"I love writing songs, but I think the older you get, the more selective you get with your subjects. When I was younger, I’d write songs about everything and anything. Now, I can only write about the things that are closer to my heart. I can’t just write about getting up in the morning and it being a lovely day. I could write the music, but to actually sing it is harder and harder. By now, I know the things that work for me and the things that don’t."

"The prettiness thing has been a problem. Damon Albarn is one of those people who is supernaturally handsome. He has the upturned nose of an aristocratic 16-year-old girl and big lips, which he licks a lot with a big, fleshy tongue. And, of course, there’s the eyes: fields of bluebells on a summer’s day.
But people have a natural distrust of the unbearably pretty. So, in an effort to override the looks issue and get taken seriously, Damon took the objectionable route. In the early days he’d throw up on stage; he’d clamber like a deranged chimp over towering speakers and amps before hurling himself kamikaze-style into audiences; he’d come out with outrageous statements.
As Dave Rowntree, Blur’s drummer, once contemplated, “We should’ve taken a Stanley knife to him in the beginning and things would’ve been oh-so-different."

"

It changed everything definitely when he left. But all changes have good effects and bad effects. So I think if he hadn’t left, we wouldn’t have got to play with such an extraordinary range of musicians as we are now in the live shows. There’s nine of us on-stage now, backing vocals, percussion, keyboards, brass.

It’s kind of — so that was definitely a good effect. But he’s one of our oldest friends, so if you’re losing one of your oldest friends, there’s always going to be a bad effect. Well, we haven’t lost him. We know where he is. We know where to find him.

"

"Like [Ray] Davies, Damon is the primary songwriter in his band. Though keyboards are his main instrument, he generally writes on guitar because “I’m not very good at playing it, so I’m forced to be simple. If I wrote on piano, I’d write big sentimental ballads all the time. Sometimes it’s better to be inadequate when you’re writing songs.” With tunes and lyrics in place, Coxon, James, and Rowntree are left to put their stamp on the material. Coxon’s unfailingly tasty guitar parts are the highlight of many a Blur track. Damon comments, “He just makes the songs better. It’s integral to the whole thing.” Alex: “He’s the best guitarist of his generation.” Graham’s response to his bandmates’ praise: “Fuckers. They never talk like that when I’m in the room."