Nooooooah. No, that was a big joke in the family. When I was 16, 17, I started drifting away from everything else and picking up a guitar, and it was like, "What are you doing? You can't sing and you can't play a guitar", right up to the day we got signed by Rough Trade. And then it was like, "Go on play us a song", whereas before it was, "Shut up, fucking racket."
Basically there’s a gulf between truth and untruth, I don’t want to be too mathematical about it, because I’m not very good at maths. But it’s a divide between, I dunno, a film and a cartoon. I’ve just become this cartoon character. I try not to follow it, but when you see pictures of yourself that have been photo-shopped to show you doing something you didn’t…. that’s wrong. It’s my worst nightmare – and being misquoted, too, especially as I’m so precious about words.
I'm not going to be hardened by these people, to these things, I'm not going to let them destroy my feelings or my emotions.
We have played at venues up and down the country on this tour, some of which had no security, and have encountered no problems or witnessed any aggression. I simply asked the bouncer last night to apologise for his behaviour, three times in fact, and he refused. I was very upset at his attitude and although I'm very sorry for letting everyone down last night, I refuse to play at venues where pumped up, 16 stone men feel the need to be aggressively rude and to bully teenage kids around.
I made this big statement saying, "I've left The Libertines." A couple of people said, "You can't do that! You're such a great band! What are you gonna do about Brixton?" And some people said, "Well, I'd rather be here than Brixton." There's no reason you can't do both. If I was 16 or 17 and Morrissey opened his front door to me and let me go and listen to him and chat to him it would be a joy. Why not? It's possible. I don't really have that much else going on in my life.
"We've had death threats", Pete says, "saying, 'You're evil and your days are numbered." What was it, "Don't panic but be scared". Someone shat on our doorstep once and nailed a sparrow to our basement door. I don't mind, me. I'll out-weird any stalker.
I can't buy her diamonds, my dick's too small. I never know where I stand with her. It's either a black eye or a love bite.
The more you read and the more you teach yourself, the less you rely on something like drugs to take you to a better place.
I have a very bad relationship with the future. We don't get on. We just ignore each other.
"Each man kills the things he loves". I recognise that in myself, in relationships, even with guitars, beautiful things that I've had and wilfully destroyed.
It's that mysterious thing called hype. I've looked under every rock, and I couldn't find out what it means. Certain people hear a certain melody, and they're attracted to it. I'm in love with that feeling. We're looking for fun and adventure and a bit of redemption and somewhere to live. Everything else is a blind venture into the unknown.
I don't really know what "intellectual" means, but if it means you've got a desire to learn, you've got a desire to look for things that haven't been presented to you, then, maybe. I think that "intellectual" is quite an exclusive word. I think it's just for anyone that has a thirst or a hunger to improve themselves, or a yearning to escape from somewhere to get to a better place.
The main instinct a lot of the time is to masquerade and hide the truth at all times. Whereas in reality what happens in songs is laying bare the truth. So a lot of time it's fighting that instinct, and the songs become almost confessional. They can also be quite condescending to myself, almost like I'm putting myself down.
I do have utopian fantasies. A lot of them are more - I wouldn't say spiritual, but they relate more to the imagination and the individual. But for me socialism is a way of trying to put far-fetched ideas into everyday use, trying to find a way to bridge the gap between that fantasy and reality, and reaching out across that gap to the people who can actually do something to make the change.
Just when you get really wound up, you turn a corner and you're somewhere else completely. You find an Arcadian glade - a glimpse of paradise in the middle of it all. And that's why you persevere. That's why you don't chuck yourself off a building or shoot yourself at the same time as someone else, like he [Carl] wanted us to.
There's a point you reach before you're perverted and tainted by all the things that drag you into the music business, like avarice or a lust for fame. The original reason why I started was some feeling of community, equality, wanting to fight for things you believe in. Any kid who's gone to a state school knows what it's all about - bullying, racism. And you've just got to make a stand.
They left me, by the side of the road, with a plastic bag and all kinds of bitterness Well, in my mind, and I can say this forever I suppose, and people might laugh at it, but I don't think I ever really left The Libertines, nor can I ever leave The Libertines, you know, having been a founder of the band with Carl, but that sounds silly, doesn't it, seeing as they played all the festivals without me and made it difficult, no - impossible, for me to play live with them.
It's not people in bands, is it? Why do people who take drugs, why are they in bands? 'Cos they're trying to prove themselves. To make themselves blank and numb and not able to communicate with other people.
If I want drugs, I don't have to do a gig to get them. I do a gig when I feel shit, because I need to be playing. There's no drug in the world that can compare with playing music
I knew she wasn't English Crumbled into the sea.
But if I should fall I owe to sorrow
If you've lost your faith in love and music And that would be wrong...
The red-faced president took afternoon tea Well, she won't dance again...
There are fewer more distressing sights That's a class of our own, my love
Don't let the tide of your sorrow Drown your nights and flood your days
Her old man, he don't like blacks or queers How queer...
Music when the lights go out And with her my heart has disappeared
When she wakes up in the morning Straight, straight up her nose
I was a troubled teen Well, let me tell you
If you get tired of just hanging around Now I find myself still hanging around
New York City's very pretty in the night-time But oh, don't you miss Soho?
She said, "I'll show you a picture, I'm a swine, you don't wanna know me!"
If you're looking for a cheap sort Outside the disused powerstation
I defy you all It's still nothing at all.
I can't believe you've listed everything And the odd cigarette
In the morning theres a buzz of flies There it goes
And if lust and depair Well we've been playing Russian Roulette for far too long
Well, I'll tell you a story but you won't listen And the other was a pikey with a knowledge of scripture
You should get some sun on your face It's getting like I don't even know you
It's one and the same, one and the same I'm so clever but clever ain't wise
Make no mistake On the dirty road to fame.
Now I can deal with all the blood on my shoes, Oh, all my tears are painted
What did I dream? Oh, what did I dream? Oh, what did I dream?
Doff your cap and raise your glasses, I'm burning your secrets to keep me warm.
And he's crossing the road, He's picking up his Daily...Star
Oh promises, promises Oh well, it's just around the corner
Why should I wait until tomorrow? All the sorrow that's in store
There's a slow train rumbling east of a place called Eden Ain't nobody's business if she do
There's a man who came to stay I defy you not to believe them, my son...
What are you thinking when you see Pete Doherty self-destruct? - He's such an intelligent man. I completely understand, I just understand.