“The showbiz world has to be manipulated to make it more interesting because most people’s lives are boring.”
― James Blunt
“It’s always nice to be able to capture your life’s experiences in a song and hold the emotion in that way.”
― James Blunt
“I’m a short, fairly plain person who’s bluffing his case and getting away with it.”
― James Blunt
“I am a troll. And do you know what? I really don’t like social media apart from that aspect of it. Posting pictures of me doing this or that is really boring, but I enjoy engaging with people. I tell them it’s just a laugh and to stay in touch if you’re getting any grief. They’re just opinions.”
― James Blunt
“My grandparents live in Cley, and my dad now has the windmill which is a guest house. So I’ve spent much time up there, but a lot of it was at school as well, and my dad was sent abroad so often as well with the army.”
― James Blunt
“I guess if you’re stupid enough to join the army without thinking about getting shot at, then you really are a fool.”
― James Blunt
“I am not into fashion. I just like being able to buy my mates dinner.”
― James Blunt
“’Top Gear’ changed people’s perceptions of me. I’ve had much more positive responses from my TV appearances than written articles. And I have the weirdest voice.”
― James Blunt
“I love hamburgers, but if you give me a hamburger for every meal, I’m gonna tire of it.”
― James Blunt
“I stopped doing interviews for a long time because the words were mine, but they were in the wrong order. Context is a very important thing – a lot of the things I say aren’t serious, and so to remove the laughter does me no favours.”
― James Blunt
“My life is brillant, My love is pure.”
― James Blunt
“You can’t break my spirit, it’s my dreams you take.”
― James Blunt
“If the Army helped towards my tuition fees I would then give them four years of my life.”
― James Blunt
“Like any parents, mine wanted me to have a secure job with a regular wage and career prospects. And the one job my father knew of, that he’d had experience of himself, was the army, so he could help me in that direction.”
― James Blunt
“It’s taken a long time but eventually when I had the songs in place and demos right and I found myself a manager, that’s when everything started happening quickly but I think that’s always the way it is.”
― James Blunt
“Absolutely, it’s a really weird stage because at the minute, I can walk down the street and be unrecognised, lead a normal life, but my label and everybody is warning me that will be changing and I’m in for a rollercoaster ride.”
― James Blunt
“Things take a long time, but when it’s right things move fast.”
― James Blunt
“I know I’m a pop star. But sometime I’d like to be a rock star.”
― James Blunt
“I think sensitive is the wrong description of me. I’m British, actually, so quite bad at expressing myself in conversation, as any ex-girlfriend will tell you. I’m probably emotionally stunted.”
― James Blunt
“In a way song writing can almost be detrimental, because suddenly you find an outlet that is a kind of cheating. You don’t need to have direct communication. You can say, ‘I can’t describe it to you, but I will record it and send it to you.’”
― James Blunt
“Being sent away to boarding school at seven is as great an inspiration as any songwriter could have – to be taken away from one’s family and locked away for 10 years. It does create an incredible intensity of emotion.”
― James Blunt
“I have been told by people that I should not be seen clubbing with good-looking women, but I can’t see why not. Why be a pop star otherwise?”
― James Blunt
“I have fun with it and I am honest and open about the way I lead my life and don’t mislead anyone. I’ve had the time of my life and thank God for that, it would be such a waste otherwise.”
― James Blunt
“On the song ‘Dangerous,’ it feels like a teenager picking up a new instrument and writing something with all of that naive excitement.”
― James Blunt
“War is devastating, and it leaves its scars for generations.”
― James Blunt
“I think having toured the world and seeing many places, I’ve just been blown away by how we’ve really scarred our home. I’m as guilty as the next person if not more so. I travel a lot. The damage we do to our planet is huge.”
― James Blunt
“If you have good songs and a real desire to make music, the next thing to do, instead of approach record companies, is to get yourself a really good manager because then it allows you to focus on your profession of being a musician. Then they can focus on the darker art of the record label and the music industry.”
― James Blunt
“My mum was very good at making me take up musical instruments, so although there was no popular music she made me learn the recorder when I was three, the violin when I was five and the piano when I was seven. I took up the guitar myself when I was 14.”
― James Blunt
“School was pretty good about letting me take up music and that’s where I had my first musical ideas and first said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be a musician.’ I just had to do a quick stop gap in the army first.”
― James Blunt
“I like ‘Goodbye My Lover’ because it’s a really personal song and I recorded it in my landlady’s bathroom in Los Angeles. She had a piano in there and for me listening back to it, it actually sounds like the voice I hear in my head. It’s so close to what I can imagine.”
― James Blunt
“I try to read everything that I can about myself because Saddam Hussein didn’t read his reviews and he thought he was winning!”
― James Blunt
“I’m quite British in the sense of not expressing my emotions much. I save it for my songs. If you ask about a death in the family, or a lover, I will not be emotional. I’d probably answer with a smile. Because that’s what we British blokes do.”
― James Blunt
“I don’t think I picked up the guitar in the first place as a way of getting women. There are probably better ways of doing it.”
― James Blunt
“I am very happy to say I look just like my dad. But mothers always think their children are prettier than they really are, and mine has always told me I look like Tom Cruise.”
― James Blunt
“I sing like a girl.”
― James Blunt
“I don’t agree with superstitious routines, but there are a couple of things I’ll always do before performing. I’ll get together with the band and chill out, and then, just before I go on stage, I’ll always check my flies.”
― James Blunt
“I relax by catching up with my friends and family. When I am at home in Ibiza, I find the contrast of living on a divided island relaxing – with beauty and tranquillity in the north and a sense of fun, shallowness and celebration in the south.”
― James Blunt
“Every time I do an interview, it’s like serious therapy. But real therapy isn’t something that I’d ever have. I feel fortunate that mentally everything is functioning well.”
― James Blunt
“Sometimes, reading my own media, the negativity can upset me, but I just deal with things on a positive basis. I mean, I have up to 20,000 people singing my words back to me on a nightly basis – they share my hopes and fears, and they relate to my own life experiences. Life can be pretty isolating, but that connection is always amazing.”
― James Blunt
“I try to tell one lie in every interview. It keeps people I know amused when they read the article.”
― James Blunt
“I always wanted to be a Muppet. So when ‘Sesame Street’ approached me to guest star, I thought: ‘I’m going to be on this!’ It’s pretty incredible stuff.”
― James Blunt
“Ladies love a soppy lyric. There’s a real winner in ‘Carry You Home.’”
― James Blunt
“My dad was in the Army. The Army’s not great pay, but, you know, we moved from Army patch to Army patch wherever that was. The Army also contributed to sending me off to boarding school.”
― James Blunt
“I never really set out to do anything in the charts with music. It came as a total surprise that I did, and it’s fun.”
― James Blunt
“We are in the entertainment business. This should be fun. We are musicians; we don’t save lives. We shouldn’t… we shouldn’t take ourselves too seriously or be revered that much.”
― James Blunt
“I think I was lucky to be a little older when I became famous. But still, the shock of the world starting to treat you in a weird way… I had come from the army, where we had to deal with life or death, and suddenly, people were asking whether you were cool or not. I have never cared about whether I’m cool.”
― James Blunt
“I haven’t had the difficulties in my life that other people have had. I didn’t have an unhappy childhood.”
― James Blunt
“The weird thing about the subway is no one looks at each other. So I play the O2 in London. It’s a 20,000 capacity venue, and then I’ll take the subway to my gig, and everyone’s going to my gig, and no one looks at you. If anyone does, they say, ‘Hey, you look exactly like James Blunt, only smaller.’”
― James Blunt
“I generally read everything about me. Based on my army experience, I think it’s the right thing to do. Saddam Hussein didn’t read his reviews and thought he was winning the war.”
― James Blunt
“I was an eBay addict before my first album hit big. I wanted to go on this tour of the world, so I started selling everything on eBay.”
― James Blunt
“I do have a ski lift named after me in Sweden… It’s an honour. I got to smash a bottle against the first pillar and say, ‘I name this chairlift James Blunt. God bless her and all who rides me.’”
― James Blunt
“I think it’s always worth remembering that people sending off mean tweets are probably pretty lonely people.”
― James Blunt
“I don’t think I was ever designed to be a ubiquitous worldwide star. I’m a singer-songwriter writing quite personal songs. You’re not supposed to chuck me on a stage with bells and whistles. There was a struggle ahead after that happened, and perhaps I was trying to write songs to compete in that arena.”
― James Blunt
“I probably deserve a bit of a kicking. And having been to boarding school, I’ve learnt to enjoy a good beating.”
― James Blunt
“I’ve got the best job in the world.”
― James Blunt
“Touring is the best invention of all time, so if I have to suffer a little bit of payback for having all this fun, then so be it.”
― James Blunt
“I’m self-deprecating because I’m British, and that’s what we’re supposed to be. I’m sure if I was American, I’d tell you how great I was.”
― James Blunt
“I’ve always been independent. My father was in the army, so we moved every two years. I had to go round and bang on the neighbour’s door each time to find out if they had kids I could play with.”
― James Blunt
“Carrie Fisher was the most remarkable person I’ve ever known. I made my first three albums in her house. ‘Goodbye My Lover’ was recorded in her bathroom. My life will not be nearly as much fun now she’s gone.”
― James Blunt
“I’m always ready for the enemy to come over the hill. I’m packed and set to go. That comes from my time in the army. I used to travel in a tank, but now it’s a tour bus going to safer places.”
― James Blunt
“I don’t think about Norfolk as I write songs, sadly no! But things like ‘High’ is a song about watching the dawn come up over the sea, and I’ve had many of those situations.”
― James Blunt
“To call me gay is a compliment. Also, if I’d been macho, I’d just have had an audience full of men.”
― James Blunt
“I found in my writing that I could express emotions that, as an everyday person, I have no interest in expressing: these strange things that girls talk about called feelings.”
― James Blunt
“I’m a fairly unaffected human being. I’m easy to talk to, I hope. I’m not too bothered about the clothes I’m wearing. I’ve been misquoted in interviews as to appear earnest. Which I am not.”
― James Blunt
“Space is tight inside a tank: very close confines, and you’re permanently banging. Like in Brad Pitt’s new movie ‘Fury’ – the clanking of metal is all you hear.”
― James Blunt
“My guitar survived Kosovo, then I went to visit a record company back in London and fell off my motorbike with it on my back, smashing it to bits. I was travelling at two miles per hour.”
― James Blunt
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