CageTalk is based on the series of interviews, starting in 1987, I conducted for a BBC Radio 3 documentary on John Cage first broadcast in 1989. The program was aimed at a general rather than a specialist audience, and that focus is retained here. As the book developed, however, it became clear that some earlier British interviews with Cage might otherwise be lost if not included. These show him being quizzed by the art critic David Sylvester and the literary critic Frank Kermode, among others, and the later interview with Bonnie Bird contains unique material. There is also a slight difference of perspective because some of the interviews took place outside the United States, and, in any case, Cage and his colleagues must have been aware that they were reaching an international audience through the BBC—not just a local radio station. The purpose of CageTalk is to make this material available both as an introduction to Cage and his context and as a resource for scholars in the future.

As an interview subject, Cage was a consummate performer, a virtuoso with skills worthy of study in their own right. He knew precisely how to recycle familiar material, when to refer his interviewer to sources elsewhere, and how to sidestep awkward issues in a most ingratiating and ingenious way. But occasionally his guard slipped and he provided information from a different angle. Readers already interested in Cage will be well aware of interviews and biographical statements elsewhere. However, it seemed worthwhile to footnote some of these connections for ease of comparison, occasionally within the book—from interview to interview—and outside the book in what is becoming a vast, almost impenetrable field of Cage documentation. Cage's books lack indexes, as do some of the published collections of material. There is no attempt at comprehensive references here, but some British resources have been included since they are less accessible than U.S. sources and—from a different slant—can be revealing.

Some aspects of Cage are barely touched on in these interviews, reflecting his impact in Britain. He is a uniquely demanding subject because the ramifications of his wide-ranging interests and concerns are colossal. His utopian ideas about how society should operate increasingly entered into his conversations and writings but are only touched on here.