"True, other Elsa Lanchester albums have her husband Charles Laughton introducing each track, but only this one has both "When a Lady Has a Piazza" and "If You Peek in My Gazebo." Lanchester, most famous for playing the Bride of Frankenstein (technically, the bride of Frankenstein's monster) and Laughton's wife in Witness For The Prosecution, has an actor's voice, with perfect stage-Cockney enunci-OY-tion, which is perfect for this material. "Please sell no more drink to my father. It makes him so strange and so wild. Heed the prayer of my heart-broken mother, and pity the poor drunkard's child." She sings this with such relish, it's easy to see whose side she's really on. "

"I’m going to say My Little Loves by Jean Eustache. It’s not an inspiration, but I thought of it when I shot Microbe and Gasoline. It’s the story of a 12-year-old kid who was raised by his grandmother, and then his mother takes him back, and she really doesn’t like him. His experiences in school – he’s trying to find a girlfriend. It’s shot in a very simple and honest way. And this kid was my age, so when I see him in the film in that location, it really could have been me. Jean Eustache was one of the greatest filmmakers in France, but he made maybe three or four movies."

"I'm especially partial to this one because it has the song 'First Born', which is actually not about me specifically, it's about all first-born sons. But nonetheless, I identify it as my kind of jewel to wear – I share that position with Jesus and Moses, there are a few of us. And it's funny: we did the Christmas shows recently in London and Sophie Ellis-Bextor sang that song, and as I was doing back-up, I was once again reminded of how lucky I was to receive such attention, care and unabashed love from my mother. Without that song, and that album, I don't think I'd be who I am today as an artist."

"Possibly my favorite of the many Cassavetes films I love. Why? Maybe because he found a way to depict the ruthlessness of the Hollywood system, and because of how Cosmo (Ben Gazzara) keeps smiling as he searches for a civil way out of his predicament. It’s very roughly made, which I find touching and refreshing, now that we all seem to fetishize high production values above all else. The cabaret scenes are authentically seedy, even a little pathetic, and are set in an LA that no longer exists. But there’s real tenderness between Cosmo and his black girlfriend and her mother. The story seems to meander in an alive, curious way, even as it drives to its terrible conclusion."