Club Random with Bill Maher - Daryl Hall | Club Random with Bill Maher
Episode Date: September 26, 2022Bill and Daryl randomly riff on rock stars who have long marriages, Daryl’s conversion to Judaism, why some people can sing and some can’t, Daryl reveals who did what on the Hall & Oates records (...hint: mostly Daryl) 14:31, Bill’s love of Hall & Oates’ obscure songs, Clive Davis’ take on Bill’s playlist and Daryl’s opinion of the legendary hitmaker, Bill and Daryl on success and the measure of sanity, the impossibility of being faithful when you’re a rock star, the woman who Sara Smile was written about, and the rare bands who can play two hours of hits in a concert.
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Discussion (0)
Climb.
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Just click the try it free button now to check it out. You always, you know, looked like the quintessential, like, blonde American.
You were a matinee idol.
I mean, you really like, I'm sure you had a lot of wet panties thrown at you on the stage.
Uh, thrown at me on stage, yeah.
And I will.
I will try to in a stage, yeah. And I will.
I'll throw him in the hospital.
When they throw them on stage, I think it's an indication that they want to participate
in patty throwing even when the show is over.
Am I wrong?
And then you're not wrong.
Do you miss that?
No.
Really?
No, I actually don't.
I so...
I have matured Bill.
No, I don't miss it, man. First of all, I reject the notion of maturity
In general, yes, but I reject the notion that you were implying that maturity is somehow
synonymous with with abstinence or or back and off or whatever or
with abstinence or back and off or whatever. Or monogamy or you know or marriage.
Actually I totally agree with you.
Oh good.
But in my maturity I have altered my thinking about it all.
I guess that's the best way to put it.
But anyway, hey man, you know, I'm.
No, I look, I think with the truth is when you you're a rock star, you just get so much pussy that,
but unlike the mortal men of the world,
like it actually is, I've had...
Anything becomes work a day, man.
I mean, that sounds fucked up, but it's true.
I mean, at a certain point, I don't know, man,
I went through a lot of things.
I went through a lot of things. I went through a lot of things.
I went through that phase of my life
and then in another phase of my life.
I know, yeah.
And by the way, this is what almost everybody does.
Yeah. And certainly rock stars.
A lot of the rock stars, I know,
who, you know, they're heyday, my heyday,
they're among the most devoted, you know, like Joe Walls is a friend of mine.
Yeah, I know Joe. Of course, I'm sure you do. And, you know, could not be more crazy in love
those two. Yeah. And I think it's like, I would recommend to everybody to get a lot of rock
star pussy when you're young. Amen. Amen. But, you know But I had a bad, I don't know, I put it,
I was dealt bad cards because I had a wife
and then she unfortunately passed away.
So I'm an alone guy.
Your wife, I'm so sorry.
I don't know how I avoided knowing that.
Yeah, yeah, so anyway.
Well, but aren't you Jewish? Didn't you? I was I converted back when I was a
young kid. I had a Jewish girlfriend, Jewish wife, and that was part of the whole thing back in
those days. So yes, more or less, I am. Is it true in Israel? That's that's Daniel, Daniel Darrell.
Oh, really? Yeah.
that's Daniel, Daniel Darrell. Oh really?
Yeah.
That's the thing that I remember reading about you that I thought was so interesting because
you so don't look like a Jew.
Well, you were like in the band, you were like there was one who was like more ethnic looking
and then there was the all-American.
I hear you.
You know, I grew up the way in the Methodist world, you know, in the church world.
Methodist. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know all those Protestant denominations. I can name them
Baptist Methodist Episcopalian. I can't tell you the difference. What like Methodist?
They seem like the most hard-ass. No, actually.
They were the most liberal of all of what they'd been I knew.
Yeah, I grew up in a very racially integrated church.
And there was a lot of them.
It was very progressive.
I got preachers of my family.
And they're all very, they're on the opposite
of the Holy Roller side. You know, they're all very, they're on the opposite of the holy roller side.
You know, they're progressives.
You know, they went down the, back in the 80s, they went to Nicaragua and shit like that.
You know, you know, it was like-
But this is what I said, Amiz, that part of the country, Quakers like Pennsylvania, is known
for that kind of progressive thing.
You know, at the dawn of our country in 1776, there was
an abolition society in America. It had 24 members. 24 people in 1776 thought abolition
was a good idea. For those of us who are despairing about the future, things can change.
And they were Quakers, of course.
Yeah.
Quakers were like, no, the Philadelphia people. Philadelphia people. Right. And it's kind
of, and that's what kind of why it's the city of brotherly love, right?
It was named for a reason. Right. And it kind of retains. There's a vibe there.
It's true. And that's how I grew up there. It's in part of what I do in my music. What is that?
That's a closed cigarette. Yeah, I'll take no. It's a fucking joint. I don't know. I don't know. Okay. I don't so in the pocket. Okay.
So so if you really thought it was a club, you're gonna take
Did you used to? Yeah, but I don't know. Right. You matured. Well, I don't want my heart to explode
Well, you think this want my heart to explode.
Well, you think this will make your heart explode?
Probably because I haven't spoken any for a long time.
But you must admit this is among drugs, one of the more gentle.
Well, you know, the truth is I didn't really do a lot of drugs.
Even in the day, I never really done. you know, maybe nervous, well, that shit maybe nervous.
I mean, I used to look at that's about it.
But yet it's probably because, you know,
your voice was your,
you like, my voice was my nervous system.
Well, then it was just a good beneficiary for your voice
because voices in rock suffer greatly from drug use.
I mean, you think about something like Harry Nielsen?
Oh, well, what?
No, I'm not saying that.
Right, I'm here.
I'm here.
Like his, the vocal on things like,
what was that Hedy had without a can live?
If I could,
Can live away from that?
Yes, you'd be good on that one.
I did that song once.
You did?
I did it for a Japanese something.
I was like, they wanted me to do it.
So I did this for a year.
You've got to really have the chops to sing that.
That's a high.
Could I get a copy of you singing that?
Is that anything?
Somewhere in Japan, yes.
Somewhere in Japan.
But me, I'm just anywhere in Japan.
And I'm going to try to talk to you.
I'm going to track this down like, check it out, man.
Colombo.
Okay.
But, you know, and put all the partying in the Coke.
And he was not out of his twenties, I think,
when he had ruined his instrument.
Yeah.
You know?
Yeah, it's a funny thing, man.
The vocal cords are really strange.
Right.
No one really knows how they work or why they work or why they work for singers as opposed
to regular people.
Right.
Yeah.
It's a very, very strange thing.
It is a strange thing.
Why?
I always thought I had more to do with the ear because...
No, it has to do with...
I talked to...
What's his name, man?
It's not only in Boston. he's a famous, a famous,
Bill Russell?
No, no.
He's a, what do they call it?
He deals with the throat, he deals with the throat, he deals with everything for throat
cancer to just, to just, to talk to.
A pro-doctor.
Yeah, he's a doctor.
And he's the foremost guy.
And he said that the whole idea of the way vocal cords vibrate, like you go, no one
knows how you do that, how that works, why that happens, how you can do that, some people
can do that, some people can't do that.
But what we do know is that when you abuse something in your ear, it fucks up.
Of course, you, It's like a muscle.
Really sound good at your age.
Well, it's really a good feat because if you hadn't taken care of yourself for whatever
reason, you wouldn't be there because I mean, I'd definitely inherit in some of the idols
of my youth.
I mean, there's just no getting around it.
I mean, there's maturity.
You know, your voice matures, but then there's your voice goes to fucking hell.
Right.
Like, Frank Sinatra sounds very different in, I like it better.
I'm not a fan of early Sinatra.
Older Frank is better.
I agree.
He's mellowed.
It's richer.
Yeah, I'd like to believe that that's what's happening to me.
Yeah.
I mean, that's...
It is.
It's a little lower, and that's not a bad thing.
You know?
It's like in his song, like, wine and fine old kegs.
Yeah, you're going from the drags.
He sounds like, you know?
You know, like he lived in it.
And he...
Well, that's one reason why he's such a great artist.
I mean, you know, people you lived in it. And that's one reason why he's such a great artist. I mean, you know, people can have different opinions
that his politics, his personal life,
he certainly was a controversial guy,
but you can't, no one can argue with the artistry.
No, no, you have to separate that from the person
of the party, for sure.
So even though you're in the rock era,
you can appreciate us as an outro.
And did you always?
I mean, I'm classically trained.
I mean, yeah.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
I mean, I went to music school.
And my mother was a vocal teacher and family work, singers, and don't think.
So like Frank Sinatra is somebody who's in the pantheon for you. Well, he's part of it, yeah.
Yeah, I mean, he's part of my musical history, for sure.
I mean, I'm not pushing for it.
I'm just saying, I'm also a fan, and I'm a fan of very little before the rock era,
because that's when I came up.
And of course, first of all, kids want to rebel against whatever their parents are into.
And so my father's error was big band,
Benny Goodman and band singers.
And that's Sinatra.
Yeah.
I kinda like, my mom was in a band, right?
She was in kind of like a, I mean, she's 99.
She can still sing, right?
Whoa. But that's sing, right? Whoa.
But that's good for you.
Yeah.
But you know, she was in kind of like what I'll call
Lawrence Walkie kind of band, you know,
like the little of everything.
But I grew up, my first memories were sitting there
at two years old or whatever, you know,
sitting in the audience watching the band
and watching my mother and do all that shit, you know.
So I mean, that's literally my earliest memories, you see, and that stuff.
But to me, that is a compliment for a singer to get from my record collection,
to have anything pre-1968.
But he just, he had some in the 60s. It's funny people think that when the Beatles and rock came along
Frank Sinatra went away or that he wasn't relevant or he wasn't selling records. That's not true
He had a 60s sound. He somehow found a way. Well, he had his own tribe
Those guys had their own tribe. They did go away in the pop world, but they had their own truck
No, no, no, so I'm saying he did not go away in the pop world. He had big head.
No, that's true. He had his hips a way to like be still Frank Sinatra.
And work within it. Yeah, and but they put a drum on it more, you know, there was an organ,
and then they changed the production. They have to know some riddle and then they went in,
they tried to do that. That's what I'm saying. By the way, same thing with Barbara Streisand. Oh yeah. Put out some amazing, you know,
she told me she had Richard Perry,
the great producer, I'm sure you know,
turned me into a rock star.
And they made in the early 70s.
And again, she did it because she's such an amazing artist,
perfectly, where she didn't lose who she was.
But now I can also do this and get this crowd.
It's really interesting to have people
who can cross over the transition.
You know, when they're faced with this shift,
this shift in their in world
and how they can somehow adapt to it
and actually prevail.
That it's a really, I mean, I'm sort of doing that myself,
you know what I mean?
Yeah, yeah.
But you have a, I mean, you have a partner.
So it's a little different then.
I don't have a partner.
You're not like John Oates is my partner.
You still tour together, don't you?
Yeah, but he's not my partner.
Well, he's my business partner.
Oh, geez, but I've stumbled into it.
He's not my creative partner.
Okay, I'm not trying to, I was just saying,
I know that you guys still tore and put out records.
So to me, that's a partner.
I mean, it's like,
We don't put out records.
What was the last record you put out with?
And I think it was 10 years ago.
That's fairly, I'm 66, Darryl.
So that's like, like yesterday to me. I understand for the kids that's fairly, I'm 66, Darryl, so that's like yesterday to me.
I understand for the kids that's not.
But to me, that's fairly recent, it's 21st century.
Sean and I are brothers, right?
We are not creative brothers.
We are business partners.
We did a lot of stuff.
We made records called Holonotes together, but we've always been very separate.
And it's a really important thing for me.
Well, you certainly weren't separate on the records,
and I don't know, and were you separate creating them now?
We were separate on the records too.
What does that mean?
I'm not hearing the harmony.
I'm not hearing what I love about you.
You know, that's on Kiss of My List?
Of course.
I did all those. That's all me
Well, that's all me on those harmonies. That's me. That's just a derro demo
But that's not the rule. Is it with the band? I won't go any farther than that. Okay. Let me ask you
But see I'm you're bursting my bubbles here, which okay. That's my job. I can take it.
The good, I like honestly.
I don't know, see, I don't know.
I stopped when I was 14.
I could tell you what actually was every song on what survey
and what number that I, of course, grew up,
I matured in my way.
So like, the things I know, I don't know if they were hits.
Like, one of my all-time favorite records,
not just of yours, but of all-time. Romeo is bleeding. Oh, man. Thank you. Is that it? Was that a hit?
Was that a single? No, it was not a hit. I don't even know where I first heard that. I love that song so
much. So much. It is in every playlist I ever had. We just put it out in England as a single,
I don't even know what we called it.
But anyway, we re-release that album.
And that song, I listened to it because I hadn't heard
that song in years.
I was like, what?
Oh, okay.
And it's loud.
Yeah, like I don't know why,
but when it's on like that.
You know, you know, who that made that record me and Dave Stewart.
Hmm.
That's not John. That's me and Dave Stewart.
Oh, John is not on that?
No.
Oh.
It's a whole notes record, but that doesn't mean it.
Okay.
What about throw the roses away?
That's me.
Okay.
Right.
Was that a header? Was that just another one of mine that I... That's me No, was that a hitter was that just another one of mine that I
That's another I love you're amazing record bill your pulling out stuff that I really care about this is this is well
I mean as much as I love talking to you here
I could just listen to Romeo is bleeding. I know I know all day long that saw man in the lyrics
I was like whoa what was I talking about?
I'd tell you a funny story.
Clive Davis, who I got to be quite friendly with.
He's a wonderful guy.
You must know.
I was no Clive forever.
I'm sure you have.
I'm sure Clive is somewhere right now telling people
that he got you started because, as we know,
Clive started everybody.
And actually, he didn't start so many people.
It's almost not an exaggeration.
He started a lot of people.
Yes, he really did.
And coached him.
Anyway, so we did this show years ago called Iconoclasts.
And I remember it was on, but they would take two people
who were of different fields.
And they would fill them us together for a day or two
with some of
our haunts that we went to in our life.
So Clive and I did it and I got to be pretty good friends with them and loved them and I
told them, you know, you're the man with the Golden Ears.
There's like, I could send you 20 songs that are in my iPod that are just amazing songs that for my, for my knowledge, will never singles
or if they were they didn't go anywhere. And I sent it to them. I'm sure Romeo was like,
I don't remember this was 12 years ago, but I'm sure that song would be like number one
if I didn't think other people knew that song. And I said, I'm going to send this to you.
What do you think? So I send them this disc. This is back when we had discs.
I get a letter.
It's, I treasure this letter.
It's like, because you could tell he dictated it, because he kept going back and re-saying
the same thing.
But he was so kind.
He was like, I've listened to your records, the songs you picked.
They're interesting songs.
I listened to it twice.
Once when I was in a hot tub in Mexico looking at the ocean another time when I was back in New York so we put the time
until listen to it twice I must say these are not here
these are you know and he's the problem with clime he was very nicely saying you
don't know what you're doing or what and he's full of shit well full of shit
Bill I think so what you want tocative, why do somebody like a song
and something not like it, it's completely,
so you can't even...
I mean, it's subjective.
Hand put your finger on it.
He sat me in a room one time, one time.
And he started because we were doing,
we did a record called,
Change of Season.
And we were finishing the record.
And he says, well, you know, it's just like that.
He was like, you know, there's no hits on this record.
No hits on this record.
And he says, I have some ideas.
And I'm like, it's just me and Tommy and fucking Metolla and Alan Grubman, the lawyer
that, no.
Tommy Metolla was the head of what record?
He was my manager and he was, he wound up being the head of the Mariah Carey.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh, husband, okay.
He jilted me for Mariah.
But, but anyway, so, so, Clive is there and, and he says, I got these ideas, I have these
ideas, they're, they're hits, they'll be, they'll be amazing hits for you.
And he played me these two songs
One of them and I can't remember the second one what the second one was named
But the first one he played was was a song called love on a rooftop
It was the biggest piece of shit. I've ever heard of my life. Anyway, love on a rooftop love on a roof wasn't there a song?
Yes, a real song. I think share cut it
a roof town. Love on a roof. Wasn't there a song? Yes. A real song. I think sharecut it.
Oh, maybe I'm thinking of up on the roof. No, that's that's a completely different song. Right. And that's a good one, right? Yeah. Isn't that Carol King? Up on the roof.
The Cal King might have written that. It certainly hurt her era. Right. Right. But anyway,
so he's he's he's playing these songs and there I said, Clyde, and I literally walked out of
the meeting. I said, Clyde, I can shit better songs than this. I'm sorry, man. I literally
said that to him. And I love Clyde, but that's, I mean, I had that kind of relationship
with him.
Yeah, I mean, again, I would love to send you this tape. I bet you I could find the playlist
somewhere in the archives. And I'll, I would love to see you this tape. I bet you I could find the playlist somewhere in the archives.
And I would love to see what I love.
I would love to hear you.
I remember there's a Don Hedley, Henley song on it.
That's from the soundtrack to Fast Times at Richmont High called Love Rules.
Okay.
Again, there are not songs that people know.
Well, you pick two of mine that are really.
Here's the other one that I play endlessly.
It's not your song, but you are the voice on it.
Well, certainly the harmonizing voice.
The only flame in town.
Oh.
Am I wrong?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. How great is that song? That's great song. Now,
why now that was Elvis Costello. He called just said I need the voice. Said I just said,
you want to do a song with me. Wow. And I did it. And the song was great. And times that
work, do they send you like a tape to get used to what the song is? Because it's new.
Yeah, I think you're saying a song if you don't know what the song is.
He just sent me a demo.
Send me a demo.
So do you listen to that and you get the song?
No, I just send my harmony to it.
You get the song in your head.
Yeah.
So you...
Doesn't take much.
No.
No.
Okay, and he knew what he wanted to do.
Right.
Yeah.
It was just one day. There. That was it. Well, and then knew what he wanted to do. Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. It was just one day.
That? That was it? Well, and then...
That's another... That was a departure for Elvis.
That was, you know, that was interesting.
Everything is a departure for Elvis.
Well, that's true. That's what I admired in him.
Me too. And when I say admire, what I mean is also
throw out some CDs.
Because he did one that you never know.
The Juliet something and it was like string quartets
and it was like okay, it was in directions.
Well, and that's great as an artist.
No, no, I do that too, but I try and,
yeah, I don't think you directions I go in or to.
No, I mean, you can't lead people down a certain path
and then without even telling them,
I remember Prince once put out a jazz album
and he didn't tell me.
He didn't tell you.
No, so you bought it.
I bought it and it wound up with the Elfus Cotello
that it's like a street quartet.
You know?
You know, if you bought a Beatles album
and it was all Revolution No. 9, you'd be pissed.
It's like a spinal tap jazz Odyssey, man.
Right.
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Hey, I'm going to be at Madison Square Garden on
November 12th at the Hulu Theater. Bring the kids. Not to the show itself.
Please, leave them outside. But the show you're gonna love as adults.
I'm a little upset about you and your partner. You know, you're not
partner. That other guy,
I can't even remember his name.
But I'm a little, because yet to distance, fans,
we get emotionally involved with the,
and what we hate even more than,
it's the brand, it's the brand you wanna see.
We don't know.
We don't dumb in Tweedle D.
We wanna see the people we like like each other.
It's like Molly.
Oh, I's like Molly.
Oh, I do like John.
Oh, no, no, no, no, we're not.
But we're not.
Oh, good.
We're harmonious in any way.
No, no, no, no, no.
We're friends.
Okay.
We just have different directions.
And I've had since about 1975.
But, well, that's coming up on 15 years of pissing each other off.
We had a few good years.
I mean, look, there is going to be a time, let me predict.
There will be a time when you guys, something will scare you,
and you will realize, oh fuck, this guy, yeah, I before it ends,
we need to like...
Sunshine boys.
It not just like, realize that yeah, for whatever reason, you were there for this part
of your life that very few people get to...
We need like 50 years.
Very few people get to experience.
No, no.
You know, John and I have a long, long history together and we are brothers.
We really are.
And I will never, ever to negate that.
But we are very separate.
I get it.
I get it.
But there is something about great success.
It's fantastic.
Great success.
It's just fucking happening.
Yes.
I agree.
The fact that people are so... Like you. The fact that people are so...
Like you.
The fact that people are so ambivalent, sometimes about success.
I'm like, what?
Oh, no, no, no.
Not me.
Right.
No, I think that's a measure of your sanity.
If you're happy with success, you're sane.
If you somehow are sabotaging it or feel terribly guilty, I mean, there's a lot of crazy guilt in America
about stuff, you know, I didn't do it.
Yeah.
It's a funny thing, man, where people, yeah,
they do self-sapotage.
They do.
There's a lot of that.
Oh, especially in show business.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, some of it is addiction
and they can't help it.
Some of it, I think, is that kind of adulation is so overwhelming that, yes, it's great,
but it's also like, you know, if you were being tickled or something, yes, I'm laughing,
but you've got to make it stop.
It's too much, it's too brain overload, So as much as it's stimulating, even that can be too much.
I'm guessing I'm not a rocker.
I was hoping for this my whole life, but it never happened.
It's like you try and, I guess the best word is, you have all this stuff happening.
You want to kind of regulate it and get it to a place that is fulfilling.
Were you married at the time that you were like the biggest act in the country?
I was with Sarah Allen.
Sarah Smile, Sarah Allen.
Right.
Yeah.
So was it hard to be faithful?
It was impossible.
Yeah.
Impossible.
That really puts the capstone on this discussion. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Impossible.
That really puts the capstone on this discussion.
That says it all.
All my words blah, blah, blah.
It's impossible.
Remember that song?
It's impossible.
Tell a baby not to cry.
It's just impossible.
Who sang it?
I don't fuck it though.
I believe it was Perry Como.
That's probably right. I think of this of Steve Martin
It's impossible to stick a leg of Trump stick up your nose or whatever
He's the same. I did the parody of that
He used to be so parody up. That's all I can think of this you notice what I'm doing here
I'm drinking the fucking green spot. You should try this. This is I can't I know you're half Irish man because
This is Irish. This is the best Irish whiskey in the world is I can't I know you're half Irish man because what is that this is Irish?
This is the best Irish whiskey in the world. I can't mix
Damn, I can't mix liquor. I'm not 16. What are you drinking? It's tequila. Oh fuck. Okay. Yeah. Excuse me. I'm I'm
Well try this sometime. This is great. I will. It's a you leaving it here. I'll leave it here. No don't know about it's your bar
Is did you bring this?
Yeah.
Oh.
We would have gotten it for you.
No, no, I asked for it.
Oh, good.
You guys got it.
Oh, okay, good.
I want you to be happy when you're here at Club Random.
I'm very excited.
I've been excited for this.
I'm happy to have you.
You were.
You should.
This life that it was impossible.
Well, that's, yeah.
I guess people who don't have that kind of temptation
also don't have that problem, you know?
You know, I got to say, and then I end up,
and she probably never hear this, although she might.
But you know, Sarah Allen was the most understanding human being on earth.
Really? On earth. Because she went through this with me and she was, excuse me, okay, you want
to talk about Sarah Allen? Sarah Allen wrote more songs with me than John, right?
Right? Wrote the lyrics?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And more than the lyrics.
Yeah.
Sarah and her sister, Jenna.
Wow.
They were musicians or they were just good at it?
Sarah is a writer.
You know, a lyricist.
And Jenna was a musician as well.
Her younger sister.
We wrote private eyes, gives away lists.
Wow.
You name it.
And we do. So that's the love of your life.
Uh, in some crazy way, yes, it is.
I mean, I had an interim that I was married for quite a long time, and she died.
I told you.
Yeah.
And she was the love of my life, too.
I don't know.
Love of your life.
I don't know.
I had a couple of love of my life.
Yeah. Yeah. Not just one. I don't know, I love your life. I don't know. I had a couple of love for my life.
Yeah.
Not just one.
Now, I mean, having never got married,
you know, people say sometimes that question.
What's the love?
It's weird because I was with people all the time,
and now I'm totally alone.
I mean, I'm not dissatisfied with that idea.
Right.
Well, I think the older you get, the more
set in your ways you get, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
That doesn't mean you can't be flexible when you want to be,
but you just know, you know what it is.
You know what you like.
When you're younger, you don't always know what you like.
You know?
Or what you bump into it.
Right.
And then what happens, you know, it's like a stroke of state.
I mean, would I like to be 25? Again, yes, but I
absolutely would not take the deal if I had to be in that it
it's head. You know, no, right. Oh, like socrates, you know,
if a, you know, the freed of the demon of the, you know, sex
and all that. But no, no, no, no. I don't know if I'd want to be young.
I got kids, I got stepkids, and I love them.
But I wouldn't want to be that age.
I can't, no.
Only if I could have this head, but I can't.
No, that's the thing, you can't, you can't do it.
And if I literally could go back in time and live again, assuming it wouldn't be the exact same life,
but I would be young again,
I wouldn't trust that some of the stupid things I did
this time around would get me killed or put in jail
or just dumb fucking things I did.
I got to tell you.
I'd probably be a jail.
Yeah, you know.
Yeah.
I mean, no, seriously. Yeah, you know? Yeah. I mean, no, seriously.
Right.
Probably you too?
Yeah, because I was, you know,
selling pot and stuff when I was in college
and New York and Draconian drug laws.
And I could be just getting out of jail now.
I hear you.
Just for dealing pot in 1970,
how courageous is it?
Well, it's what it is. It's there, but for the grace of God, go, I kind of think.
Or sliding doors. You know, let me obviously, that movie, it's kind of
interesting. Subject, I'm sure that's not the first time people have broached it, but
somebody is running for a subway and the sliding doors in one
life. Oh, yeah. It's like you'd go this way or you go that way.
Mill second, then shoot your life changes. Yeah. Which I actually believe. I think maybe
maybe we go right. Maybe we go all those directions. Right. But there's also certainly
to be said for, I mean, I don't know how many number one hits you guys have you and this other guy, Kim Embrut, name. But you're that guy. That guy. But that's
numbers show something isn't a fluke. Anybody can have a, any rocket can go up in show business.
But a lot of them come down fairly soon.
Nobody has, I don't know what you have, 20 giant hits or something.
Nobody has a whole kind of...
It is like 30, I don't know, fuck out of you.
Yeah, no, you're still mad.
I really don't know.
20, 30, 50, whatever the fuck it is.
But my point is, like when you go to a concert, if the band can do the whole show, nothing but hits, that's
a concert.
Okay.
When I do a whole on a show, we can't do all of our hits.
We have to do it because we're...
Right.
Well, because I don't like the...
I'm not spring-steered.
I don't do three-hour shows.
Right.
But, you know.
Right.
You know.
But, yeah. It's an amazing... Right. But you know, right. You know, no, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's, it's an amazing
right. And neither, and by the way, neither can Billy Joel and neither can Elton John
and neither Paul McCartney. This is the word that I neither can the Eagles, but it's a small club.
I would call it, let's call it the arena club people who can get the Indian well, I'm in the rena's yeah, but those guys are in the stadiums
It doesn't matter. I'm gonna whatever
I'm doing the club. I'm talking about the number. It's that is that can you can you air his rare the air is rare man
You know the air is rare. I mean the stones everybody complains. Oh, it's gonna be the same playlist
Yes, because that's what you demand. You think they want the same playlist?
The last thing they want to do is that.
Of course.
And that's sort of what I get blamed for it.
That's why I'm sort of doing what I'm doing right now.
I'm doing a whole alternative tour.
I've been doing it.
I did 30 shows this year, and I'm going to continue to do it.
And it's songs, quote, holonaut shows, a song,
but it's also my other stuff
that I've been doing
over the years.
That's my other albums.
My solo stuff.
I mean, you earned it.
Hey, you earned it.
You deserve it.
You deserve a victory lap.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you plenty of people
who will love to see that.
I would love to see that.
Well, because first of all,
it's kind of helpful to my psyche
because I don't look back.
Like, I only want to think about the future
because there is no, the past doesn't exist.
I remember it, but I don't understand these people
who were consoled by, oh, wasn't that great?
Yeah, it was, but it's not happening now.
Oh, it's happening tomorrow.
It's different, isn't it?
Yeah. But it's not happening now. Oh, it's happening tomorrow. It's different, isn't it?
Yeah, so, but I mean, that is one great thing about music is it just doesn't ever fail.
You can listen to a song for 50 years.
Now, maybe you shouldn't listen to it every day, but it can just keep coming up over and
over.
Whereas... It's a funny thing. It's not
like other art forms. I can watch a movie maybe a couple times. Three or four times. How
many times do you watch the guy over 25? Over 25 years. Yeah. But not like I could hear,
I'm telling you, I can hear the ones I've mentioned every, almost every day, and I do hear them like really,
certainly not a month goes by when they don't play.
And they're always good.
I know, it's amazing to think.
Yeah. It really is.
It really is an amazing thing.
I just, okay, just to throw this out.
I just found a box.
It's about this big,
and it's all my, you know,
the way I write, I write with cassette tapes
have done. Since about 1972, 1970 or whatever the fuck, you know.
And I mean, you sing into it because it's, you know, I get an idea.
Right. And you just want to preserve it without record play. Right. Instead of writing it down like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no 100, excuse me, thousands of ideas. Thousands of ideas. From your youth.
From my entire life up until the present.
You know, that's funny.
I have a similar thing, except I've known where this stuff was,
well, it's all prolonged.
I didn't discover it.
But I've salted away so much stuff,
because I'm kind of a squirrel that way.
You know, jokes and ideas and things.
And sometimes I will go back into that treasure trove
and something will be awesome.
And I always say, thank you, Younger Me.
You left me this treasure that I found 30 years later.
Is it interesting?
Yeah, it's great.
And I've been listening to it.
I have my guide that's been archiving it.
And I listen to it.
I go, listen to this guy.
It's like, thank you, younger me.
It's actually best, except perfect.
You should write a song called, thank you, younger me.
It's not a bad title.
Hey, titles are important, right?
But they are indeed.
Isn't that a big thing of, you, you,
well, you gotta get the, yeah,
something to hook people.
To hook, it's a hook, it's provocative about the hook people. The hook. It's a hook. Yeah, it's provocative, you know.
Right.
And sometimes it can sum something up.
I mean, obviously there's many different types of songs.
I'm always partial to philosophy songs.
Songs that are like in a kind of a half ironic, half real way,
because there are often a little corny
and a little like obvious, but I kind of just...
You're an example, I don't know.
Oh, like, love travels on a gravel road, you know?
Like, there's a million of them, just burrato, you know?
One's that are imparting wisdom to the audience, you know?
Every rose has a thorn, you know?
Oh, there's a line from every,
what's the line in Romeo? Every pain is filled with pain and it's something pain.
It's someone else. Pain and pleasure. It's like every thing.
No, I can't remember. Yeah, but it's that. Yeah, I got to stand.
But that was an aside in the verse.
That was the hook, right?
No, it wasn't a hook.
It's a good note.
I've always thought the pain is part of pleasure.
Yes.
For someone else, hoping that it would never.
Of course, I always thought that pain is part of pleasure.
It's a great...
I can't believe I remember that.
But it's right, I can't believe it.
But it's a philosophy, you know, as opposed to...
She loves you, yay, yay, yay.
Exactly.
And there's just many, many songs like that and they they always
Amuse me because again country songs are full of it. Oh, you know, it's all philosophy because it's of course
It's dime store philosophy, but I like the fact that I'm tricked by how much I love the song
That even if the if I read this as poetry I'd probably laugh at it but in
the song I'm loving it you know yeah lyrics and poetry are very different
things exactly yes thank you and they're not supposed to be the same things
lyrics have to sing right literally and they're not supposed to and they have to do
with vowel sounds and it's things like that and it's an artistic
Expression not a polemical exactly exactly. It's not supposed to be literal or you know, are you died?
It's emotional music is emotional. Yes, it can reach you. I mean look there are people like I would say Paul Simon
Is a guy?
Well, there are artists. I, Dylan comes to mind, but Paul Simon.
But that's different because that is where the focus is and the music is secondary to it.
When you're dealing with melody and chords, you have to deal with vowel sounds.
And when you're hitting a certain note, it has to, the sound has to go.
It's an oral thing.
Yes.
It's outside of poetry.
It's aproposal of Paul Simon.
I remember, and of what you just said,
I remember Simon was on Bob Costas' old show,
loved that interview show we did.
I did it once in the 90s.
Any, he was asking Simon about Mrs. Robinson and
Paul Simon said, Mickey Mantle, once came up to him and he said, you know, your famous
line, where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?
Why couldn't you use me?
Simon said, does it sound right?
He said, syllables, Mac, syllables.
Cylables, exactly.
You know, a bit of a to mageo Mickey Mantle.
It doesn't it doesn't work.
It doesn't work.
That's totally right.
My point.
That's the point.
Yeah.
Well, I'm so glad you're still this into you.
Because you know, you just don't know about people.
You know, what their private life is like.
You don't know if they're still engaged. You don't know if people. What their private life is like, you don't know if they're still engaged,
you don't know if they're still happy.
You don't know where their mind is.
I mean, I've certainly run into more than a few people out here.
I wouldn't say names, but I ran into one guy at a party
who I used to be quite friendly with.
He's about 10 years older than me.
And he was telling me how much he liked Trump.
And not only that, but that Obama had ruined the country and he did it on purpose.
This was a musician? No. No. No an actor. No, dear. But, you know, yeah, I'm just saying,
you just don't know who's under the hat. So I'm glad I got to.
That ain't me.
What do you do all day when you're not working?
Oh, fuck.
I have so many things.
What I'm not working?
I'm always working.
Well, first of all, I'm always working.
But when I'm not, I've been renovating my house.
I'm a big historic house renovator in all the crap.
And I've been doing that.
And you're alone, you say you're not like married or anything.
I'm not married.
But what about the ladies of the world?
I have friends with benefits.
Hi, friends.
Yeah, but I'm not the...
You're on the stud farm and that's where you belong.
Yeah.
There you go, man.
You're the race horse that won the Kentucky Derby.
I'm just standing in the field.
Yeah, just send over a filly now and then.
Well, let my fucking rod go like that.
It should only do.
Yeah, anyway, yeah.
And when you travel, like, what's a place you love?
Like, cities have a vibe, too, right? Like some cities you vibe. I love London
I've I've lived in London forever. I mean, I've lived in London longer than any police cells. Oh really? Yeah, yeah
I'm a longer than New York or Philadelphia or any place but as a as an American, but you can just stay as long as you want
Well, I go back and forth, you know, I'm a tinderant. I'm a tinderant person.
Are you on something there?
Yeah, I have a house there.
But isn't there laws, you know, about how long you can be
in a country if you're not a citizen?
Yeah, yeah, but I've never, that's never been a problem
with me because I have to work all the time.
You know, I've never, I've never, in one place long enough
to be bothered by that.
I mean, my wife was English.
So what's my kids' language?
So what do you love learning?
I just love it.
I think it's the best city.
I think it's the best city in the world.
Why?
Because it's the most diverse.
It's the most interesting.
I like it's low.
I like you can see the sky.
I love the houses.
I love the architecture.
I love the people.
I'm in Anglophile. No, I am too houses, I love the architecture, I love the people, I'm in
Anglican.
No, I am too, because I'm terrible at language.
Well, not too.
But no, no, you know what, it's not just about the fact that they speak English.
I like it better than Paris, I like it better than the other countries.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah, Paris is like London.
Paris is amazing to look at, more than any other city. Well, like like London. Paris is amazing to look at more than any other city. I like the French. It's amazing to look. Right, but I hate the food.
Yeah, the people are not warm.
No, they're not.
And it's just it's big and if you don't speak the language, I don't know. It's just very hard to.
Yeah, it's just I'm just I'm just not a franca file.
If I had some guide, like someone who really was, oh, knew everything about Paris and
where to go and who to hook you up with and I could just tag along with you know...
I did do that.
Of course you did.
I spent a couple of months there with Dave Stewart, my friend Dave Stewart, and he was living
there, and we were really, we made a record there.
We made a three-harts album there, and I was in Paris, and I went to these crazy places,
I mean, just really.
Crazy.
When I say crazy, I mean, really very Parisian, you know, like only would happen in Paris.
And what is that?
Oh, like a place called Le Laid de Porte-Feu, which all they did was, it was this dark room,
and all they did was serve Porte-Feu.
It's that.
It's fucking beef stew.
And that's stupid.
That's an example. Like these weird little highways and byways.
I was hoping it was going to be some Mulan Rouge back in the early.
No, nothing like the opposite of that. The opposite of that.
The opposite, completely, like real Parisian, only in Paris, kind of things.
I spent a couple of months there. I mean, a couple of months has been nothing.
And I spent a couple of months there. I mean, like a couple of months has mean nothing.
Yeah, I mean, but I did experience sort of that idea
where you could be there.
And I don't know.
But what about America?
Don't you know?
Don't you love for us?
Come on, you don't love any American city?
Right?
Yeah, I like Charleston.
What?
I live in Charleston, South Carolina. I lived in Charleston. Oh, you know what? I like Charleston. What? I lived in Charleston. I lived in Charleston.
Oh, you know what?
I played Charleston.
I lived there for quite a few years.
And I like Charleston.
I have a funny story about Charleston.
I was in there in 1983, when my first year on the road is a comic.
And this is the days when the comedy clubs had worked like five days, you had to work like five days in a row.
Like Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday. So, you know, people only came on the weekends really.
But anyway, comedy clubs were booming. So, and staying in the little whatever
motel they had for us, every day, I go down. And there's one copy of the New York Times and I grab it.
This is when the New York Times even went to South Carolina.
You've been...
That's hard to believe, actually.
Big cities you can't get.
So like the fifth day I go down there and I say to the girl and they kind of,
wow, it's unbelievable.
Every day I've gotten the last copy of the New York Times and she said,
oh we only get one.
You just... You got the paper. Probably the only one who bought it last year. Yeah, I'm sure
that the New York Times is not big in Charleston. I promise you. No, no, but, uh, but why are you
so down on the rest of America? Did I say I was down on the rest of America? I mean, I like Charleston.
America. Did I say I was down on the rest of America? I mean I like Charleston. I
Name what come on you must like Chicago. I was just in Chicago this place. I like it. See I only go to those places to play. I Don't yeah, but I don't have I don't have a like a vibe for like no
Really come on. I'm gonna sit in man. I go guys around there. Come on, you guys were on the, come on. I go in, I play, I fly in, I play a show, and I fucking leave.
But you, wait a second.
All the years that you were on tour, heavily on tour,
promoting the last album, you know, which had four hits on it.
You were in different cities.
I know what those tour schedules look like.
Okay, so you're in Atlanta this night, you're 28 years old,
you didn't go out after the show.
Oh, you're talking about, you're talking about the old days.
Yes, well, or, I don't know.
Oh, no, well, that's different.
I used to love Atlanta back in the 70s.
Well, I'm just picking any city I'm saying.
Oh, which cities did you like?
Okay, you know, which depends on time.
Okay, you know, it depends on time. Okay, right.
The early and mid-70s in Atlanta, what fucking whip it?
Atlanta was amazing.
You know that song?
Atlanta, Atlanta, it's a sh-fuck.
That's a famous band, anyway, it doesn't matter.
But yes, I loved Atlanta.
I lived out here for many years.
I was involved with the woman out here,
and I lived here at a loved LA in the 70s, again, the 70s.
And LA in the 70s.
LA in the 70s, it was like a fucking cow town.
Right.
Nothing was open on Sundays.
Shally Gormais was the only thing that was fucking open.
Nice to live right across the street.
Yeah.
Fairfax and sunset.
I lived like two doors away.
Everybody used to go there because
his ill-aid was open.
Wow.
Well, I mean, the 70s,
I was a teenager watching LA on my TV
and wanting to be there so bad.
I thought it looked like the coolest place in the world,
Johnny Carson, and just moved out to California and sunshine and like, to me, it was just like,
this was going to be the Shangri-La. And you know what? It's not Shangri-La, but it kind
of disand, just didn't disappoint me. I never, I never vibe with, I mean, I love New
York. It's my home, my home area where I grew up.
But you're Jersey ever. Yeah, Jersey, but you know, I lived in New York, it's my home, my home area where I grew up. But you're Jersey ever.
Yeah, Jersey, but I lived in New York twice.
I get it, I have love for it.
But we never vived.
This town sucked my dick on the first date.
I've loved it ever since.
It rained the first three weeks.
I was here and then the sun came out and I kind of never went away.
It was always better.
It was just vibe, it's just a vibe thing.
I get it, man.
I am not a fan of New York City.
I go to, I, the only, I live outside of New York,
right, and then you can't etiquette right now.
I go in the New York to, to go to doctors.
That's like a relate to in New York City
is go to fucking doctors.
And I, because you think they have the best ones?
Not even these days.
I go to Stanford, and Connecticut. But, but, yeah. Because you think they have the best ones? Not even these days.
I go to Stanford, Connecticut.
But yeah, at least of that area.
But I'm not a fan of New York.
Yeah, I have a love-hate relationship.
And we live there for 20 years.
New Yorkers all have a love-hate relationship.
Of course they do.
Just what when you say it out loud,
they get all pissy about it. How dare you know, dare you not say it's the greatest city in the
world. It's the greatest for you. It doesn't have to be the greatest for me.
Exactly. It's, you know, you know, it had its time. It's a 20th century city.
No, it's a 20th century city and we're in the 21st century. That's, I don't think
fair, but you know, I know. Well, okay, that's my opinion. You may be right, I have not been in New York enough to not living there.
And of course the pandemic, I'll tell you, I don't know about that statement, but I will say this.
They let the pandemic due to them, kind of like what the 92 riots did to LA.
They always said the like the nightlife never really kind of came back in L.A. after that.
And I feel like New York, I know they got hit very hard by the pandemic.
Well, yeah, well, so many of the obvious reasons.
Well, and also they didn't make good decisions about the nursing homes.
No, bad decisions. So I understand why it was more traumatic there. But I think they're still,
you know, I mean, at some point, you got to let it go.
Yeah.
And not let it ruin all of life because it can.
And don't get me on my high horse with COVID over here.
No, we won't even go there.
No.
I hear you.
Good.
As long as you hear me.
No, I do.
I do.
I promise you I do.
I, yeah.
I have to wrap this up, but I could do it all night.
Oh, shit.
You know, a guy was saying to you before,
you don't really know who it probably never met you.
You don't know who a person is.
You've loved them from afar,
and then when you meet them,
it could be like, oh, this guy's sort of a dick.
So I can't tell you what a relief it is.
That goes both ways.
I appreciate that. I kind of wish, you know, I have a little emotional
thing that I'm in a garfungal thing with you and your boyfriend. Get over it. No, we're
at the fuck over. I want to see it. I want to see you fishing together.
Climb through.
Great to meet you. Yeah, man. Glad you're off. It's really cool. It's really cool. We'll do it again, I hope. Yeah, I'd like to. It's really cool.
It's really cool.
It's really cool.
We'll do it again, I hope.
Yeah, I'd like to.