Tell us about your new single, 'Getaway'.
It's pretty self-explanatory – get away, leave me alone. So much of what I write is experience. It's funny, because I meet so many people who are like, 'God, I so know that feeling.' When you're a songwriter you're almost like a bag lady who picks up things - you pick up ideas constantly, things that are real.
The album's called 'Red Book' – has the name got a special significance to you?
The fact that it's called 'Red Book' is really to do with the fact that my notebook that I write my lyrics in is red. So that's why it's called 'Red Book'. It's funny, because I was being paranoid because of Mao, and all that, thinking, 'Oh my God, people will think that's what we're going on about.' And then we come out and there's everyone going - is it 'This Is Your Life', is it the red book? I never even thought about that! I was being paranoid about being political, and everyone else is thinking about Eamonn Andrews!
How was 'Live 8'?
It was absolutely amazing, it was just really, really good. I feel very happy that I took part in it, that I had something to do with it. I feel that I'll probably sleep a bit better, a bit easier. Maybe we made a tiny little bit of difference to someone else. And, you know, for the hundreds and thousands of people who took part around the world, and the millions that phoned and texted – the people who are conscious of it. It's really important to be part of that.
It seems more and more people are speaking up about issues that trouble them these days…
Maybe there's a journey that's been mapped, that we need to go on to make us more human. Maybe this is the swing, the change in the way we live, and how we consider others. Younger people now are stepping up and saying we do care.
We come from a society where everything should be fast: if someone else has got it, we want it, we should get it. It's like, no, you don't just get it because you want it – you try explaining that to a teenager. To get that you've got to do x, y, z to get to it. If it's 'here you go, have it', if you get it that way you don't cherish it. I've got nieces and nephews, and after the bombings, one of the kids was going, 'But I want it!' I was like, come here and look at this, there's some kids at home tonight whose mums and dads are never going to go back to them. Have a little think about that and see how you feel in the morning.
So how do you feel now, since the Live 8 concerts and then the bombings in London on 7 July?
We did the last one on the Wednesday up in Scotland, and I literally got off the plane on Thursday morning and my phone was going mental – don't go on the train, don't go on the train. And I was like, 'What's happened, what's going on?' in an airport trying to find out what was going on in the country that I was living in. It just seemed that suddenly 'Live 8' seemed such a lifetime away. It was weird to think just a few hours beforehand we were trying to make such a difference in the world we live in. I remember I was with my daughter and my nanny, and she turned to me and said, 'Doesn't it feel like 'Live 8' is a lifetime away?' – it was just really hard to keep it all in. It's a great shame that that happened, I think it took a lot away from the 'Live 8' cause.
It shocked me when I saw Tony Blair saying, 'How could they do it?' He knows why they can do this, he knows why they've done this to us – he's doing it every day of the week. The thing that upsets me most is that it's civilians, people who are trying to go out every morning to earn a living for their families, that are suffering because of this. It breaks my heart, it really does.
Have the bombings made you feel worried about living in London?
It's weird, to be honest with you, I don't know if it's just me, but since the bombings in London, people seem to be a lot more tolerant, and a lot closer. I don't know if that's me being emotional, but even simple things like saying, thanks very much – people acknowledging each other. I don't know if we're acknowledging other people because we're looking at people thinking, could you be a bomber? People seem to me more aware of what's round about them.
I watch the news and I see this, 'we will not be defeated' and 'people are not scared' , and they compare it to the Blitz – I went mad, I wanted to kick the television in! Why do the media do that? That's not going to stop anyone from doing it. People are scared. People need to go to work to earn their wages, it's not that they're not scared. Don't tell me people aren't scared. I had to go on the train and you watch people getting off, and you're like, why are they getting off? You take in a lot more about what's going on around you.
