Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Kenny Loggins

Episode Date: December 30, 2019

Gilbert and Frank welcome Grammy and Emmy-winning singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins for a revealing conversation about the rewards of collaboration, the mystery of the creative process, the challenges ...of penning songs for movies like "Top Gun" and "Footloose" and his "accidental" partnership with writer-producer Jim Messina. Also, Kenny auditions for "Hair," mimics Bob Dylan (and Tina Turner!) steers clear of the disco era and teams with Richard Marx, Stevie Nicks and Michael McDonald. PLUS: Stealer's Wheel! The genius of Clive Davis! Rick Cowling sits in! Gilbert auditions for "Caddyshack II"! And Kenny (and Gilbert) guest star on "Family Guy"! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Baseball is finally back. Get in on Major League action and swing for the fences with BetMGM, the king of sportsbooks. Log in or sign up to play along as BetMGM brings the real-time action. Embrace a season's worth of swings with BetMGM, your one-stop shop for all things baseball. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager.
Starting point is 00:00:22 Ontario only. Gambling problem? Call Connex Ontario at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. At this exact moment, you're just five minutes away
Starting point is 00:00:33 from mouth-watering golden french fries. Five minutes away from crispy onion rings and potato tots, too. Because five minutes in the air fryer is all it takes
Starting point is 00:00:41 to serve up a delicious batch of Cavendish Farms new quick crisp onion rings, potato tots, and french fries faster than ever before. Just 300 seconds between you and your all-time favorites. Quick Crisp from Cavendish Farms. Made our way. Enjoyed your way. Available right away. Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast
Starting point is 00:01:23 with my co-host Frank Santopadre. Our guest this week is a musician, a record producer, a Grammy and Emmy winning and Oscar nominated singer-songwriter and one of the most popular recording artists and live performers of the last 50 years. You know his dozens of popular songs recorded both with one-time musical partner Jim Messina and as a solo artist including House at Pooh Corner, a Danny song, Your Mama Don't Dance, Angry Eyes, This Is It, Celebrate Me Home, Don't Fight It, Whenever I Call You Friend,
Starting point is 00:02:08 and Heart to Heart, just to name a few. He also contributed unforgettable songs such as Footloose, Danger Zone, Meet Me Halfway, Nobody's Fool, and I'm Alright, to hit films including Top Gun, Footloys, recorded numerous gold and platinum albums, and worked with music icons Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson, Steve Nix. Stevie Nix. Stevie Nix. And her brother Steve. That's her brother.
Starting point is 00:03:01 Okay. Yeah. He's on the radar. He never made it. Steve Nix. He's underrated. He never made it. Steve Nix. He had one hit. And David Crosby. Graham Nash.
Starting point is 00:03:16 Grace Slick. Michael McDonald. Clint Black. And Olivia Newton-John. As well as our one-time podcast guests, Richard Marks, Peter Asher, Dennis Lamford, and Jimmy Webb. Frank and I are thrilled to welcome to the show a genuine rock and roll legend and a man who says he learned to play instruments by sneaking
Starting point is 00:03:47 his brother's guitar down the hole. The wall. Dad. No, I think it was Steve Nick. It was Steve and I. Who didn't tap down the wall. Like I said, very little professionalism.
Starting point is 00:04:02 Yes. And carefully putting back before he came home, the multi-talented Kenny Loggins. Thank you and good night. And Kenny, you're not by yourself here. No, that's Rick Cowling, who came with me in case you forced me into making any music. Welcome, Rick. Thank you, Kenny. Yes, welcome. Thank you, Kenny.
Starting point is 00:04:26 So you've heard this show before. We just warned him. We just gave him a list of all the people you sang with. Have you ever worked with Steve Nix? Yes. An unsung hero of the music business. He was a silent genius. His sister was pretty good, too.
Starting point is 00:04:44 Yeah. You said something pretty good, too. Yeah. You said something that stuck with me. You said when you were hosting American Idol, and what was the question you would ask every contestant? Help me out. Okay. You asked them, why are you here? Yes. Pretty much. Yes. Yeah, that's asked them, why are you here? Yes.
Starting point is 00:05:05 Pretty much. Yes. Yeah, that's pretty much. Why are you here? Why do you want to make it? Yeah. Well, it struck me that their premise is that this is going to make your life better, right? You can be an overnight sensation and all your problems will go away and you will have a wonderful life. And the premise is incorrect.
Starting point is 00:05:32 Yes. It just doesn't work that way. And so that was one of the questions I asked. I remember there was a girl on who was the daughter of a psychic and she claimed to be a psychic and she had a career as a psychic. But she wanted to be the next American Idol. And they asked her, they said, are you going to win this because you're psychic, right? She said, yes, I'm going to be the next American Idol. So he comes out and she sings and she is pretty horrible.
Starting point is 00:06:02 And she sings, and she is pretty horrible. And they got to me, and I said, I've never seen anyone ruin two careers at once before. But, you know, that was the – I'd been drinking. I think I'll use that as my punchline to everything tonight. You know what's funny about what you said? I remember when I first started getting interested in going into show business, I had the idea that if you're in show business, you're never depressed, you're never unhappy, you're never frustrated. Everything that bothers normal people doesn't affect you it's true yeah
Starting point is 00:06:48 but you're clearly not a normal person so that didn't work out he he came up with that after knowing you for 12 minutes that's pretty that's pretty impressive well your kids are going into the business i mean you've got a couple of children now that are musicians. Well, my oldest boy went in for a while. Crosby? Crosby went in, and he quit at 29 when he realized what you were saying, Gilbert, that it wasn't the answer to all the problems, and actually it was creating a whole lot of new ones.
Starting point is 00:07:20 But he was so frustrated. By the time he hit that age, he said to me, Dad, why don't you get out of the way? If you would just go away, maybe I'd have a shot. Really? No, but he's cool. He's got his own IT business in Santa Barbara. He's doing really well. And he's married and has my first grandchild.
Starting point is 00:07:47 So, you know, my granddaughter, Pfeiffer. And so that's part of what I did when Frank and I were talking earlier, and I told him that I wrote a new verse to Danny's song for my granddaughter. And so it's because you have to remember that Danny's song was a song I wrote for my brother Dan. I was a senior in high school. His child had just been born, his first child. And you see this circle going around all the time. And then I'm watching my own children. I had five of my own.
Starting point is 00:08:18 And so this just keeps going. I figured I'd let the song grow up with my life. It makes sense. You neither discourage or encourage your kids when you knew they were going to go into the business? No. It was more like I'll encourage any of my children to do anything they're dreaming of. And he really wanted to do that. He really had that thing going.
Starting point is 00:08:43 He did an MTV show Mm-hmm Called Rock the Cradle Yes And won it Of the kids of famous people That are All trying to go
Starting point is 00:08:51 Into the music business Mm-hmm And but You know It just It wasn't The thing that was Going to work for him
Starting point is 00:08:59 And And before we get Too late out of it I have to ask you To do something to any song. Oh, okay. As long as you're on the subject. Well, does anybody have a guitar?
Starting point is 00:09:13 Here, you can use mine. You know, we... All right, got it. All right. I'm not sure that these guitars... Let me see. If I do this and sing down a little it might work that should work is it it is oh good they got it got it people smile and tell me i'm the lucky one
Starting point is 00:09:43 and we've just begun Think I'm gonna have a son You'll be like she and me As free as a dove Conceived in love Sun is gonna shine above Even though we ain't got money I'm so in love
Starting point is 00:10:10 I need everything to bring a change Love In the morning when I rise Bring a tear of joy to my eyes And tell me Everything's gonna be alright Love the girl who holds the world in a paper cup
Starting point is 00:10:36 Come on, drink a do Love her and she'll bring you love If you find she helps you mind, brother, take her on Boy, don't you live alone Try to run with lovers on Even though we ain't got money I'm so in love Honey, everything will bring a change of love
Starting point is 00:11:11 Every morning when I rise, bring a tear of joy to my eyes And tell me everything's gonna be alright And here's the verse I wrote for my granddaughter. I see a smile, a baby child in my grown boy's eyes And I realize there couldn't be a better life Now I know what I've been told is really true, my friend Yeah, the circle never ends Gonna catch you coming round and round again Even though we ain't got money I'm so in love with you honey
Starting point is 00:12:28 And everything will bring a change Love, love, love In the morning when I rise Bring a tear of joy to my eyes And tell me everything's gonna be alright. Beautiful. What a treat. Thank you, thank you.
Starting point is 00:13:10 Fantastic. The lyrics are... That note gets higher. What's that? Every year. It gets a little higher? Something, I don't know, they're changing pitch on me. There was a letter that you sent to your brother? No, a letter I got from my brother.
Starting point is 00:13:25 And the lyrics were lifted right out of the letter. Some of the lyrics were pulled right out of the letter. Beautiful. Was this the same brother whose guitar you snatched down from the wall? Oh, so you more than made it up to him. Yeah, I think so. How did this song get to Anne Murray? She took it off the first Loggins and Messina record.
Starting point is 00:13:43 She did a lovely version of it. Yeah, she did a great version of it. And then I wrote a song called Love Song. Right. And so I took it right to her then at that point. I'd met her and, you know, showed her some stuff. And then when I was vindicated with Love Song because Jimmy didn't like it. He didn't want Love Song on the second.
Starting point is 00:14:10 Yeah. Really? He didn't want it on the second album. And so then when she loved it and she turned it into a hit, and I said, I think we should put it on the record. Oh, well, yeah. You were vindicated. Yeah. Wonderful, well, yeah. You were vindicated. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:14:25 Wonderful, wonderful piece of music. And I think on your tombstone there's going to be, he did the music for Caddyshack 2. Yeah. Only if I go to hell. You had to bring up Caddyshack 2. Yeah. You know, I think I auditioned for a role in Caddyshack.
Starting point is 00:14:46 We bring it up to our listeners. Did you really? Yeah. Kenny was talking about it when he came in. I'm not good enough to be in Caddyshack 2. That's a level of excellence that very few people achieve. Which part did you audition for, Prince L? I think it was the part that was supposed to have originally been Sam Kinison, and then it went to Randy Quaid when Sam Kinison dropped out.
Starting point is 00:15:11 Wow. Seems like a logical second choice. Oh, yes. And then when you see Randy Quaid do it, it sounds like he's doing an imitation of Sam Kinison. Yeah, yeah. I think you dodged a bullet. Yeah. Safe to say.
Starting point is 00:15:26 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Are you totally self-taught? Pretty much, yeah. And then the harmonica too? I mentioned him today. I had a guitar teacher when I was in high school.
Starting point is 00:15:39 And Randy Rod Ruggles. Is this the Lawrence Welk guy? No. Oh, that was. No, you've done your homework. That's a deep cut. That's a deep cut. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:51 Yeah. No, the first guitar teacher I had, I was in like the seventh grade, and he played guitar in Lawrence Welk's band. So there were guitar teachers. Well, I went to like three classes. You did. He wanted me to learn scales. So you're self-taught. Yeah, pretty much.
Starting point is 00:16:12 And weren't you, at one point, you were listening to your brothers try to write a song? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that was when I was fifth, sixth grade, somewhere in there, and my big brothers decided that rock and roll sounded so easy that they would write a song, and it took them months. And I remember thinking, it's got to be easier than this. Can't be that tough. Dan is your one brother, and the other brother is?
Starting point is 00:16:40 Dan is four years older than me, and at this. And at this moment, he lives in Connecticut. Okay. But his house is for sale, so please check the Connecticut listings. Okay, we'll put that out there. Which, you said one brother was kind of turning you on to rock, and the other brother was turning you on to country. Dan was more of the rock guy. I see. And so he was turning me on to everything from Elvis Presley through the Coasters, Little Richard, Fats Domino, stuff like that.
Starting point is 00:17:08 And then my big brother was more of a folky guy in some country, and that influenced me. So my first band was a folk band because that seemed easy to do. You know, three chords and you're a folk band. Yeah. When did you wind up at Wingate? You were young, right? ABC Wingate, that was when I moved out from my family home and got a place of my own.
Starting point is 00:17:37 I rented a half a duplex in East LA, 65 bucks a month. Nice. But in 1909, things were cheaper. 65 a month nice but in 1909 things were cheaper 65 a month 65 bucks a month and my my first job was as a songwriter was with abc wingate which doesn't exist anymore and they paid me 100 bucks a week which must have seemed like a small fortune well yeah at. Yeah, in 1909. And how did you meet and wind up with Messina? Well, I love Buffalo Springfield, and that was a band that was a big influence to me. And so I saw that Jimmy Messina was producing Buffalo Springfield, so I was trying to get in touch with him.
Starting point is 00:18:23 And at the same time that I was trying to reach out to him, my brother and his best friend got hired by Clive Davis to be A&R trainees for Columbia Records. And so they extended that connection to Jimmy Messina once they got inside. And it was through them that I met Jimmy and, and auditioned for him. He was by that time,
Starting point is 00:18:49 a staff producer with the Columbia records. And he passed on Dan Fogelberg famously. That's right. Lucky for me. I just, otherwise it would have been Loggins and, or no, it would have been Fogelberg and Messina.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Doesn't scan. And Simon and Garfunkel yeah anyway you said Messina was like a mentor to you in the beginning very much well you know he'd been part of Buffalo Springfield he'd founded Poco he'd been on the road for like six years by the time I met him and he knew how to put a band together how to to make a record, how to fund management and agency. And so I just pretty much went to school on, you know, everything that he could teach me. And plus he was a good producer. And so I watched a lot of that.
Starting point is 00:19:38 And when you guys discovered that when you started singing together, you realized you had a kind of an Everly Brothers vibe going. that when you started singing together, you realized you had a kind of an Everly Brothers vibe going. Yeah, there was definitely a blend, you know, vocal thing that we recognized right away. And we didn't write together that much. We wrote Mama Don't Dance. We wrote Angry Eyes.
Starting point is 00:20:00 A couple of good songs that did well. But, you know, I was still focused on my solo career loggins and messina was a side trip that the first record was called kenny loggins with jimmy messina sitting in right based on the idea that we would do one record together you know like jazz kind of thing you know you sit in for a song and um we figured we would break up and he would produce my solo record as the second record and when we turned the record into clive davis at columbia records he said i love it and there's no way i'm going to release the record of a band that's going to break up so he said i want to i want a commitment you know of six years from you guys and as much music as I can force you to put out. And so we ended up doing about five records in that time.
Starting point is 00:20:53 I love those albums. They meant so much to me in the 70s. I mean, for something that was, would you call it an accidental partnership? I mean, you guys wound up selling 16, 17 million records. Yeah, those were good days. Yes. Yeah, I would say so.
Starting point is 00:21:11 And you said like disco, when disco came along, that looked like it was going to totally kill your career. It killed a lot of careers when that happened. But I got lucky, like so many times in that happened but i got lucky like that's so many times in my career i got lucky and did an end run around disco when the movies came along and the first movie that i did was uh caddyshack and i wrote like three songs for that that was john peters produced caddyshack and john i met John when he was with Barbra Streisand. When I went to show Barbra some song ideas for Stars Born.
Starting point is 00:21:54 And then we would hang out and just go through things and sing. Singing duets with Barbra Streisand was hipper than singing with Jim Messina. I can imagine. That was cool. Rich Dyson was hipper than singing with Jim Messina. I can imagine. That was cool. And so then when he went solo, so to speak, I mean, John Peters,
Starting point is 00:22:15 he called me up and said, I got this movie you got to see. And so I came in and loved it. That was the first Caddyshack, not the one you auditioned for. There was temp music in Caddyshack when you went to see it? Yeah, temp music is the music that the director puts in a spot where basically they're saying, there's some music here, I don't know what it is, but I want it to feel like this. And the opening of the movie had a Bob Dylan song in it. And it was basically the lead character, Danny, you're talking about caddyshack lead character danny's riding his bike through the suburbs and um and i
Starting point is 00:22:53 thought that's really strange that this kind of preppy kid is riding a bike and they're playing dylan so i took from that that they wanted a character that was or would become fiercely independent, like a rebel. Yeah. So I wrote I'm All Right. And actually, Steeler's Wheel had a hit out that time called Stuck in the Middle of You. Sure, Jerry Rafferty. Jerry was imitating Dylan on that song. Wow.
Starting point is 00:23:23 I wonder what you do is right. Never made that connection. And I just, I loved that song, and I loved what he was doing. So when it got to I'm All Right, I went. I'm all right. Nobody worry about me. Why you got to give me a fight Can't you just let me be
Starting point is 00:23:48 So that was my sort of weak Dylan imitation voice. But I was trying to do that guy. Just now that you brought up Caddyshack, and you see we jump around all over the place, but I have to ask about Mr. Knight. I have to get up and jump around for a while. Right. Mr. Knight was on one of the solo records.
Starting point is 00:24:10 Was it on Keep the Fire? Yeah, yeah. So written for Caddyshack or it preexisted? Preexisted. Well, I don't know. Time and me don't get along. Okay. But maybe I wrote it.
Starting point is 00:24:22 No, I'm pretty sure it pre-existed. Uh, that was, uh, me and Richard Steckle, a musician out of Laguna Beach. Um, we were writing a Steely Dan song.
Starting point is 00:24:35 The goal was to write a lyric that no one would understand. I had to do some research. I do that all the time. Yeah. My wife loves that song and we never knew what it was about. And we found out that Da Tommaso was a car. Di Tommaso. Di Tommaso.
Starting point is 00:24:50 Lamborghini Di Tommaso. Yeah. And I just got invited by Jay Leno to be on his car show with him. And he said, is there any car in the world that you'd like to drive? And I thought, well, I could tie that song and drive a Lamborghini. Perfect. And then somebody said, yeah, and if you step on the gas wrong, you're dead. drive and i thought well i could tie that song in and drive a perfect genie and then and then somebody said yeah and if you step on the gas wrong you're dead and i thought well maybe maybe
Starting point is 00:25:12 a volkswagen love the hell out of that song we will return to gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal podcast but first a word from our sponsor. with BetMGM, your one-stop shop for all things baseball. BetMGM.com for Ts and Cs. 19 plus to wager. Ontario only. Gambling problem? Call Conax Ontario at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. Introducing TD Insurance for Business, with customized coverage options for your business.
Starting point is 00:26:00 Because at TD Insurance, we understand that your business is unique, so your business insurance should be too. Whether you're a shop owner, a pet groomer, a contractor, or a consultant, you can get customized coverage for your business. Contact a licensed TD Insurance advisor to learn more. This has nothing to do with anything of course i'm good at that stuck in the middle with you they sued um what tarantino cheryl crow oh cheryl crow yeah for really yeah what was that song she had yeah um all i wanna do yes yes She had. Yeah. All I want to do is have some fun. Yeah, and I think they won. Wow, that's a loose affiliation.
Starting point is 00:26:48 Wow. Gilbert, I'm impressed. Yeah. I can go back to sleep now. You know, remembering one thing a day is good for you. Yeah. How old were you when you wrote Danny's song? You were young.
Starting point is 00:27:03 17. 17. And House at Pooh Corner, you were? 17. Amazing. Thank you. You've got to tell the House at Pooh Corner story, because it's such a good story. I know you've told it a lot.
Starting point is 00:27:12 But it is a good story. It's really terrific. So I was first year of what would be a year and a half at City College in Pasadena, and a buddy of mine and I would go around, you know, singing for friends, and I taught him House of Pucarna stuff. And so anyway, he said, Doug Inglesby said, there's a girl I want you to meet. And so we went out to her house.
Starting point is 00:27:42 And anyway, the story is that I, as a songwriter, I went to different parties around Hollywood, and I would sit around, and the guys would show up, guys and girls would show up with their guitars. We'd sit in a circle and take turns trading tunes. And at this one particular party, I was there with a couple of guys in the circle were from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band,
Starting point is 00:28:08 and I had written the House of Poo Corner song by that time, and they loved the song about the bear. They were making their, I guess, second record. I always thought it was their first. It was the Uncle Charlie record, and they wanted to do the song about the bear, and about a month into the process i got a phone call from bill mccuhan who was the manager of the dirt band
Starting point is 00:28:30 he said i hate to tell you this but we can't record that song the disney lawyers are all over it they've got a copyright on that guy and we can't uh on winnie the pooh on winnie the pooh and we can't do the song and and I never even thought about, you know, a copyright on it. It's just a book I read, you know. I didn't know about that stuff then, and so I was going on a date, and I told Marnie, I said, ah, I'm kind of bummed. I thought I had my first song recorded, and it's not going to happen. disney liars killed it in the water and she said disney liars well let me talk to daddy about that her daddy was the ceo of the disney corporation incredible story no improving there is a god
Starting point is 00:29:18 and he's looking out for me that is kismetet. Like I told you, a lot of lucky things happen in a career to make a career happen. It's some kind of guided thing that happens every now and then. Yeah, and doing the research on you, that came up a lot. You feel like luck has played a very active role in various successes. And you, well, you made an album for both adults and children. Oh, yeah. I call it Music to Make and Enjoy Children By.
Starting point is 00:29:52 It's not actually called that. You've done a few. Yeah, that's the first one, Return to Pooh Corner. When I realized that, well, I was about to have my fourth child, and I realized that Barney was going to enter my life again in a big way. I panicked. Somebody's got to make a record the parents can listen to, too. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:17 That's a public service you did there. Yeah, right. Cardwalker. That's what I told the story, Cardwalker. He was the CEO of the Disney Corporation. I worked for the company, and I'd never heard of Card Walker before, so I had to do my research. Ah. That is a lot of luck.
Starting point is 00:30:32 Yeah. There. And another lucky break was Danger Zone. I wasn't supposed to be the singer on that. There's a lot of urban legend around that um um kevin what's his name ario um he thought he was at cronin yeah he was supposed to sing it but also mickey thomas of the starship said he was supposed to sing it but the lawyer and also umoto, there was some talk of Toto doing it. And but I guess their lawyers screwed it all up.
Starting point is 00:31:10 And finally, I got a call from Georgia Marauder's office that said I was in the I was in the studio down the street recording playing with the boys, a song that I'd written for the volleyball scene because I knew no one would write for that scene. And I got a call from his office said are you available we need a singer tomorrow because we have to dub this into the movie in like two days so um I I said is it up tempo because I've been writing nothing but ballads and and they said yeah it's a rocker and I said I'm So I just showed up, made a few tweaks on the tune, and we recorded it. Am I crazy, or is that the song where you were trying to inject a little Tina Turner? That's, well, good ear, or good eye, perhaps. That's true.
Starting point is 00:31:57 I was deep into what Tina was doing in her resurgence, and I sort of, if you listen to it, that danger zone thing was, that was Tina. I love that. I love that you, that musicians are influenced enough by other musicians to try to do a little bit of mimicry. You bring it in. A little Dylan here, a little Tina Turner there. There is no me, actually. I'm just weak versions of other people.
Starting point is 00:32:22 No, you're old friend. I'm just weak versions of other people. So funny. Your old friend. Danger Zone to me is like, boy, if anything says 80s movies. Yeah. That song is it. Yeah. It's amazing how it's made this comeback.
Starting point is 00:32:38 It's iconic now. There's another one in the works, right? There was a time where it just didn't matter. I could put it in the show. And Footloose too. Footloose wouldn't get people up and dancing for a year it wasn't cool especially at the back end of the disco era and then all of a sudden it was cool again is that you singing footloose in the so there's hope for you yet you may come back into hope hang in long enough yes Hang in, Longinus. Yes. One other thing about Longinus and Messina,
Starting point is 00:33:07 when you guys, and by the way, those records, for me, there were certain albums in the 70s that everybody had to have, like Tapestry and Yellow Brick Road, and Sitting In and On Stage were, those were must-owns for... Where exactly did you live? Long Island.
Starting point is 00:33:24 Well, that explains it. After the gold rush, there were certain albums that everybody had to have. When you guys got together again after so many years, and I found this interesting, you know, the dynamics had changed so dramatically between you. You weren't feeling competitive anymore. Oh, yeah. The change of, you know, we're just getting older. Yeah. Seasoned and and it's funny it takes um a conscious effort to break out of that old habit you know like like the
Starting point is 00:33:54 partnerships like martin and lewis and people like that that just end up hating each other forever that's a good example. It's like we just were too in sync, and there became a certain competitive nature. And then you have to remember, Jimmy came into Loggins and Messina as the producer. So he's not just half of the musical entity. He's also the producer of the entity. So if he and I don't get along, we ask the producer what he wants, which is him. So it was never a relationship of equals. It was not an equal partnership in that way, and so it became frustrating for me.
Starting point is 00:34:52 Right. But once we actually, we were cutting a live album, and we were at a sound check, and he and I got in an argument, and I got so frustrated, I threw my harmonica up into the stands. There were no people there. And he comes to me, and he says in this prescient kind of way, he says, dude, he says, I've been here before. We better break up before we hate each other. It was the smartest thing that I'd ever heard anybody do. It was like really self-aware.
Starting point is 00:35:23 He'd been there, and he knew what it felt like and we were lucky that way that we broke up before we got to that place where you know you just hate that person you can't stand you got to break away and because of that we've retained a friendship that's grown over the years more like war buddies. That's nice. Instead of, you know, competing anymore. See, Gilbert and I hated each other right off the bat. Yes, yes. So there's nowhere to go. It's just going to get better.
Starting point is 00:35:52 Nowhere to go but down. But it was sweet. I thought when you said when you got on stage, all those years later, you hadn't heard that sound in so long, that magical sound that you guys made. It caught my attention. Yeah. Oh, yeah, there we are.
Starting point is 00:36:06 It's funny because most people, when that starts happening, they wait until it's a true hatred. Yeah, well, you're riding the money train, right? Yeah. It's too seductive to get off. But I was very excited about going solo because like i say when i met him i was ready to go solo so that was like pulling the arrow back in the bow it was taught and ready to go but foolish naivete you also called it this this this idea that well it was just going to be
Starting point is 00:36:40 as successful right of course you just go from being a success to being a success. And I had no idea that there could be a bottomless pit there. Right, right. You watch the show The Office? You know this joke that I'm talking about? No, I don't. Do you know the joke? I should.
Starting point is 00:36:56 There's a character, Stanley, and he's driving around a sports car in Florida. You know where I'm going with this? I think so. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He says, get in and put on some Kenny Loggins. And Jim's character says, oh, coming up, Loggins and Messina.? He says, get in and put on some Kenny Loggins. And Jim's character says, coming up, Loggins and Messina. And he says, did I say Messina?
Starting point is 00:37:13 Would Jim laugh at that? No. We better take it out. So, opening for Fleetwood Mac. Yeah. When you launch your solo career. First of all, how insane was that?
Starting point is 00:37:30 I mean, how much did the crazy soap opera that was Fleetwood Mac leach into your world? It did permeate my world quite a bit. I know the band went down the abyss before me, but eventually I did too. There was just a lot of cocaine everywhere. And after a while, but it didn't take me long to figure out it really wasn't a good time. Four in the morning, sitting there going, why was I born? Why did I cut my hair? I look like a squirrel.
Starting point is 00:38:03 It was not a fun time right but you and steve nicks we hung out we picked up chicks together yeah yeah her asking you ignored her saying if you ever want a a chick singer to sing on one of your songs that that's kind of a turning point that was that was incredibly generous of her. And I always say that Stevie was instrumental in launching my solo career, because a lot of people, a lot of guys were trying to go solo from their bands or from duos.
Starting point is 00:38:38 You know, ask Daryl, it wasn't a piece of cake. Daryl Hall. Daryl Hall. Yeah. And I had, had you know good material i'd made celebrate me home which i'm happy to say got no good reviews yeah i saw you say that in an interview it wasn't loggins and messina right and um now they consider it like the quintessential kenny loggins record but back then it great stuff on that record, and a lot of variety, because I believe in love is like a Cuban thing, and then there's Celebrate Me Home.
Starting point is 00:39:12 And tell us what it was like working with Clive Davis. Clive was brilliant, and when I read his book, I sent him a note and said, had I known you were that smart i would have shut up wow he he knew exactly what he was doing and he had amazing ears and he he could hear a hit he knew he knew what worked and what didn't work and you know the fact that he heard loggins and messina like we talked earlier and said i like you. I want you to be on the label, you know, but I want a guarantee of six years. He knew what he was after and it paid off. Were your feelings mixed on one hand? Here's a guy offering me, you know, a big deal, a long deal,
Starting point is 00:39:58 a long-term deal, which is, I guess, what people want in the music business. At the same time, I'm having to table my solo dreams. No, my feelings weren't that mixed at that time. I was just excited to get a record deal, and Jimmy and I got along great. We had very simpatico tastes in what we wanted to do musically, and it made sense. And six years didn't seem that long a time to me.
Starting point is 00:40:23 Yeah. I love those songs. Yeah, thank you. My music and Angry Eyes and it goes on and on. Speaking of playing together, how did you guys hook up? You and Rick. Well, that's a term that the kids use in a different way. I'm sorry. Just thought I should let you know that now that you're over 40.
Starting point is 00:40:41 How did you meet and become professionally acquainted? How did you meet and become professionally acquainted? How did we meet? Well, I was playing a trio with Steve DeStanislaw, the drummer, and Shem. We were doing a little rock trio. These are guys that were in his traveling band. And right then, you were looking for somebody, a guitar player.
Starting point is 00:40:59 2007. Ah. Yeah. So they said, we love you, man. You got to, Kenny, love you. Are you in? Would you want to do it. Yeah. So they said, we love you, man. You got to, Kenny, love you. Are you in? Would you want to do it? Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:08 So the next day I got an email from Kenny Loggins and I said, this is, you know, the real Kenny Loggins. Yeah. Just emailed me. Well, it was really cool though. And you invited me up. We sat on your couch and played Winnie the Pooh and Danny's song. And the rest is history.
Starting point is 00:41:21 It's history. Now we've been married 16 years. Still haven't hooked up. It's been great. What's your favorite Kenny song to play live? You put him on the spot. Yeah. I think Real Thing.
Starting point is 00:41:39 Oh, really? But you don't know it. You know why it is? It's because that whole record, actually, Leap of Faith. You know it? Can you play it real quick? Yeah. Let me think about it for a second.
Starting point is 00:41:52 We could do Conviction, too. Oh, yeah. Oh, we'd love to hear Conviction. And there's a great, would you be talking about Leap of Faith? Sure. Because there's another lucky, lucky thing that happened with the tapes and stuff. Oh, God, that's a good story. You don't have that one.
Starting point is 00:42:03 If you guys have time for and stuff. Oh, God, that's a good story. You don't have that one. If you guys have time for this story, oh my. Okay, so Leap of Faith became one of those incredible moments in an artist's career that chronicles a major change in your life. It was a transformational period of my life. My first marriage was coming apart, and I started writing songs about that. And then in the process of that happening, the marriage came apart, and within six months, I was in a new relationship in a love affair, so I got to write about that. So this becomes a cycle. So this becomes a cycle. A Leap of Faith chronicles that entire process of transformation, dissolution, and then falling in love and rebirth. And so all the music that came out of that was just really in the zone.
Starting point is 00:43:03 And in the process of making the record, I'm about halfway through the record. Maybe, no, three quarters of the way through the record. And I decided to move my headquarters out of L.A. and move up to Santa Barbara. So we rented a truck, and I put the Mitsubishi 32 track, digital machines, and the amps and guitars and all the gear in the truck. And it was being trucked up from LA to Santa Barbara. And on the way there, the truck driver stopped and went in to get some lunch at Denny's or something, and the truck got stolen. And all the master tapes were in the back of the truck.
Starting point is 00:43:38 So in those days, you had your master tapes, was the original recordings of your bass, drums, guitars, maybe work vocals, maybe some overdubs. But that's the stuff you're going to go back to. You need most high fidelity on that stuff. And then you make copies of that where you dub everything down to maybe four tracks. And that gives you a whole bunch more tracks to work with and the copies were called slaves so i was working on a series of slaves so we had all the master tapes and some of the slaves in the truck when the truck was stolen simultaneously columbia records got a new president and the new president of the label was don einer. And Donnie came in, looked at the budget of the money I was spending and said, I need to hear something off this record.
Starting point is 00:44:30 And the tapes were missing. So I had to make a choice. Do I continue recording on the slaves and hope that the masters come back where you can reassemble everything onto one master tape? Or do I try to take the time and money to recreate the masters, re-record them, and try to fit the additional information? Anyway, it would have been a nightmare. But I knew the minute I heard about it, a part of me knew that they were going to come back. And I didn't panic at all. I talked to my A&R, my Bobby Columbia, and Bobby said, you know about the tapes, man, and I'm really sorry. I said, that's okay. It's going to be all right. He said, what drug are you on? I want some.
Starting point is 00:45:17 And I knew that, I just knew that it was going to be all right so going on about four or five days before my deadline to show don einer my songs and i just kept recording vocals i kept recording everything i could um going about five days before that deadline of meeting him um and you know the the premise of that deadline is if he doesn't like what he hears, he's going to drop me from the label because it's a tricky time, you know, for a record company. And so about five days before the police found the truck, about two blocks from where it was stolen. So they must have been looking really hard. blocks from where it was stolen. So they must've been looking really hard. But everything was missing from the truck except the master tapes, which had been moved from the back of the truck to the cab and locked up in the cab. So that was like a miracle. And we pulled all the master
Starting point is 00:46:21 tapes into the studio. Terry Nelson and I were up for like three days straight assembling everything. So for me, this was like a huge rush because now was the first time that I got to hear all my stuff in one place at one time. And the record just came together like the perfect puzzle. Um, I drove, I, I drove to meet Donnie Einer at his bungalow at the Beverly Wilshire hotel. And on the way there, Shep Gordon, my manager, you should probably interview him. We had Shep here. Right. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:46:57 He was there. On the way there, Shep was pulling walls out of his office and he had his artists, you know, Raquel Welch and Cher and people had him come by and sign the wall so he asked me to sign the wall so on the way to this meeting with donnie i stop at sheps and i sign the wall it is a good day to die which is a quote from from geronimo going into battle wow that the premise is that if you go in already dead you have nothing to lose that's wild yeah what made you think what made you have the confidence to think i just know this stuff's going to come back it's going to be recovered i just you just felt it i felt it it was that the music had poured out of me so effortlessly. And making the record was like paint by numbers. I knew exactly how I wanted it to go.
Starting point is 00:47:48 And I just felt like you don't get that level of art and that moment in your life. And this had been six months of my work. And I just said, you don't get that and have it go away. Wow. And I just said, you don't get that and have it go away. Wow. So a little level of spirituality infused in my life.
Starting point is 00:48:14 And even more that luck that you've talked about. Well, it makes you question what is luck. It made me question it. I think about it all the time. Not him, it wouldn't make him. You guys want to play something else? Yeah, well, let's do Conviction of the Heart. That's from Leap of Faith. And this...
Starting point is 00:48:35 Oh, wrong fret. Here we go. This is a song that has been called Environmental Anthem. I got asked to rewrite the lyrics to this to make it more on point as an environmental anthem. And I said, no's it's done it's not neat it doesn't need to be rewritten because the environmental movement is not a thing it should not be a finger pointing movement about you do this and you do that except that for me the the issue is a spiritual one. It's each individual's awareness of his connection to each other and to the planet. And so Conviction of the Heart becomes a song about someone who wakes up from his sense of aloneness and gets that we're all in this together. So.
Starting point is 00:49:53 Here we go. We're all the dreams that we once had This is the time to bring them back What were the promises Caught on the tips of our tongues Do we forget or forgive There's a whole other life Waiting to be lived One day we're brave enough
Starting point is 00:50:43 To talk with conviction of the heart And down your roads I'd walked alone As if my feet were not my own Such is the path I chose Doors I have opened and closed I'm tired of living this life, fooling myself, believing we're right when I've never given love with any conviction of the heart One with the earth, with the sky One with everything in life I believe we'll survive
Starting point is 00:52:01 If we only shine How long must we all wait to change The world bound in chains that we live in To know what it is to forgive And be forgiven Too many years of taking now Isn't it time to stop somehow If that's too
Starting point is 00:52:42 angry to breathe Water our children can't drink You've heard it hundreds of times You say you're aware Believe and you can Do you care? Do you care in love? What's your conviction?
Starting point is 00:53:23 Thank you, Gilbert. I appreciate it. Here we go. One with the earth, with the sky One with everything in life I believe This world starts with conviction of the heart One earth, one sky, only one world With everything in life Only one chance For one life
Starting point is 00:54:07 When will we live Conviction Only one earth Only one sky Only one child We've only got one chance To live with one life I believe
Starting point is 00:54:29 It's only gonna start when we begin with some conviction of the heart Oh, beautiful. Beautiful. Applause in that room. Look at that. You got a standing ovation in the control room.
Starting point is 00:55:00 Thank you. You ran out of chairs, it looks. Beautiful. Thank you. You ran out of chairs, it looks beautiful. We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this. That's the sound of fried chicken with a spicy history. Thornton Prince was a ladies' man.
Starting point is 00:55:24 To get revenge, his girlfriend hid spices in his fried chicken. He loved it so much, he opened Prince's Hot Chicken. Hot chicken in the window. This is one of many sounds in Tennessee with a story to tell. To hear them in person, plan your trip at tnvacation.com. Tennessee sounds perfect. This episode is brought to you by FX's The Bear on Disney+. In Season 3, Carmi and his crew are aiming for the ultimate restaurant accolade, a Michelin star.
Starting point is 00:55:52 With Golden Globe and Emmy wins, the show starring Jeremy Allen White, Io Debrey, and Maddie Matheson is ready to heat up screens once again. All new episodes of FX's The Bear are streaming June 27, only on Disney+. I heard you say some good songs come to you in dreams. Was that one? That was, well, the song, Guy Thomas and I wrote that song.
Starting point is 00:56:20 And the verses and the whole, down your streets I walked alone, all that stuff, we wrote in the afternoon. Called it a night, had dinner. I went to bed and I dreamed the chorus. The one with the earth, with the sky. I woke up with that melody in my head. Amazing to me. And I said, I went to him and I said, I don't know why, but this belongs in that song.
Starting point is 00:56:46 So it took me a few years to actually understand what the connection of that refrain was to that song. So sometimes you'll dream pieces and then the pieces won't fit into the puzzle until well down the line. Well, at least as far as understanding, but I know the music of it. Right. The music of it belongs, belong together. How do you retain it? Who, who, who can, who can remember this stuff when they wake up? I've taught myself to do that.
Starting point is 00:57:12 I remember, I have usually a melody every morning and I, and then I can assess whether it's worth recording or not. Wow. But you have a little handheld. Well, I have my, I had cassettes back in the day, but now I have my iPhone, just use the memos. Will you wake up in the middle of the night and just put it right into the... If it's good, yeah, I'll lay there and I will actually think, is this good enough to put down? Because I know I have to set the pitch. I have to say, you know, I'll sing the triad so I know what key it's in. I tell myself
Starting point is 00:57:46 what beat the song starts on because when you listen a few days later, you don't know if you're singing the downbeat or what it is. It's hard to get back into that same place. I lay the groove down and I'm playing the groove while I'm singing it. I know what key it's in. And then
Starting point is 00:58:01 if I hear harmonic things to it, chord changes, I have to lay those in to outline what the harmonic changes would be and fascinating it's a lot of work and I always heard like me so I really I have to be motivated I have to believe it's a really good song or I'm not going to wake myself up and I always heard that like musicians have what they call the dummy lyrics. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Most of my songs keep those.
Starting point is 00:58:38 No, the famous story of McCartney's Yesterday was scrambled eggs. Yeah. But Celebrate Me Home, I thought, was my dummy lyric because I didn't think it made any sense. And then when I showed it to Phil Ramone in New York, he goes, yeah, that's what the brothers would say. Celebrate Me Home. Celebrate Me Home. Oh, okay. T for two were the dummy lyrics.
Starting point is 00:59:01 Was it really? Yeah. Yeah. He said, these are the dummy lyrics. I'm going to write the song. And the guy said, no, no, those really? Yeah. Yeah. He said, these are the dummy lyrics. I'm going to write the song. And the guy said, no, no, those are the words.
Starting point is 00:59:09 Yeah. Yeah. Phil Ramone. Yeah. Bob James. I mean, you started working with the right people. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:59:15 When you went solo. When you went solo. Yeah. I got the lucky again there. Why does every songwriter want to write a Christmas song other than the obvious reasons? Well, the obvious reason is the obvious reason it's because you know if you can have a song that comes around it once a year that's a major copyright yeah we laugh at how many of the christmas songs are written by by jewish
Starting point is 00:59:36 by jewish yeah all the classic christmas white christmas. Old Jews. Yeah. But a lot of them. But they understand why you write a Christmas song. I think I'll write a Christmas song. You call yourself a natural collaborator. When I was in high school, I read the autobiography, or no, the biography of George S. Cocker.
Starting point is 01:00:00 I found that so fascinating. I don't know why I did that. The title of the book was The Great Collaborator. Yeah, yeah. And there was something about that that caught my attention. Well, when you're collaborating with a Michael McDonald or Richard Marks or Melissa Manchester, does it vary? Does the process vary depending on people's strengths or? Yeah.
Starting point is 01:00:24 As a collaborator, you have to tune into the person you're working with and get a sense of where they're at and what it is they can bring to the table. And sometimes I lead and sometimes I support. and sometimes I support. With Mike McDonald, he's got a, Michael has a very distinct, exact window that he lives in. And you have to meet him in that wheelhouse or he's not going to follow you down just any road. You can't write a folk song with Mike McDonald. Just something. That's the title of my new album. You can't write a folk song with mike mcdonald just just something
Starting point is 01:01:06 it's the title of my new album you can't write a folk song with michael mcdonald just something hit me right now and it could be cut out if you don't it was probably frank but uh can can you sing something as mike mcdonald well actually you know when we when we wrote what a fool believes um i heard him singing that melody before you even before i met him yeah that's you know he was in the living room the door was open and it was a hot day and the door was open and i was unpacking my guitar going up to his house and i heard him singing which ended up being the exact words those are the words those are the words people don't know that that's funny so so it changes because i've heard you say even a song will just start with a phrase it'll just start usually do
Starting point is 01:02:02 words i like i have a shitload of things you said tonight that i kept in my phone now i'm going to use in a song and not give you credit i love it i should be so honored okay now i know you've been waiting impatiently for us to do a bathroom break a footloose he wants to sing with you, Ken A two-way footloose Now, do you have That's the only reason I said yes to this particular show Yes, yes I love
Starting point is 01:02:32 You've always wanted to sing with me I love the sarcasm Now, does he have to stop singing at these points? You want to attempt that with him? Or something maybe slower and easier? How about I just pull out my fingernails or something? What's that? No, let's give it a try.
Starting point is 01:02:53 Okay. Come on. It's a game. So should we do it together or should we? Why don't you let me in on it? Why don't you let Kenny start and you can pick up the part in the box. Okay. Okay.
Starting point is 01:03:04 Yeah. Well, do you have a roadmap for me because apparently this is yes well i figured that are there two pages on that is it i i figured people would know here i thought you could do the top and he could do if you don't do the top part people won't recognize it okay yeah we could let's record this because we could have a whole new song out of this. Could they print up another copy? Do you know the verse and everything? Yes.
Starting point is 01:03:30 Oh, okay. Well, good. He knows it. So I'm going to take it up to the first chorus, and then you take the first chorus. Yes, and then you'll start again. I'll harmonize with you? Is that possible? It's not possible.
Starting point is 01:03:40 Not really. But I like your pluck, Kenny. You know what? I'm going to show you. I'm going to demonstrate morphing to collaborate. Okay. I'm going to become an extension of Gilbert Gottfried. This is an education.
Starting point is 01:03:55 This is scary. Drums back here? You want to be on guitar? No, I think we've got to be on guitar. Okay. You want to get the opening? You gotta be on your track. Okay, sorry. You want to get the opening? Here we go.
Starting point is 01:04:14 Been working so hard I'm punching my car Hey, out, forward Oh, tell me what I got I got this feeling And I'm holding me down I'll hit the ceiling Or else I'll tear up this town Now I gotta cut loose
Starting point is 01:04:47 Fight loose Get off your Sunday shoes Please Louise Roll me off of my knees Jack Get back Come on before we crack
Starting point is 01:05:04 Lose your blues! Everybody cut those blues! That sounds so good, you should keep going. And you're playing so cool! Obeying every rule! Deeply down in your heart. Your mom is yearning for some time to tell you that life ain't passing you by. I'm trying to tell you if you don't even try.
Starting point is 01:05:46 That's close enough Tonight I gotta cut loose, fall loose Kick up the Sunday shoes Ooh-wee, Marie, ooh Shake it, shake it for me Oh, Milo Come on, come on, let's go Your boots Your boots
Starting point is 01:06:10 Everybody got footloose This is built for you. You gotta take this Bob's in town Oh Footloose And one, two, three more and I'm turning loose!
Starting point is 01:06:26 Foot loose! Take off your Sunday shoes! You did the wrong part. Oh, wait, what? No, no, no, we gotta go back. We gotta get the right part. First, you gotta turn it around. Okay.
Starting point is 01:06:36 See there? There. You've got to turn me around. Okay, let's get it. Wait a minute. Okay. Wait for the music. Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Starting point is 01:06:45 Okay. One, two, three, four, and first. You've got to turn me around. And second. And put your feet on the ground. You've got to take hold. Hold on. I'm turning blue Kick out the Sunday suits
Starting point is 01:07:17 Please, please Pull me off of my knees Jack, get back. I'm on my way back. Blues, you're blues. Everybody cut, punch blues. Everybody cut, everybody cut. Everybody cut, everybody cut.
Starting point is 01:07:42 You got it. Everybody cut, everybody cut. You got it. Everybody cut. You got it. Not yet ready for radio. Oh, my God. Oh. Yeah. I think that's the children's version.
Starting point is 01:07:59 Next time I'll make him rehearse. I don't know. There was a certain level of internet perfection there. I think the sucker's already going viral. Will Dean Pitchford ever speak to you again? No. I'm sure of that. I'm opening the door so we have air.
Starting point is 01:08:17 Good idea. A couple of quick questions from admirers, and we'll get you guys out of here. Rob Allenstein, Kenny, your first solo album was produced by the great phil ramone can you tell us one thing you remember about working with him oh yeah well um yeah uh we were we were he was brilliant as everyone knows and um and he knew it and we were mixing the record, which means we had everything recorded, but then you have to put it all together.
Starting point is 01:08:52 And in the mixing process, I was sitting next to him and I said, you know, I'd like to try something where we have the echo on my voice show up a fraction of a second after my voice, which nowadays is called pre-delay. But it was a new idea back then. And so the idea was to send the echo chamber to another track and then bring it back a little bit later. And about two hours later, the engineer had still not figured out how to do that and phil took an ashtray and threw it across the room into the window wow and got up and walked out of the room because i'd hit him with one request and it was like stump the band he just
Starting point is 01:09:38 he hated he hated that that well i asked i learned to stop asking for shit from that point you just mix the record i'll hang out here great body of work and those billy joel records He hated that. Well, I learned to stop asking for shit from that point. Wow. You just mix the record. I'll hang out here. Great body of work on those Billy Joel records. This is from your friend Richard Marks. I adore that man. Please ask him about the song, The One That Got Away.
Starting point is 01:10:01 That is a song, of course, that I wrote with Richard Marks. He knows how to get himself in. Right. And it is a song that I wrote for my son, Cody, because in the process of divorce, he ended up living with his mother. And so it was a song about, you know, my regrets. Happy little Diddy. You know what? Without my help, can you sing some of that
Starting point is 01:10:28 it was written on piano richard played it on piano and i i don't know it oh but you're welcome to play the record at home when i can help you download it oh let's see one last one from a fan. I can't tell you how special. This is from Jason Pagano. I can't tell you how special the song Playing with the Boys has always been to me. I read that you also co-wrote music with Melissa Manchester, whom I also adore.
Starting point is 01:10:56 Please tell me you've recorded music with her as well. And where can I find it? I have not, actually. That was an interesting and thin ice kind of territory because, as you said, I wrote Whenever I Call You Friend with Melissa. But when we wrote it, I knew it was the song I'd been waiting to record with Stevie. And I had to tread carefully on that because they're both strong female singers. But Melissa still talks to me, so I guess the checks helped. She's a great talent.
Starting point is 01:11:31 I want to ask you about the do-do-do-do-do, and I'm all right. Was that a nod to the silhouettes to get a job? Yes. Yes, it was. Because for some reason the line, get it up and get you a job, jumped out at me when I wrote that. And that reminded me of get a job. Sha-na-na-na, sha-na-na-na. Dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-dip-bum-bum-bum.
Starting point is 01:11:58 You remember that? Yes. That's a wild song for so many reasons. And it's got that, am I correct in calling it almost like a gospel section in the middle of I'm All Right? Yeah. What was the making behind that? It came out of nowhere. It was just, I don't know, my tendency to not want to hold a groove too long.
Starting point is 01:12:20 I decided to send it off into space for a minute. But the character is listening to everybody but himself And so in that breakdown in the song I say listen to your heart, listen to your heart So it became kind of a serious moment Of me and Danny I can't imagine that movie being as successful without that music. I mean, it's such a part of that movie.
Starting point is 01:12:51 Thank you. I mean, Footloose is a musical, so you kind of expect that. But Caddyshack gets a lot of mileage from your music. John told me when I saw the rough cut, he said, oh, this part here, there's going to be like a puppet, like a gopher puppet dancing. And I said, that's a stupid idea.
Starting point is 01:13:14 Everything worked about that movie. Even that stupid gopher puppet kind of stole the show. Is this bullshit? Because we have a lot of questions on the show that I, sometimes while doing deep research, I find bullshit. That's a good name for this segment of the show. It is. Is this bullshit? Because we have a lot of questions on the show that I sometimes, while doing deep research, I find bullshit.
Starting point is 01:13:25 That's a good name for this segment of the show. It is. Is this bullshit? Now it's time for bullshit. Were you considered for the Christofferson part in A Star is Born? I get asked that a lot. Where'd it come from? Except that there was a moment where John and Barbara, we were going over songs, and Barbara said, do you act?
Starting point is 01:13:53 Would you be interested in being in this movie? And I said, no, but thanks. Wow. But she does your song in the movie. She does. Yeah, I believe in love. Yeah. Yeah. But that's the only moment that where acting was mentioned.
Starting point is 01:14:06 It was sort of like, you know, can you act? Do you do this? Actually, I auditioned, used that term loosely, for hair. Miklos Forman. Yeah, Milos. Yeah, Milos Forman. Treat Williams was just in that chair, by the way, two weeks ago. Treat Williams. Oh, yeah. Who was in the movie. Yeah. Yeah, Milosh. Milosh Foreman. Yeah. Treat Williams was just in that chair, by the way, two weeks ago. Treat Williams.
Starting point is 01:14:26 Oh, yeah. Who was in the movie. Yeah. Yeah. And, well, that was the role that I was supposedly auditioning for. Burger? No, I took the meeting. Wow.
Starting point is 01:14:35 And we were sitting at a large, like, dining table in an office. And he was sitting at one end, and his assistant was circling the table, walking. And I was sitting across from Milos, and they were asking me questions. And at one point, so his assistant would say, Milos would like to know if you wear certain kinds of clothing. And I was like, no. Milos would like to know what your musical experience is. And Milos is just sitting there.
Starting point is 01:15:13 He's not saying anything. That's weird. And after about 20, 30 minutes, he speaks up and he holds his assistant over and he whispers in his ear. He speaks up and he holds his assistant over and he whispers in his ear. And the assistant says, Milos would like to know if you can dance. And I said, not really. And he says, Milos says, never mind. Wow.
Starting point is 01:15:40 That was the end of my mind. Finally he spoke up. I'm trying to wrap my mind around Hair starring Kenny Lockett. Wow. Because we had Beverly D'Angelo here, too, who was also in the movie. You did a little acting, and you and Gilbert have this in common, in addition to your singing, your mastery. Was it? Family Guy.
Starting point is 01:16:00 Oh. You're both. No, I thought you were going to talk about. Grayson. No, the internet comedy. Oh, you did a Funny or Die thing. Funny or Die. Yes.
Starting point is 01:16:10 You did that too, right? Yeah, I did. Is that when you couldn't get any work? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, a few Funny or Dies. The other one was College Humor. Right.
Starting point is 01:16:23 Where I did... You did The Bad Taste Through History. Yes. And I did. Too soon. He did that. I did Gilbert Gottfried reads Fifty Shades of Grey. Oh, great.
Starting point is 01:16:34 Yeah. But Kenny's in a family guy. Are you in two family guys? Yeah, a couple of them, yeah. I'm on two. I'm in, I'm a horse in one of them. I can see that. I guess I was successful enough that they brought me back as a dog whistle.
Starting point is 01:16:52 Dog whistle. That's brilliant. On the subject of acting, Rick, how did you wind up in Modern Family? I've done a couple of sidelining gigs where I'm in in the you know I have a friend that books that stuff okay and I
Starting point is 01:17:07 they needed someone to sing a foreigner song so I just I put that out there oh do you sound like that yeah like Lou Graham is it yeah
Starting point is 01:17:15 wow do a little do a little Lou Graham for us what's the song we did I wanna know what love is it was that one want you to show me it was that one. Want you to show me. It was that one, you know.
Starting point is 01:17:26 Wow. That sounds pretty close. He does a bad, or good, bad meaning good for you older people. Steve Perry. Yeah, we get to do that. We do Don't Fight It, right? Yeah. That's a nice talent to have, to be able to sing as other people.
Starting point is 01:17:41 Well, listen, this guy tried to sing as Tina Turner. Yeah. But I failed miserably. Yeah. Thank goodness, miserably. Yeah. Thank goodness, actually. What do you guys want to plug? What's going on? Kenny, you're writing a memoir.
Starting point is 01:17:52 Can you talk about it? Well, not really. Okay. Most of it you just heard. Yeah, no, I've just started working on it and being interviewed by the collaborator, the so-called ghostwriter. Okay. And I think it's Jason Turbo is his name, and we get along really well.
Starting point is 01:18:15 I like where it's going. We'll see what happens. There's a lot of interesting questions come up, like, what do you say about your ex-wives? And do you mention any your ex-wives? And do you mention any of the women on the road? Certainly not by name. Certainly not. Is that important?
Starting point is 01:18:35 No, we're kicking those questions around. Fascinating. Gilbert's jealous because the life of a rock star seems very exotic. Tell us some of your stories. After we're done, yeah. So I can live vicariously through you. I want to plug your children's book too, Footloose, which came out in 2017. Yeah, thank you. And people can still get it.
Starting point is 01:18:53 Yeah. It's on Amazon and where books are sold. It's a children's book. And basically, I took the story of Footloose and reinvented it to where the animals in the zoo, because kids love animals, the animals in the zoo have this agreement with the zookeeper. He lets them out under a full moon and they all get out and they dance. And then I just wrote to the tune of Footloose, I wrote the lyrics of, you know, what animals were dancing. And it's pretty cute. Came out really good. I'm happy with it. You do a lot of work for children.
Starting point is 01:19:26 You worked here. You did some charity work for Little Kids Rock in 2016. Yeah, I've done a couple of things with them. And I've been really enjoying lately, I've been enjoying mentoring young writers and performers. And we did... Plug new album. Okay okay i'm sorry i was going to and then you you got me off and i'm sorry about that but um yeah so the mentoring thing has been fun and working with
Starting point is 01:19:55 teens that are really talented and we just did a production of the music from footloose both the play and the movie i saw the work you did did in Montecito with the relief effort. After the mudslides killed 22 people and the kids wanted to do something, they weren't allowed to get in the mud and look for their missing friends. So they called me and said, we want to do a show, you know, cause they were all like musical theater kids. And they said, would you headline so that we'll make sure we have an
Starting point is 01:20:33 audience, but we want to do something to raise money to help the first responders. And so I said, no, this is, this is too good a thing. You got to do this entirely on your own. I'll come in and I'll produce the show and I'll help you get the band and the talent and the director we just put it all together and i helped them focus their material so that it had something to do with the cause we were there for and we raised seventy thousand dollars beautiful and some of these kids have chops yeah yeah very much so yeah the one of the guys went on to American Idol And made it almost all the way That's sweet I should say his name, Jackson Gillies
Starting point is 01:21:10 Jackson Gillies Yeah Okay And he's in London now recording Okay And they're telling us to promote the new record Yes, and it's called Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow It's essentially a re-release of my greatest hits, but this time, never before done, on vinyl.
Starting point is 01:21:29 Wow. Because it was only a CD before. But now it's on this. Well, vinyl's back. You know, 6,000 gram, you know, vinyl, you know, very audiophile piece. And it's in bright red and gold, translucent vinyl discs. It's pretty cool. I want one.
Starting point is 01:21:48 When is this coming out? It is out now, I believe, and I could get that. Oh, it's shipped today. Shipped today. All right. Hot off the presses. We're making news.
Starting point is 01:21:58 Are there any record stores left? Oh, God. I wish. It's shipped to my house. I wish there were record stores. You see the documentary about Tower Records that Tom Hanks' son made? No, I haven't. You have to see it.
Starting point is 01:22:09 It's beautiful and heartbreaking. Wow. Yeah. So we'll look for it yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It's on CDs too, right? Well, it's no. Just vinyl? This is just the vinyl release.
Starting point is 01:22:22 Oh, wow. Yeah, it's for those few people who have record players. It's coming back. Yeah, it's coming back big. We have a sponsor here. U-Turn Audio sells turntables. No kidding. Yeah, they make great ones.
Starting point is 01:22:33 Rick, you got something to promote? Not yet. You going to tour with Gilbert? Well, you know, my wife and I are working on a movie. So it's called Lily's Light. It should be out. We have distribution and everything. So maybe in a couple months. Wonderful. Lily's Light. Lily's Light. It should be out. We have distribution and everything. So maybe in a couple months.
Starting point is 01:22:45 Wonderful. Lily's Light. Lily's Light. It was a PBS. Yeah, I know. I know. We talked about it. Lily's Light.
Starting point is 01:22:53 Yeah. It's a children's musical. And it was on PBS for a few years. And we yanked it. And we added footage to make it a full length. You do a little bit of everything. Snake and Mongoose. Love it all.
Starting point is 01:23:07 You perform on kids' shows. That's right. I'll have to play that for my daughter. Yeah. Yeah, we'll send you a copy. You've been playing since you were three years old? Yeah, I was a drummer. Unbelievable.
Starting point is 01:23:17 Yeah. The talent. Yeah. My dad was a musician and took me around and did a few gigs on drums at three. I could play the fat back, which is that one. A couple other grooves. That's about it.
Starting point is 01:23:32 But at three years old, what do you want? I don't remember. He was playing at three. You were writing songs at what, seven? Yeah. Crazy age. You were playing at a very young age. 16.
Starting point is 01:23:43 16. Okay. Still. He got on stage for the first time at 15. very young age. 16. 16, okay, still. He got on stage for the first time at 15. 15, yeah. 15? Yeah. Haven't written anything new since.
Starting point is 01:23:52 But you perfected it. It was good stuff. Yes. We also want to thank Ryan Romanesco and Michael Jensen for making this possible. I want to plug your appearances on Daryl's House. You and Daryl Hall. Yeah, we hit it off. That's fantastic. We grew up together. I didn to plug your appearances on Daryl's house. You and Daryl Hall. We hit it off. We grew up together. I didn't know that.
Starting point is 01:24:10 We would take turns opening for each other. The two versions of I'm Alright and Footloose that you guys did were just terrific. Thank you. It was a good day. Terrific stuff. You want to take us out on one more?
Starting point is 01:24:26 Can we trouble you for something soft and sweet? We're going to dedicate this to Jay Murray, who's a big fan of yours. This is the reworking of House of Pooh Corner. I think I told you the story of when Luke was about to be born and I decided to make a children's record. I added a new verse to this. And actually, that's all I'm going to do for the rest of my career is add new verses to old songs.
Starting point is 01:24:59 Why not? I've got a Christmas version of Danger Zone I call Manger Zone. Manger Zone. Manger Zone. I love it. It should be out soon. Love it. Right after Lily's Light. Right.
Starting point is 01:25:12 And so this is called Return to Pooh Corner, if we can remember it. Yeah, I know. Two, three, and. Christopher Robin and I walked along Under branches lit up by the moon Posing our questions to Alan Dior As our days disappear all too soon But I've wandered much further today than I should And I can't seem to find my way back to the work
Starting point is 01:25:59 Help me if you can, I've got to get Back to the house that we're gonna buy one. Be surprised there's so much to be done. And you go, count all the bees and the hives. Chase all the clouds from the sky. Back to the days of Christopher Robin who
Starting point is 01:26:28 when he looked through, doesn't know what to do, got a honey just up on his nose he came to me asking help and advice From here no one knows where he goes So I sent him to ask of the owl if he's there How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear. Help me if you can, I've got to get back to the house at the corner by one. You'd be surprised
Starting point is 01:27:12 there's so much to be done. Count all the bees in the hive. Chase all the clouds from the sky Back to the days of Christopher Robin Hood It's hard to explain how a few precious things Seem to follow throughout all our lives After all's said and done, I wasn't watching my son Sleeping there with my bear by his side So I tucked him in, kissed him, and as I was gone I swear that old bear whispered, boy, welcome home Believe me if you can, I finally come back to the house Who cornered by one
Starting point is 01:28:42 What do you know, there's so much to be done Count all the bees in the hive Chase all the clouds from the sky Back to the days of Christopher Robin Back to the ways of Christopher Robin, back to the ways of Christopher Robin, back to the days of boo. So beautiful. The sound of one hand clapping. Wow. Clapping in the booth.
Starting point is 01:29:36 My childhood is flashing before my eyes in 3D. This is a thrill, gentlemen. Thank you so much for coming here. My pleasure. Thank you. And introduce Rick for us again. This is Rick Cowling. Rick has, as we said, been with me for quite some time now.
Starting point is 01:29:53 And it's been a great run, Rick. And thank you. Thanks, man. I appreciate it. Your replacement will be here on Monday. Yeah. I think he's sitting next to me. You got the gig, Gilbert
Starting point is 01:30:06 Thank you for the music, sir Thank you, Rick This was great Thank you, Gilbert A real thrill And I'm Gilbert Gottfried This is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Obsessions
Starting point is 01:30:18 Nope That's not it Amazing This is Ah, fuck it all Oh, I That's not it. Amazing. This is, ah, fuck it all. Oh, I am, I am Gilbert. He got the title wrong. Yes, I'm Gilbert Gottfried.
Starting point is 01:30:33 You have a few minutes to shit. Yeah, yeah. I'll get this. Hi, I'm Gilbert Gottfried. You're making me feel better about myself, though. Thank you. I'll try again. Hi.
Starting point is 01:30:50 We're going to leave it in. I'm Gilbert Gottfried. See, I got that right. And this is Gilbert Gottfried's amazing, colossal podcast with my co-host, Frank Santopadre. And we have been talking to the man who made Steve Nix. And his one song, Steve Nix, a star. Kenny Loggins. Say hello to Steve Nix, Frank. Hey, Stevie.
Starting point is 01:31:18 How you doing? Thanks, gents. All right. Real kick. Thank you. Home for the holidays I believe I've missed each and every face Come on and play one easy
Starting point is 01:31:34 Let's turn on every love light in the place It's time I found myself Totally surrounded in your circles Oh, my friends Please celebrate me home Give me a number Please celebrate me home Play me one more song
Starting point is 01:32:09 That I'll always remember That I can recall Whenever I find myself too all alone I can sing me home Uneasy highway Traveling where the westerly winds can fly Somebody tried to tell me But the man forgot to tell me why
Starting point is 01:32:44 I gotta count on being gone Come on, come on, daddy Hear what you want from me I'm best known I'll be weak Wee-ee-ee-ee-eek Please celebrate me home Give me another Please celebrate me home
Starting point is 01:33:18 Play me one more song That I'll always remember I can recall whenever I find myself Give me one more song that I'll always remember I can recall whenever I find myself just all alone I can make believe I've never gone And I'll never know where I belong Sing me home, celebrate me home Give me another piece, celebrate me home Give me another piece
Starting point is 01:33:46 Celebrate me home Let it on, no I'm sorry Celebrate, celebrate Celebrate, celebrate Celebrate, celebrate Celebrate me celebrate me home. Please, celebrate me home. Please, celebrate me home. When I'm bound to roll, come on celebrate me, oh When I'm finally here, when I'm bound to roll, come on celebrate me, oh When I'm finally here, when I'm bound to roll, come on celebrate me, oh Please, celebrate me, celebrate me more Please celebrate, please celebrate me more
Starting point is 01:35:10 Please celebrate, please celebrate me more Please celebrate, please celebrate me more Bye.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.