And what was the cause of it?
It was an abscess on my eardrum, in my right ear. And then my left had an inner-ear infection also. It was just too much work really. My immune system was down and obviously the relentless flying, up and down, took its toll. I noticed it with my in-ear monitors a few days previous. I said to the monitor guy 'is it possible that, some days, your ear can feel smaller?'. It was a silly question, I know. But it did. My in-ear monitor didn't seem to fit so well. It seemed like it wanted to come out. It was obviously because I had a haemorraging cyst on my eardrum. So that wasn't the best point.

Did it give you a sense of your own vulnerability or your own mortality?
My thoughts on mortality are really based on Mammy's death. My ear didn't make me feel that I was going to die or anything. But it made me aware that life can change completely in a moment. We all know that, but it's hard to realise that yours can. Then there's a complete mind shift - what do you do? What are you? So it just made me more careful in a way. We've got to make the most of every day that we have.

Is there any sense of disappointment in the band that In Blue didn't make that breakthrough onto the very highest level in the States?
Em, yeah. I'll always be frustrated until it's done. 'Breathless' was a huge single out there, huge. And the album sold over a million, which is fantastic. But we haven't done it on the scale that it can be done. I feel it's there. I feel it's not a problem. I feel, you know, that once one album sells, they will all sell. And I feel that will happen. I know that our music will touch them like it has seemed to around the world.

Why hasn't it happened yet?
It's a tough bloody place, it really is. It's just so big. Mad tunes can become No.1 out there, just off-the-wall, mad tunes. Then you'll never hear about them again and that's fine. It's actually nearly worse for the poor artist. You know, being flung up into the heights of stardom and then next thing it's 'who?' That's nearly worse. With us, it's a kind of steady build. I have faith and I feel everything is for the best.

One school of thought is that it's quite early for The Corrs to have released a Greatest Hits album. To take one example, U2 waited 20 years.
Best Of is not a profound statement. It's not a heavy deal. It's a compilation of hits, of songs that are taken from our albums. I despise this kind of cheating the fans argument. That's ridiculous. Does anybody go to people and put a gun to their head and say 'buy our album'? It's there to buy, if you want - or not to if you don't. It marks a decade for us and it's quite retrospective. Also we're going to go and make our new album in February, and we're going to be a long time away. So we wanted something there in the meantime. And we wrote Would You Be Happier?' which we wanted as a single and 'Make You Mine' also, so it just felt right.

Thinking about your own songs, if you were asked to say 'this is the one so far that I'm most proud of' or that you think is the best song, which one would you pick?
Lyrically, I'm very proud of 'Queen Of Hollywood' and 'No More Cry'. I like it when songs are just honest and say things in a very... Feelings aren't really that eloquent. We make them eloquent, and that in a way is eradicating feelings or erasing feelings sometimes. They're like flamenco music, the way they go 'aaaaah' -you don't understand the words but you know there's pain; you know if it's funereal, or whatever, even if you don't understand it. That's why I love the Cocteau Twins. I don't have a clue what's she's singing, but I do from the sounds. So the fact that 'No More Cry' isn't eloquent, to me, makes it really real and honest. That is what it is. I'm proud of that. 'Runaway' is very special and always will be because it was our first single. We were embarking on something and we had no idea what it was going to be. I really had no clue. And there's a naivety to it. I think it's a good song.

You must often feel like running away at this stage.
(Laughs) Right, yes, sometimes!

What would be the inspiration for that most often?
Sometimes tiredness can make you feel like... there's an island, you know, or some little village somewhere, in a completely different country, where people think about completely different things that you'd like to escape to - something like that. I think everybody feels like running away these days. I think everybody should chill out a little more. I think we should enjoy life more.