Heavy metal pioneers Deep Purple return to majestic form more than half a century after they started with Lazy Sod.

As arts journalists we sometimes try to draw an interviewee out by engaging them in analysis of their work. One drawback is that quite often our attempts to interpret that work get shown up as ludicrous pretension.

So spare a thought for Will Hodgkinson of The Times for his interview with Ian Gillan of Deep Purple.

Enthusing about the band’s new single Lazy Sod, he cites the lyric: “The world is on fire and I can’t get out of bed,” he tells Gillan he admires its global theme “about one’s own uselessness in the face of ecological catastrophe.”

“Actually,” replies Gillan, “It’s about my cottage in Portugal. There was a chimney fire caused by a bird’s nest and the sprinklers came on. I was in bed, dreaming about the house filling with water, and I had to build a raft to save the cat.”

Great song though. Especially when you know that Gillan and bandmate Roger Glover are 78.