Quotes from Damon Albarn

I enjoyed history at school. I'd always had a sense of pagan England.

And there are no stars and that you're never really sure who's doing what and what voice is what and, you know what I mean? It's supposed to be quite elusive.

Yeah. You've seen The Sun today; I've got myself a big house, settled down. Apart from the odd night out with the New Fathers' Club, I'm a family man now.

As a musician usually music is your way out.

My guaranteed way of sending myself into deep depression is to read music trade papers and watch MTV.

I'm not really one of those people who believes that if you're a musician you can just leave that behind and start getting into politics.

I think pop music is a great place to get new ideas across.

I want to be a better person in every aspect. I really don't feel I've in anyway fulfilled my potential in every area of my life. But I'm optimistic.

In the Sixties people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird, people take Prozac to make it normal.

I've always known I'm incredibly special. All my life. You know? It's not a big deal.

Whether people like it or not, China is incredibly important to the future of mankind. For me, this is something that we all need to have intelligent discussions about in America, in Britain, in Europe.

If you don't see something as a career but as an important part of your life, you don't know how you're going to feel about it.

I like to go to Africa purely with something to do. I'm not very comfortable getting into an armor-plated Land Rover and going to see things, with my hand gel, you know, it's not me at all. So I like to hang out and you know, really get to know people and try and do something that resonates with them.

Music is something that should speak for itself, straight from the heart. It took me a long time to understand that.

Every time I go to Africa, I see the future. I see what the Western world is going to become. It's a very futuristic place.

No, every album is something like a snapshot. It only shows one moment in time. It shows what we feel and think right at that point in time, nothing more and nothing less

The best way to get to know Africa is to go there and see what it is. To know somewhere that crazy and that magnificent, you have to spend some time among people, the rhythm of their lives.

The things that make me happy most are my family and working.

What you learn from working with other performers and musicians is invaluable, really, and can only help you grow. I mean, if you spend your whole life focusing on yourself, you're not really learning much.

I can't be bothered anymore about giving songs titles.

Trying to write music that's sensitive to 400 years ago takes a bit of madness, as it's such a long stretch of time.

Being in Blur has allowed me to travel and hear the music that's being made all over the world.

Whenever you're writing something that's reflective, you have to put yourself through some sort of ordeal just to understand the way you're feeling.

The whole period has taught me that I enjoy being part of an ensemble rather than just a front man. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy that too, but I get more enjoyment out of really listening to everyone.