Songwriter Dave Dobbyn reckons he's at a loss for words. It's not glamour at Rhythm and Vines or the frantic rockstar lifestyle that has him stumped.

He's just arrived from a motel by van, he's sober and, barely an hour before he's due to play, he chats on the phone from a house near the Gisborne festival stage.

It's the impending knighthood that has him in something of a pickle. Will his arm be sliced off in an archaic royal ceremony? Is he to be presented with a knightly warhorse to replace the van?

"I don't know what to say. It's all new territory. I'm not quite sure because I can't quite believe what I'm reading. So I have to have my wife interpret it."

Along with politician David Carter, broadcaster Ian Taylor and professor of reo and tikanga William Te Rangiua Temara, Dobbyn is to be a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

That's a long-winded way of saying you can now call him Sir Dave.

Dobbyn says his children responded to the news with hilarity and looks of disbelief.

"Then I started bossing them around — but it didn't work."

Dobbyn sounds like an old friend you bumped into after some years, or your favourite uncle, the one you only see once every few Christmases but who instantly disarms you with funny anecdotes.

He says tonight he'll be removed from the stage before 8pm like some "old bugger" the organisers don't want hanging around.

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"They like to get us a cup of tea by 8 o'clock."

He jokes that he'll then be replaced with "doof-doof music" and crowds waving their hands in the air.

For some boozers, this month is No Remember December. Last year, Dobbyn stopped drinking during the alcohol-free cancer fundraising campaign called Dry July.

He stayed off the turps, and 15 months later says ditching alcohol was the best thing he's ever done.

"You can finish sentences and construct them better and stop beating up on yourself. I kind of hated who I was and how reactive I was and how unreasonable I was.

"I limited myself to beer — that was one way of trying to pretend I wasn't a drinker or an alcoholic. The whole circle of partying and hangovers and stuff, it just gets in the way of music."

Many New Zealanders likely have a favourite Dave Dobbyn song, even if they don't know they do.

Given his vast contribution over decades (with Th' Dudes, with DD Smash, with Herbs, and during his solo career), you might hate some of his songs but adore others.

Without Dobbyn, there'd be no Bliss, no Be Mine Tonight, no Loyal, no Slice of Heaven, no Devil You Know, no Whaling.

For 40 years, he's been entwined with some of New Zealand's most poignant and divisive moments.

He was blamed for inciting the 1984 Queen St riot, later cleared of wrongdoing.

Loyal was used in an early 2000s America's Cup campaign, where New Zealanders were urged to buy $10 car aerial flags of the same colour.

In 2004, he joined musicians to raise money for Algerian refugee Ahmed Zaoui's family.

After the Pike River tragedy, he recorded the tribute This Love with Orpheus Choir of Wellington and Wellington Young Voices in 2014.

Back at R&V, Dobbyn says songwriting drives him, as does the pursuit of happiness — in his words, creating something really great and making people happy. He says the same pursuit propels a craftsman making a special piece of furniture.

Wanting your creation to stand the test of time is one thing. But how do you know when you've nailed it? When Slice of Heaven was released in 1986, did he know how good it was?

Yes he did, Dobbyn says without hesitation. He could feel it.

Others could feel it too.

Da da da, bu bu, da da da, bu bu, da da da, bu bu, da da da da da.

Dobbyn says Slice of Heaven didn't fit any mould. It stood out. He says one radio host who had an egotistical grudge refused to play it for six weeks. The song was in trailers for box-office smash hit Footrot Flats, and huge popular demand forced the DJ's hand.

Dobbyn is playing at more festivals this summer and isn't worried about getting overseas anytime soon.

He knows it's hard to say how the global Covid-19 pandemic might play out and after hearing from relatives in California, he's in no rush to get to the States.

"I'd be quite happy to just play in New Zealand the rest of my life. I get a great deal of joy out of it."

Meanwhile, that desire to get another slice of heaven motivates him, as do the smiles on people's faces when they sing along.

"You're always aspiring to a purpose greater than yourself."