21 quotes
When the media attention switches away from this story onto the next thing that happens in the world, the circumstances will still be there.
WARNING: This album contains country & western music and may cause offence to narrow minded listeners.
Warning label on Almost Blue (1981)
My ultimate vocation in life is to be an irritant, someone who disrupts the daily drag of life just enough to leave the victim thinking there's maybe more to it all than the mere hum-drum quality of existence.
New Music Express interview with Nick Kent (1978)
They say you better listen to the voice of reason
But they don't give you any choice
'cause they think that it's treason.
What shall we do, what shall we do with all this useless beauty?
You'll see me off in the distance, I hope
At the other end
At the other end of the telescope.
I'm giving you a longing look
Everyday, everyday, everyday I write the book.
Clowntime is over
Time to take cover...
Then I became an altar boy because of the solemn face, but I got thrown out at fourteen for laughing, because the priest used to mumble everything except the church plate takings.
Oliver's army is here to stay
Oliver's army are on their way...
I've had a lot of different experiences in music over the years. And not everything you do can satisfy everybody's idealised version of you.
dig interview (2004)
Sometimes you confuse me with Santa Claus
It's the big white beard I suppose.
I can't actually play any instrument properly. I can't read music. And here's the New York Times calling me the new George Gershwin. It was so ridiculous, really embarrassing. It was embarrassing to watch these people fall into the trap of their own critical conceits.
Alison, I know this world is killing you.
Oh, Alison, my aim is true...
My sense of history in music is much greater than a lot of people's.
dig interview (2004)
The people with the most resources are the federal government. If you can invade a country halfway across the world in a matter of days, you can surely come to the aid of your own citizens in a shorter order of time.
I had a lot of problems with my name … my first name Declan is really not very well known outside of Ireland, MacManus is a name they could never spell ...
I don't feel any form of music is beyond me in the sense of that I don't understand it or I don't have some love for some part of it.
dig interview (2004)
As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin' for light in the darkness of insanity,
I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Misattributed
Writing about music is like dancing about architecture — it's a really stupid thing to want to do.
Misattributed