A QUICK glance at the cover of Gilbert O'Sullivan's new album reveals much about why he has become one of our most enduring singer/songwriters.

For on the back cover of his CD 'Irlish' is a little verse:

'You can't make music at your age

unless of course it's dung

well ***** to those who take that view

especially if they're young'

Hardly Christmas card material but you get the point.

"Yes I have a bolshy attitude," he says.

"I stand up for my generation. I get annoyed that if you get past 25 or 30 you're considered a has been, but that's the music industry. You have to live with it or get out."

Getting out is clearly something that O'Sullivan would never dream of doing.

From the Seventies and top 10 hits such as 'Clair' and 'Alone Again, Naturally', O'Sullivan has never stopped working, building up a devoted following along the way.

He is due to appear at King George's Hall in Blackburn on Tuesday, April 16.

"I never toured in the beginning," he said, "because it would deflect from writing. I've never been star struck. I came into this business to write songs, writing to me has always been the most important thing.

"I would rather write a song which barely made it into the charts than to be given a song written by someone else which went to Number One. That just wouldn't be very satisfying."

O'Sullivan is currently touring the UK to promote his album and the new single taken from it 'Two's Company'.

"We should have been touring the UK in October before going to Japan but we couldn't get the dates to work out, so this is the first opportunity we have had to complete the album tour."

This tour will see O'Sullivan accompanied by a second keyboard player and two female backing singers.

"We will be playing tracks from the new album and also some of the more established material," he says.

"The reaction we have been getting has been very rewarding."

The tour won't be just a greatest hits package.

"People who do greatest hits tours tend to be those who don't make records any more," he says. "There's nothing wrong with that.They still like to perform and if that's as part of a package tour then so be it.

"What I don't like are cover bands. I just don't understand that one, I'm really not sure what that's all about."

When he completes his UK tour, O'Sullivan plans to get back to what he enjoys most -- songwriting.

"To be a songwriter you have got to have discipline," he says. "And I think you have got to be more disciplined as you get older. I tend to come up with a melody first, then when I have the music that usually determines the words.

"I'm quite observational. I can get an idea from a newspaper headline and then take it from there."

Taking it from there is clearly something O'Sullivan is a past master at with a range of well-crafted songs.

Gilbert O'Sullivan plays King George's Hall, Blackburn, on Tues, April 16. Box office: 01254 582582.