Ray Davies has revealed that his latest album was inspired by his experience of being shot by a mugger in 2004.

The Kinks frontman was hit in the leg by a man who had stolen his girlfriend's bag while the pair were on holiday in New Orleans.

The charges against Jerome Barra, 28, were later dropped when Davies twice failed to show up to court.

But the 63-year-old was determined to create something positive from the incident and wrote about it on new album Working Man's Café. He said: "I was on a drip, waiting and watching them talking to an orderly. I started writing notes, which I've still got on a hospital pad. I haven't changed the words much and the song is basically the same as it was written at the time."

He added: "Maybe I wouldn't even have finished a record because I was on the verge of moving to New Orleans. If nothing had happened to me on that trip, I probably would have stayed there. That gunshot put me on a course."