The poet takes the best things out of his life and puts them into his work. Hence his work is beautiful and his life bad.

The person earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 isn't going out to eat at restaurants. They're not taking piano lessons. They're not going to the gym or the yoga studio. They're not sending mom flowers on Mother's day. What good is this person in the economy? If you raise it to $15 an hour, they're doing all of those things.

The piano has disappeared from working-class family life, which is a shame. It's associated with the middle classes now. Everyone in my family sang and played piano, but my parents were delighted and amazed when I became the first professional performer in the family - apart from a clog-dancer way back.

The piano is for live entertainment on Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons - the idea being to create a kind of cocktail culture.

The piano is telling the story as well. It takes a poem, which is already very rich, and you hear it set to music.