Anyway, as you would expect, my mind often wanders. Today, I was planning the day ahead and a Queen song popped into my head. I didn’t mean it to. But with the song came a barrage of memories and emotions. Kind of like a carousel. And it got me to thinking about musicians.

Musicians have an innate power: they remind us that for all its pomposity, mankind is as malleable as any other natural world animal. Music renders us powerless – by introducing chords and sequences, by playing with diatones and subtones, by entwining words and notes, musicians have the capacity to draw out emotive responses.

Think about it. How often have you been listening to music and cried or smiled involuntarily? Some music unnerves you; other music can get the heart racing. Music can calm us down and music can make us angry. When you stop to think about it, the manipulative power they hold is frightening. How many politicians would love to hold sway over the common populace with the same ease as Bono, Madonna or the late Freddie M? How many people can claim to exert a contol over individuals that lasts long after their death, like Mozart, Debussy or Vivaldi?

And they say that technology is changing us. No. Technology changes the way we live our lives. But human behaviour is far too innate, far too stubborn to change that easily.

“I had a dream, when I was young: a dream of sweet illusion.”