Pete Doherty has opened up about the song and musician that helped transform his life as he was battling with his drug addiction - with him having since given up drugs.
The singer, 43, once had a reputation for being a junkie, but has now been clean for two years - crediting collaborator Frederic Lo, 57, as having lifted him out of the darkness.
The Libertines frontman had been desperately fighting the familiar demons of drug addiction as he "white knuckled it" in his new home in rural France in early 2020.
He "hadn't had a phone or been online for a couple of years" but had been encouraged by Frederic to cover the song 'Inutile et hors d'usage' - originally sung by Daniel Darc.
The song is said to translate as 'useless and all used up,' with Pete - who is the frontman of his new band the Puta Madres - having been touched by the track when he heard it.
He said: "I got really emotional when he played it to me, it really hit home. I was giving up hard drugs and feeling f***ed really." He described it as like "being hit by a bus."
Pete further explained: "It's still a bit of a struggle but the obsession does lift and it's getting easier. But at the time it hadn't quite lifted and it was really tough."
He now credits Frederic with lifting him out of the darkness. The pair have since written an album together, the Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime - which was released last week.
Pete - who was used to rarely be out of the headlines for his lifestyle, including his drug use - admits he's amazed to be alive and able to release new music given his past.
He said: "I was really pushing the limits. There were a few close calls really. I nearly lost my feet and horrible things like that. It was very close, just because of the injecting."
Further discussing such incidents, he commented: "That's what happens when you run out of veins. It all seems so long ago now though but it was a hell of a ride."
Pete - who has lost friends to addiction - was repeatedly arrested for drug offences during his career, including more recently in November 2019 whilst spending time in Paris.
He was fined £8,500 and given a three-month suspended jail sentence for "violence while intoxicated" after being arrested twice in Paris for buying cocaine, then getting into an argument with two passers-by.
It was around that time that Pete says he decided to quit drugs. He said: "It was tough. There was no epiphany moment. It was so many years of going to rehabs and trying different ideas."
He added: "People who have been in active addiction would say to me, 'One day you'll just know it's the time to stop.' Somehow the balance has shifted."
Pete has since left such a lifestyle behind him and settled down with Katia de Vidas - the keyboardist in his new band - whom he married towards the end of last year.
Pete - who has been clean for more than two years - has embarked on a quieter life in the countryside in France, with him describing his new life as a "quiet, simple existence."
The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime, by Peter Doherty and Frederic Lo is out now.
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