love - falling in vs staying in

She has had many boyfriends and, although in no rush to talk about it, for a year has been going out with the noted American artist Matthew Barney, who left his wife for her. I put to her something that the interviewer Lynn Barber once wrote, that falling in love is not her problem : staying in love is. She can’t settle down.

But I have my home. I have my songs. I have always had that. I think it depends what people want. If people want boyfriends or relationships for the habit thing, the routine thing, and the security, that is OK.

But what about her ? What does she want ? In Poetry, another song on Vespertine, she repeats "I love him" seven times and then promises : "I am going to keep him this time."

What I really like when you fall in love, is that it is completely out of your hands. It is like the weather, and every time it happens you just go with it. I have been with boys for many, many years and I have been with boys for a few weeks. I like it because it is out of my hands.

So the question of whether a brilliant creative person such as herself can live permanently with someone else remains unanswered ?

It is not black and white. You cannot say one thing is good and another is bad. It is like a formula and I don’t like formulas.

Evening Standard , 15 August 2001