Quotes from Tricky

I'm forced away from what I would call my music. I can't do another thing like 'Maxinquaye.' But if people didn't go out and copy it, I might have done another three or four 'Maxinquayes.' Which is terrible.

I've had a bit of a crazy life. So writing lyrics in songs is easy for me.

I was never part of the Bristol scene. My sound was a Knowle West sound. Massive Attack wouldn't come to my area because they know they'd have got beaten up there.

When my mother died, we had the coffin at home. Like, old-school - you have the coffin at home so all the people can come and see the person. And her coffin was next to my room, so I used to go in and stand on a chair and look at her. You know, it's open coffin and stuff.

I've had my differences with Massive Attack, but you can't deny what they've done. They've changed the face of music. They should make up an award for them even if there ain't one.

Sometimes I walk down the street and hear people whisper 'that's Tricky' and I look back, and I see them looking back, then that affects everything I do - the way I walk the way I talk. It stops you being real.

I don't believe in death. I just don't think all that love and all that energy can just disappear into nothing.

My background was Rude Boys, Teddy Boys, rockabillys and skinheads. I was into reggae and Blondie and The Cure, and especially The Specials - these black and white guys getting it together. Extreme personalities. Extreme talent.

If I had made another 'Maxinquaye,' I'd have had ten times as much success. I ain't going down that path, because that way you're totally controlled by people around you. I don't want to be controlled.

Yes, well, on stage I'm a different person, very aggressive, very tense. That's not me because I'm humble and polite, unless someone is rude to me.

I used to see a psychiatrist in New York but I got bored.

I don't like creepy-crawly stuff. Girls can pick up a spider and just chuck it out of the window. No way, I'm not doing that. I actually scream.

My music life is great. It's in the real world, that's where I have the problem, sometimes relating to people. I can be angry, you know, still really dark in my mind.

She ain't my queen. My grandmother is my queen, and my auntie, my cousin, my daughters... the Queen's never done anything for me.

The Queen wanted me to do the music for the 2000 celebrations at the Dome. I went down to these offices at Buckingham Palace and had a meeting with these people, and I was like, 'Alright how much?' And they said, 'Well no, it's for the Queen.' They thought because it's such a huge thing, I'd do it for free! So I turned that down.

I get bored very quickly.

I never considered myself a funny person.

I'm hard work to live with. Someone who wants to be my girlfriend has to be totally devoted because I don't give very much back.

My manager told me that a kid who was in a coma woke up after ten days when they played him one of my songs. That now means more to me than winning any award.

This ain't bad-guy talk, cos I'm not a bad guy. But people don't realise what fear can do. I've had situations where I've been so scared, where I can't sleep, I can't eat, and it's gone on for weeks and it's ruining my life. It makes you sick, it makes you mentally ill.

I always thought you went out and entertained people and got nothing back in return. But in the last year, I've realised that what the crowd gives you is so amazing, that sometimes I just stand onstage and cry.

The Internet is like walking into a room in your house you never knew was there and, like, it's full of thousands of people who have been listening to everything you've been doing and saying the whole time! Scary.

I grew up in a mixed-race family in Bristol. My cousin was this white guy who was interested in Parliament, Marc Bolan, Bowie. His friends were football thugs and while I was getting ready for bed, they'd be listening to all that music. When I was older, I'd go to a Jamaican sound system and there were no white people.

I'm like anyone else, if I'm not having a good time you'll hear it.