The Flaming Lips sang this poignant, melancholic and beautiful state-of-the-world ballad on their third album back in 1990.

“You’re fucked if you do,” sings Wayne Coyne. “And you’re fucked if you don’t,” somehow summing up the state of the world today.

In fact the song – enigmatically titled Five Stop Mother Superior Rain – came out in  very different era.

It was included on The Flaming Lips’ third album, In a Priest Driven Ambulance (With Silver Sunshine Stares) released back in 1990, long before they  became festival favourites with the giant inflatable bubbles and dancing suns.

It’s such a beautiful song, expressing his favourite theme of childlike wonder and existential optimism in the face of mortality, and the importance of innocence in the face of harsh reality.  

He is one of the favourite musicians I have interviewed, and the only one who has ever told me he enjoys the promotion process when I asked if it ever became a chore.

“Are you kidding?” he asked. “They pay me to go interesting places and have conversations with interesting people who are usually fans of my work and buy me drinks.”