Even if you're improvising, the fact that beforehand you know certain things will work helps you make those improvisations successful. It really helps to have a certain amount of knowledge about musical structure.

- John Cale

All of the sudden the audiences started getting younger and the spread of the attendance was really wide. I think it's as a result of the records selling more that they started following our careers.

- John Cale

We'd hold a chord for three hours if we could.

- John Cale

We gave up on the idea of trying to make the record a good representation of the live performance.

- John Cale

People sort of know me for that solo piano music I did.

- John Cale

If you're all loaded up on love, you haven't got anywhere else to go.

- John Cale

I'm writing a movie about Mozart going to New York in the '60s. I've been reading so many novels.

- John Cale

I'm impatient. I get twitchy. When I get that feeling I just go out and make something happen.

- John Cale

I'm content with making records, but I don't want to be doing the same thing all the time.

- John Cale

I missed out on my teenage years. I led a sheltered life. I was practicing scales instead of playing football.

- John Cale

I learn from thinking about the future, what hasn't been done yet. That's kind of my constant obsession.

- John Cale

Growing up in Wales was a pretty Draconian experience with religion.

- John Cale

Time plays a role in almost every decision. And some decisions define your attitude about time.

- John Cale

The value of having a computer, to me, is that it'll remember everything you do. It's a databank.

- John Cale

That's what my life is, writing songs.

- John Cale

In cities like New York and Austin, there's much more of a social context for music than in other places.

- John Cale

What I enjoy most about being on stage is that the natural instruments give you a greater freedom with texture. When you use natural instruments they have their own resonance.

- John Cale

If I'm interested in what I'm doing, other people will be interested in it.

- John Cale

The avant-garde makes more sense to me.

- John Cale

I want to get lean and mean, keep it minimalist.

- John Cale