Chaotic, directionless with moments of genius... and that’s just the lyrics

Shaun Ryder could hardly be described as a protest singer, but it’s impossible to miss the sociological subtext in a lot of these songs

Music: Wrote For Luck: Selected Lyrics, By Shaun Ryder, Faber & Faber, €17.25

The days when Shaun Ryder had the minutiae of his lyrics earnestly dissected by the pimply hacks of the English music press are long gone (as, indeed, is the English music press itself). But while his moment in the sun passed decades ago, a glance at the sea of house-trained bluebloods who inhabit today’s British charts makes you long for ...