Welsh icon Max Boyce says a poem he wrote about the impact of Covid-19 is the hardest thing he's ever had to do in his 50 year career.
The evergreen entertainer from Glynneath penned the piece about the pandemic, called When Just The Tide Went Out, earlier this year, since which time it's been listened to millions of times online.
But he admitted that the huge sense of responsibility it instilled almost stopped him from writing it altogether.
"People have even been in touch to ask if they could play the recording of me reading it at their loved ones' funerals," says Max.
"Of course I said 'yes', but that isn't something I ever imagined would happen.
"Had I have done I doubt I'd have ever been able to finish it.
"That's a lot of responsibility for one person to take onboard."
The 77-year-old added that he was first encouraged to put pen to paper regarding the sensitive subject by NHS staff.
"Some nurses from South Wales emailed me during the height of the first big wave of coronavirus and asked me if I'd write something to lift the spirits of their workmates," he said.
"I knew I had to do it, but never realised how difficult it would be.
"How do you deal with something that's seen people all of over the world lose family members in such terrible, tragic ways, but still inject a bit of humour to make people smile?
"I must have rewrote it several times, trying to walk that tightrope and get the tone right.
"But, just as it seemed impossible, I'd think about the footage on the news of that Italian tenor standing on his balcony in Florence singing Nessun Dorma to his quarantined neighbours.
"Then there's the way everyone stood on their doorsteps banging pots and pans for the NHS, and the paintings of rainbows which were put up in windows and chalked on driveways - so much inspiring stuff."
Here's Max's poem in full:
And it was heading through a deserted Mumbles seafront after seeing his youngest grandaughter for the last time before that initial lockdown began which served as the final inspiration.
"All of Swansea was like a ghost town - no one anywhere - but as we went by the shoreline and saw the vast expanse of wet sand I thought, "Well, at least the tide can still go out," and the whole thing just clicked in my head."
He added that's it's gone on to become the biggest hit he's had since his career-breaking Live at Treorchy LP introduced him to international audiences in 1974 - the star even reciting it by royal appointment to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge during the Cardiff leg of their whistle-stop train tour of the UK earlier this week.
However, Max - who underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in 2014 - said he's had to take things easy since the pandemic took hold.
"I'm in that vulnerable age group, so I've had to self-isolate. Haven't really been anywhere in months.
"I've lost some really close friends in 2020, like (rugby great) JJ Williams and (The Goodies star) Tim Brooke-Taylor - those two really hit me hard.
"I'd been mates with Tim for more than 20 years. I didn't even know he'd been ill though."
He's also had to cancel two nationwide tours.
"We had one planned for April this year and another for October - both those had to be scrapped.
"It's been really tough, especially for my band," Max added.
"So we're now aiming to go back on the road in October 2021 - by then I'll have been away from the stage for more than two years.
"There's been talk of doing gigs at a castle or two, so we'll see.
"I never thought I'd miss performing so much."
