Ian Gillian almost died in a house fire when his cottage in Portugal burst into flames in the middle of the night
The Deep Purple singer has revealed he was asleep when the chimney caught fire and the sprinklers kicked in - prompting him to dream about the property filling with water and building raft to save himself and his cat.
8 July 2024
During an interview with The Times newspaper, Gillian was asked about if the band's song 'Lazy Sod' was about climate change but the rocker confirmed the fiery lyrics were actually about the house fire he escaped. He explained: "It is 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 and save the cat. So no, it is not about global warming. It is about my house catching fire. These are the things that keep me happy."
The song features the lyrics: "The world's on fire / And I can't get my a*** out of bed ... The oceans are rising /And I can't do a thing about that / So it's hardly surprising / I built an ark for me and my sleek black cat."
During the interview, Gillian explained his song-writing has changed over the years because he grew out of writing about typical rock band themes.
He explained: "Your body changes, your mind changes [as you get older] but the big change for me came in my mid-thirties.
"I got embarrassed to be writing about fast cars and so on, and started thinking, it's got to be exciting, otherwise it ain't rock'n'roll, but what else is there? I started looking at things in a more surreal way. That's when I realised. You can write a song about absolutely anything."
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