Jake Shears: What thought won't let you sleep?

The question

What thought won't let you sleep?

Originally asked

The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A

A long-running fixed question in The Guardian's weekly Q&A questionnaire.

You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.

Jake Shears

Singer and songwriter; co-lead vocalist of Scissor Sisters

Recorded said elsewhere, not written here

Getting older and dying.

The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 July 2021 source ↗

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Gavin Rossdale British musician

If I am still in the argument I’ve had in the day.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 4 July 2020 source ↗

Billy Crudup

Things I wish I’d done better that day.

Recorded The Q&A, The Guardian, 7 February 2026 source ↗

Kathleen Turner American actress

Anger at people's agenda to control others.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 10 May 2014 source ↗

Cressida Cowell British writer

Anxiety. Have I finished this? Will I make the deadline? Could I have done that better? Are the children OK? Is the husband OK? Is the dog OK? Did I leave the oven on?

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 19 September 2020 source ↗

More from Jake Shears

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Question What disappointment has stayed with you longest? Failure & regret

The realisation that I am no longer young.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 July 2021 source ↗

Question Who deserves an apology from you, and for what? Failure & regret

To the Scissor Sisters. Back in the day, I could be an absolute monster; I was a real asshole.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 July 2021 source ↗

Question How close have you come to dying? Death & what remains

Five years ago, a concrete plug, a little bigger than a baseball, fell off a building on Hollywood Boulevard when I was riding in an open convertible. It shattered the windshield. It really shook me. I still have it on my mantel.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 July 2021 source ↗

Question Excluding property, what is the most expensive thing you have ever bought? Money & investment

A Henry Darger painting. Sadly, I lost it in the divorce, but it was a great parting gift.

Recorded The Guardian, The Q&A, The Guardian, 17 July 2021 source ↗

Question If you had only one day left, how would you spend it — and what would you deliberately avoid? Death & what remains

It would definitely involve lots of sex. I would spend the afternoon having some crazy passionate declarative sex with my husband.

Recorded Clash, Last Day On Earth, 29 June 2012 source ↗

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