard and 20 minutes later that song was done. It's partly why I went completely off the grid for my next album, A Wizard, a True Star [1973]"
"I didn't smoke or drink anything until my first album [Runt, in 1970]. In my first band they'd smoke pot and the rehearsal would turn into a 30-minute giggling session. Then, when I was 21 I was living in [rhythm section] the Sales brothers' house and their mom said I can't believe you've never had a drink and got me drunk. Then my best friend who was studying to be a psychiatrist suggested I try psychoactives. I trusted him implicitly, so I did."
Songwriting evolved from quick, formulaic constructions about teenage heartbreak to broader experimentation and ambition. 'I Saw the Light' emerged in about 20 minutes at the keyboard. Disillusionment with repeating the same love-song template prompted a radical shift for the following album, A Wizard, a True Star. Early life involved no drinking until age 21 and exposure to cannabis in band rehearsals. A close friend encouraged trying psychoactives, leading to occasional use during studio construction but not during recording sessions. Psychoactive experiences revealed deeper internal landscapes beyond the high-school relationship focus. A later song, 'Lost Horizon', began forming in Kathmandu.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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