I’ve just finished one of those amazing books that breaks into your mind, jumbles all the furniture around, leaves a diamond and a turd on the kitchen counter and then laughs merrily off into the night. That’s right I am elated, confused and reaching for the Domestos. It’s called A Fraction Of The Whole and it reminded me a lot of another book I loved – Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintence. They’re both father/son relationship stories told through a haze of infuriating and brilliant amateur philosophy and they both suggest that intelligence doesn’t make you happy.

I’ve definitely been trying to be intelligent in my songwriting recently, and lo and behold, the same bloody thing has happened to me. Sitting around trying to be intelligent made me isolated and self-indulgent. The more I think, the more I think thinking is my most unattractive attribute. It is doing … Read the rest