Jack White has released his first single for nearly three years - but had to change the name so people didn't think it was about a sexually transmitted disease.

Jack White

Jack White

The 42-year-old musician has dropped 'Connected by Love', his first song from his forthcoming third studio solo album 'Boarding House Reach', but he initially wanted to call the tune 'Infected by Love' before thinking better of it.

He said: "I thought 'Well, people won't get that metaphor -- they'll turn that into, 'Well, do you have an STD, or something?'

"It might hurt the rest of the messages of the song if I kept that as the main thing. So I changed 'Infected' to 'Connected' and then started to feed off of that."

Jack penned the track in a Nashville apartment which he uses to write songs and his first thought about the tune was that he was copying an "old melody" from 40 years ago.

He said: "Subconsciously - those are all the perils of trying to, you know, bring something new into the universe.

"I just started humming notes out loud, staring out the window.

"After that, you really can't explain it. You just have to get out of the way and let it happen. And you don't really notice it as it's happening."

Jack is still "learning" about the tune, admitting it is about two characters rather than himself.

He added to Rolling Stone magazine: "I'm still kind of learning about that song.

"The melody was coming straight from my gut. You start putting yourself into this character's mindset and see what you can make out of it. It's almost like someone pushed you out on stage on a Broadway show, through the curtains and all of the sudden you are told 'Your name is this.' You know?"

Jack has also dropped B-side 'Respect Commander' alongside his latest single, but a release date for his new album is not yet known.

The 'Love Interruption' hitmaker's last single from one of his albums came in February 2015 when he dropped 'That Black Bat Licorice' from his second record 'Lazaretto'.