"King Of New York" was one of the least disciplined writing sessions I've been involved in.

My friend Bob Rock was kind enough to ask me to write with the Quireboys for their "Bitter Sweet And Twisted" album, which Bob produced. We booked four days for the writing session, with a 1:00 pm start-time each day.

On the first day, 1:00PM came and went, and the Quireboys failed to arrive. At 2:00 their tour manager, Bobby Thomson, phoned to say they were running behind and they'd be at my studio by 3:00.

Jonathan and Guy finally arrived at 4:00, looking dreadful and complaining of horrendous hangovers, having stayed up partying the night before. No worries. I boiled the kettle for tea and we got down to business.

They played me an idea they were working on called "King of New York". They had a rough musical sketch, but little more. By dinner hour we'd managed to get the structure of the song "mapped out", and the boys headed off for the evening.

Next day, Wednesday, I received a number of phone calls at regular intervals from Bobby , each promising the boys' imminent arrival. By four o'clock Bobby had to admit they wouldn't be coming in that day at all, as the previous evening's debauchery had been even more damaging than the night before.

No worries.

Next day, Thursday, Jonathan and Guy made it to the studio by 3:00PM, looking worse than they had on the first day.  Oh dear.  A spot of tea and we got to work, making further progress on the song.

Thursday evening Bob Rock phoned to see how things were going, seeing as Friday was to be our last day. Bob wasn't pleased to learn that the boys hadn't taken full advantage of their time with me. He must have given them a stern talking-to, because they arrived punctually the following day.  As a result, were able to get the song finished and demo'd in time for their recording session with Bob.

Bobby Thomson, the Quireboy's tour manager, was a lovely fellow ... the quintessential English gentleman.

I first met Bobby in 1993 when he was working for the Quireboys, and I met him again in 2003 when he visited Vancouver with Ozzy Osbourne. We had a nice chat backstage before Ozzy's show, and we promised to keep in touch. Tragically, Bobby died in his sleep two months later, on July 24, 2003, while on tour with Ozzy, the result of advanced throat cancer.  He was only 50 years old.