Three years ago today we lost Terry Hall, a songwriting genius who captured today’s world 45 years ago – a dangerous place, teetering on the brink of war.

In 1981 there were assassination attempts on US President Ronald Reagan, and Pope John Paul II, the IRA’s bombing campaign was at its height, and people were building nuclear bunkers in their gardens.

Riots broke out all over Britain, a reaction against Thatcher and a police force using Stop & Search on the streets, and Enoch Powell warned that we’d “seen nothing yet” of mass racial unrest.

As if that were not enough, Bucks Fizz won Eurovision and Spurs won the FA Cup.

Terry Hall, never the greatest of optimists, perfectly captured the mood of despair in his song The Lunatics (Have Taken Over The Asylum).

Initially written as a follow-up to Ghost Town for The Specials, it instead became the debut single of the new group he formed with Neville Staples and Lynval Golding, the ironically named Fun Boy Three.

Against a thumping beat of African tribal drums and an eerie Arabian-sounding horn motif, Terry deadpans his lyrics about everything the lunatics have taken away – “our right to choose, our point of view, our dignity, our family” – while his bandmates chant the chorus like Gregorian monks.

It’s spellbinding – and I wish it were not so relevant today.