Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast - Kenny Loggins Encore
Episode Date: January 3, 2022In this encore presentation of an episode from 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 challenge of composing songs for the movies "Top Gun" and "Footloose" and his "accidental" partnership with writer-producer Jim Messina. Also, Kenny tries out 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! Anne Murray covers "Danny's Song"! Gilbert auditions for "Caddyshack II"! And Kenny (and Gilbert) guest star on "Family Guy"! Special thanks to Rick Cowling, Michael Jensen and Ryan Romenesko! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Hey, Happy New Year, GGACP fans,
friends, and followers.
Frank here.
That's a lot of alliteration.
To let you guys know that Gil and I are still taking a bit of rest
and needed downtime from the holidays
and a long, grueling year
and a grueling schedule.
So we're posting another Encore episode of Best of Gilbert this week
before we return with all new episodes next week.
Now, this is a show Gil and I were both very pleased with,
recorded back in 2019 with Grammy and Emmy-winning singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins.
Now, this was one of the last shows we recorded at the Earwolf Studio. It was an
especially memorable show, an unforgettable experience for Gilbert and me. We had booked
Stephen Bishop a few months earlier, another terrific guest, and I got to know the very
helpful and menschy publicists, Ryan Romanesco and Michael Jensen, who suggested Kenny for the show,
and we obviously jumped at the offer.
Kenny was more than we could have hoped for, really.
He brought along his guitar.
He even generously flew in his pal Rick Cowling to play with him.
We couldn't believe they went to all that trouble for us.
Rick was great as well on the show, as you'll hear,
and we'll forever be grateful to both of them and to Michael and to Ryan for making this happen.
This episode has a little bit of everything. Three or four live performances, including a
duet with Gilbert, God Save Us All. We talked about Kenny's history and song histories and
the origins of songs. We talked a little bit about Loggins and Messina, of course, about working with
the great Michael McDonald. Kenny shared some insight into hits like Footloose and I'm Alright from Caddyshack.
All in all, Kenny and Rick were great sports,
as we like to say, and game for anything.
And as I said, every memory about recording this show
is a cherished one.
So once again, we wish everybody who listens to
and supports our show on all its platforms
a happy and a healthy and a safe, of course,
new year, getting crazy out there.
And we'll see you next week with another brand new show
and yet another new year, year nine,
if I'm counting correctly, wow,
of amazing colossal episodes.
And until then, as Kenny himself once sang,
keep the fire burning bright.
Hi, this is Gilbert Gottfried, and this is Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast with my co-host Frank Santopadre.
Our guest this week is a musician, a record producer, a Grammy and Emmy winning, an 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 Boo 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, 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,
Footloose, and Caddyshack, earning him the nickname King of the Soundtracks.
In a prolific career spanning six decades, he's sold 25 million albums, won two Grammys, 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.
Okay. Yeah. He's on, Steve. No, that's her brother. Okay.
Yeah.
He's underrated.
He never made it.
Steve Nicks.
He had one hit.
David Crosby.
Graham Nash.
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
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.
Yes.
And carefully putting back before he came home,
the multi-talented Kenny Loggins.
Thank you and good night.
Yeah.
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.
So you've heard the show.
We just warned him.
We just gave him a list of all the people you sang with.
Have you ever worked with Steve Nix?
An unsung hero of the music business.
He was a silent genius.
His sister was pretty good, too.
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 you ask them why are you here yes
yes yeah that's pretty much why are you here why do you want to make it yeah well it struck me that
um their premise is excuse me that um this is gonna this is gonna make your life better right you can be an overnight
sensation and you all your problems will go away and you will have a wonderful life and the premise
is incorrect yes you know it just doesn't work that way and uh 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 a psychic, right?
She said, yes, I'm going to be the next American Idol.
So she comes out, and she 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 that 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. you're never depressed you're never unhappy you're never frustrated everything everything
that bothers normal people doesn't affect you it's true yeah
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. 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.
problems and actually it was creating a whole lot of new ones and but he was so frustrated by the by the time he hit that 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 he's got his own
it business in santa barbara he's doing well. And he's married and has my first grandchild.
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 his child was had just been born his first child
and you see this circle going around all the time and then i'm i'm watching my own children i had
five of my own and you know so this just keeps. I figured I'd let the song grow up with my life.
It makes sense.
Did 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.
He did an MTV show called Rock the Cradle and won it.
The kids of famous people that are all trying to go into the music business.
But it wasn't the thing that was going to work for him.
It wasn't the thing that was going to work for him.
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?
Here, you can use mine. You know, we...
All right, got it.
All right, how's that?
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.
Can you hear this?
All right.
The guitar's a little bit...
Is it?
It is?
Oh, good.
They got it.
Got it.
People smile and tell me I'm the lucky one
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
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
Come on, drink and do
Cover 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
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 realized
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 it coming round and round again
Even though we ain't got money
I'm so in love with you honey
And everything will 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.
Beautiful.
What a treat.
Thank you, thank you.
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. 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.
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?
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 Loguggins and Messina record.
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.
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, you, yeah, you were vindicated.
Yeah.
Wonderful.
Wonderful piece of music.
And I, I think on, on your tombstone, there's going to be, he did the music for Caddyshack
too.
Well, 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.
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. 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.
I think you dodged a bullet.
Yeah.
Safe to say.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Are you totally self-taught?
Pretty much, yeah.
And then the harmonica too?
Well, I mentioned him today.
I had a guitar teacher when I was in high school.
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. 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.
He did.
He wanted me to learn scales.
So you're self-taught.
Yeah, pretty much.
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 in 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?
Dan is four years older than
me yeah and at this moment he lives in connecticut okay uh but his house is for sale so please
we'll put that out there which you said what you said one brother was 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
um and so he was turning me on to everything from Elvis Presley through the Coasters, Little Richard, Fats Domino, stuff like that.
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 cards 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.
I rented a half a duplex in East LA,
65 bucks a month.
Nice.
But in 1909, things were cheaper.
65 a month.
65 bucks a month. And my first job was as a songwriter was with ABC Wingate,
which doesn't exist anymore. And they paid me a hundred bucks a week.
Which must've seemed like a small fortune at the time.
Yeah, in 1909.
Yeah.
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.
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 um it was through them that
I met Jimmy and and auditioned for him he was by that time 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
doesn't scan and kind of Simon and Garfunkel yeah 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 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.
And when you guys discovered 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.
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 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. 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
you know about five records in that time i love those albums they meant so much to me
no thank you in the 70s i mean first 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. 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 yeah and
you know when 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 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
and then we would hang out and just go through,
you know, things and sing.
Singing duets with Barbra Streisand
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,
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 I thought, that's really strange that this kind of preppy kid is riding a bike and they're playing Dylan.
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.
You know, 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 with You.
Sure, Jerry Rafferty.
Jerry was imitating Dylan on that song.
Wow.
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
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.
Was it on Keep the Fire? Yeah.
So written for Caddyshack, or it
pre-existed? Well, I don't know.
Time and me don't get along.
maybe I wrote it.
No, I'm pretty sure it preexisted.
That was me and Richard Steckle, a musician out of Laguna Beach.
We were writing a Steely Dan song.
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, right.
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.
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. 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 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 a volkswagen he's love the hell out
of that song we will return to gilbert godfrey's amazing podcast. But first, a word from our sponsor.
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This has nothing to do with anything, of course. I'm good at that.
Stuck in the middle with you, they sued...
What, Tarantino?
Sheryl Crow.
Oh, Sheryl Crow.
Yeah, what was that song she had?
Yeah, All I Wanna Do Is Have Some Fun.
Yeah, and I think they won.
Wow, that's a loose affiliation.
Wow.
Gilbert, I'm impressed.
Yeah.
I can go back to sleep now You know, remembering one thing a day is good for you
How old were you when you wrote Danny's song?
You were young
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 but it's but it is a good story it's really terrific um
so um i was uh 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 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.
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.
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 McKeown,
who was the manager of the Dirt Band.
He said, I hate to tell you this, but we can't record that song. the process i got a phone call from bill mckeon who was the manager of the dirt band 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 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 um 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 the 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, I'm proving there is a God.
He's looking out for me.
That is kismet.
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 and doing the research on you that came up a lot you you feel like luck has played a lot very active role and in various successes and you well you made a an album for
both adults and children oh yeah yeah yeah i call it music to make and enjoy children by.
It's not actually called that, but I call it 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.
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 Cardwalker before,
so I had to do my research.
That is a
lot of luck there. Yeah. 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. Kevin, what's his name, REO,
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 um
toto there was some talk of toto doing it and um but i guess their lawyers screwed it all up. And finally, I got a call from Georgia Marauder's office that said,
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 that 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 there 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.
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 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 i'm just weak versions of other people no
you're old friend danger zone to me is like boy if anything says 80s movies,
that song is it.
Yeah.
It's amazing how it's made this comeback.
It's iconic now.
There's another one in the works, right?
There was a period of 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 TV? So there's hope for you yet.
There is hope, Gilbert.
You may come back into hope.
Hang in long enough.
Yes.
One other thing about Long as in Messina, 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, you know, those were must-owns for.
Where exactly did you live?
Long Island.
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,
the dynamics had changed so dramatically between you.
You weren't feeling competitive anymore.
Oh, yeah.
The change of just getting older, seasoned.
And it's funny.
It takes a conscious effort to break out of that old habit, like the partnerships like Martin and Lewis and people like that, that just end up hating each other forever.
That's a good example.
Oh, yeah. 22, 23 years old together, figuring out who we were as individuals.
And suddenly we're thrust into a duo situation
where we're attracted to the same women.
We reach for the same coat on the store hanger.
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.
Right.
But once we actually, we were cutting a live album, and he and I, 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 uh 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 was like really self-aware 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 yes so there's nowhere to go it's just gonna get 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 caught my attention yeah oh yeah there we are it's funny because most people when when that starts happening it it they wait till it's a
true hatred yeah well you're 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 idea that it was just going to be as successful.
Right.
What did I know?
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.
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.
And he says, did I say Messina?
You're right.
Would Jim laugh at that?
No.
We better take it out.
So opening for Fleetwood Mac when you launch your solo career, first of all, how insane was that? 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.
You know, 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.
You know, four in the morning, sitting there going, why was I born?
Why did I cut my hair?
I look like a squirrel.
It was not a fun time.
Right.
But you and Steve Nix.
We hung out.
We picked up chicks together.
He's ignored in a business.
Her saying, if you ever want a chick singer to sing on one of your songs, that's kind of a turning point for you.
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.
You know, ask Daryl.
It wasn't a piece of cake.
Daryl Hall.
Daryl Hall.
Yeah.
And I 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 now they consider it like the quintessential Kenny Loggins record.
But back then it was weird.
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.
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 knew exactly what he was doing, and he had amazing ears,
and he could hear a hit.
He knew what worked and what didn't work. And the fact that he heard Loggins and Messina, like we talked earlier and said, I like you guys.
I want you to be on the label, 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, 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.
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.
How did you meet and become professionally acquainted?
How did we meet?
Well, I was playing a trio with Steve DeStanislaw the drummer and uh and um shem we're
doing a little rock trio these are guys that were in his uh traveling band and right then you were
looking for somebody some guitar player 2007 yeah yeah so um they said we love you man you gotta
kenny love you are you in would you want to do it so yeah the next day i got a an email from
kenny loggins and i said this is you know the real kenny loggins yeah just emailed me well it Danny, love you. Are you in? Would you want to do it? Yeah. The next day I got an email from Kenny Loggins,
and I said, this is the real Kenny Loggins.
Just emailed me.
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.
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?
Oh
You put him on the spot
Yeah
Real
I think Real Thing
But I
Oh really
But you don't know it
You know why it is
Is because
It
You know
That whole record actually
Leap of
Leap of Faith
You know it
Can you play Real Thing?
Yeah Let me think about it for a
second we could do what conviction too oh yeah oh we'd love to and there's a great would you be
talking about leap of faith because there's another lucky lucky thing that happened with
the tapes oh god that's a good story you don't have that one if you guys know i don't have this
story oh my um 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. 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.
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 LA 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. 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 gonna go back to.
You need the 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 are 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. 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.
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.
Going about five days before that deadline of meeting him.
And 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.
Oh.
So they must have been looking really hard.
And they, 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 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.
And I drove to meet Donny 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. 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 like that.
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 Shep's and I sign the wall,
it is a good day to die,
which is a quote 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.
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.
So a little level of spirituality infused in my life.
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 – oh, wrong fret.
Here we go.
This is a song that has been called Environmental Anthem.
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, it's done.
It doesn't need to be rewritten
because the environmental movement, it should not be a finger-pointing movement about you do this and you do that, except that for me, 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. Here we go.
Where are 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
To talk
with conviction
of the heart And down your roads I'd walked alone
As if my feet were not mine
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'd never given love
With any conviction of the heart
With the earth, with the sky
One with everything in line
I believe we'll survive if we only try
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 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 in love?
Where's your conviction? Do you carry love?
What's your conviction?
Thank you, Gilbert.
I appreciate it.
Here we go. One with the earth, with the sky.
One with everything in life.
I believe this will start with conviction of the heart One earth, one sky, only one world
Death will be my life, my peace
Death will start with conviction of the heart For one life When will we live
Conviction
Only one earth
Only one sky
Only one child
We've only got one chance
To live in one life
I believe
It's only gonna start when we begin
With some kind of vision of the heart Beautiful.
Beautiful.
Applause in that room.
Look at that.
You got a standing ovation in the control room.
Thank you.
You ran out of chairs, it looks.
Beautiful.
We will return to Gilbert Gottfried's amazing colossal podcast after this.
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.
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.
And I said, I don't know why, but this belongs in that song.
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.
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 good
yeah i'll lay there and i will actually think is this good enough to to put down because i know i
have to 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 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 if I hear harmonic things to it, chord changes,
I have to lay those in to outline what the harmonic changes would be.
Fascinating.
It's a lot of work.
And I always heard –
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.
No, the famous story of McCartney's Yesterday
was scrambled eggs.
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.
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 are the words.
Those are the words.
Yeah.
Phil Ramone and Bob James.
I mean, you started working with the right people.
Yeah, no kidding.
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.
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 by jewish yeah all the classic christmas
white christmas yes yeah all jewish yeah but a them. But they understand why you write a Christmas song.
I think I'll write a Christmas song.
You call yourself a natural collaborator.
Mm-hmm.
When I was in high school, I read the autobiography, or no, the biography of George S. Cox.
I found that so fascinating.
That is so, 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 Marx or Melissa Manchester, does it vary?
Does the process vary depending on people's strengths or?
Yeah.
Yeah. 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. 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 gonna
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 something hit me. That'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.
Can you sing something as Mike McDonald?
Well, actually, you know, when we wrote What a 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 for that first verse.
Those are the words.
Those are the words.
Those are the words.
People don't know that.
That's funny.
So it changes because I've heard you say even a song will just start with a phrase.
It'll just start with a couple of 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 for it.
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 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...
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 no let's give it a try 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 yeah i figured do you have a roadmap for me? Because apparently this is.
Yes.
Well, I figured that would be.
Are there two pages on that?
Is it?
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.
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.
Not really.
But I like your pluck, Kenneth.
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.
This is scary.
The drum's back here.
You want to join me on guitar?
No, I think we've got to be on guitar.
Okay.
You want to get the opening?
Here we go.
Been working so hard I'm punching my car
Eight hours forward
Oh, tell me what I got
I got this feeling
And time's
holding me down
I'll hit the ceiling
Or else I'll tear up
this town
Now I got gotta cut loose
Or close
Get up your Sunday shoes
Please, Louise
Roll me off of my knees
Jack, get back
Come on, before we crash
Lose your blues!
Everybody cut those blues!
That sounds so good you should keep going.
You're playing so cool!
Obeying every rule!
Deep way down in your heart!
Your mom is yearning for somebody to tell you that life ain't passing you by.
I'm trying to tell you if you don't even try.
That's close enough. Oh, no.
Tonight I gotta cut loose, fall loose, kick off the Sunday shoes.
Wee, Marie, shake it, shake it for me.
Oh, Milo, come on, come on, let it go Your boots
Your boots
Everybody got boots
This is built for you. You gotta take this part.
Oh, oh
Foot boots
And one, two, three, four, and
I'm turning loose
Foot loose Take off your Sunday shoes The raw part One, two, three, four, and... I'm turning loose! Footloose!
Take off your Sunday shoes!
Oh, wait, no, no, we gotta go back.
We gotta get the right part.
First, you gotta turn it around.
See there?
You've got to turn me around.
Okay, let's get it.
Wait for the music.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.
Okay! One, two, wait, wait, wait. 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 Kick out the Sunday
Suits
Please, Louise
Pull me off
Of my knees
Jack, get back
Come on Get my way back. Blues, you're blues. Everybody
cut, put loose. Everybody cut, everybody cut. Everybody cut Bundle!
You got it.
Not yet ready for radio. Oh my God.
Yeah.
I think that's the children's version.
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.
Good idea.
A couple of quick questions from admirers,
and we'll get you guys out of here.
Rob Allenstein,
your first solo album was produced by the great phil ramon 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.
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 hated that.
Well, I learned to stop asking for shit from that point on.
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.
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?
It was written
on piano. Richard played it on piano
and I don't know it.
But you're welcome to play the record at home.
Oh!
I can help
you download it.
Let's see.
One last one from a
fan. I can't tell you how special this is from Jason Pag 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 co-wrote
You also co-wrote music
With Melissa Manchester
Whom I also adore
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, you know, thin ice
Kind of territory Because, as he, 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.
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.
Get a job.
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.
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.
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
everything worked about that movie even that stupid gopher puppet kind of stole the show yeah
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 now it's time for bullshit were you considered for the
christopherson part i get asked that a lot um where'd it come from i don't know where it came
from except that uh there was a moment where um john and and barb Barbara, we were going over songs, and Barbara said, do you act?
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.
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. And, well, that was the role by the way, two weeks ago. Treat Williams. 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.
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 Mil from milosh and they were asking
me questions and at at one point uh so so his assistant would say milosh would like to know
if you wear certain kinds of clothing and And I was like, no.
Milos would like to know what your musical experience is.
And Milos is just sitting there.
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,
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.
That was the end of my.
Finally he spoke up.
I'm trying to wrap my mind around Hair starring Kenny Loggins.
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.
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.
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.
Where I did.
You had a bad taste through history.
Yes.
And I did. Too soon. He did that.
I did Gilbert Gottfried reads
Fifty Shades of Grey.
Oh, great. But Kenny's in a
family guy. Are you in two family guys?
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.
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 the, you know,
I have a friend that books that stuff.
Okay.
And they needed someone to sing a foreigner song.
So I just put that out there.
Oh, do you sound like that?
Yeah.
Like Lou Graham, is it?
Yeah.
Wow.
Do a little Lou Graham for us.
What's the song that we did?
You have to use it.
Waiting for a girl.
I want to know what love is.
It was that one.
Want you to show me.
It was that one, you know.
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.
Well, listen, this guy tried to sing as Tina Turner.
Yeah.
But I failed miserably.
Yeah.
Thank goodness, actually.
What do you guys want to plug?
What's going on?
Kenny, you're writing a memoir.
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.
And I think it's Jason Turbo is his name,
and we get along really well,
and 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 of the women on the road?
Certainly not by name.
Certainly not.
Is that important?
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.
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 what animals were dancing.
It's pretty cute.
Came out really good.
I'm happy with it.
You do a lot of work for children.
You do.
And you worked here.
You did some charity work for Little Kids Rock.
Yeah.
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, I'm sorry. I was going to, and then you got. Okay, I'm sorry.
I was going to and then you got me off into that.
I'm sorry about that.
But yeah, so the mentoring thing has been fun and working with 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 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.
Because they were all like musical theater kids.
And they said, would you headline so that we'll make sure we have an audience, but we want to do something to raise money to help the first responders.
And so I said, no, 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've helped them focus their material so that it had something
to do with the cause we were there for.
And we raised $70,000.
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.
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 because it
was only a cd before um but now it's on this well vinyl's back you know six thousand 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.
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.
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.
It's beautiful
and heartbreaking.
Wow.
Yeah.
So we'll look for it
yesterday, today,
and tomorrow.
On CDs too, right?
Well, it's,
no.
Just vinyl?
This is just
the vinyl release.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it's for those
who, you know,
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, 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.
Rick, you got something to promote?
Not yet.
You going on a 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.
Lily's Light.
That's Gilbert Starr's name.
Yeah, I know.
I know.
We talked about it.
Light?
Lily's Light.
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.
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.
Yeah.
The talent.
Yeah.
Yep.
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.
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.
Yeah.
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.
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't know that.
We would take turns opening for each other.
The two versions of I'm All Right and Footloose
that you guys did were just terrific.
Cool, thank you.
Yeah, it was a good day.
Terrific stuff.
You want to take us out on one more?
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.
Why not?
I've got a Christmas version of Danger Zone I call Manger Zone.
Manger Zone.
I love it.
It should be out soon.
Love it.
Right after Lily's Light.
Right.
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.
Help me if you can, I've got to get back to the house if we're gonna buy one
Be surprised there's so much to be done
Then you go count all the bees and the hives
Chase all the clouds from the skies Back to the days of Christopher Robin Hood
Winnie the Pooh 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 allopies 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, there's so much to be done
Count all the bees in the hive
Chase all the clouds from the sky
Chase the clouds of 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 talked to him and kissed him, and as I was gone, I swear that old bear whispered, boy, welcome home.
Leave me if you can. I finally come back to the house, who cornered by one. 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 Robert
Back to the ways of Christopher Robert
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin Back to the days of boo
Ooh
Ooh
So beautiful.
The sound of one hand clapping.
Wow.
Clapping in the booth.
My childhood is flashing before my eyes in 3D.
This is a thrill, gentlemen.
Thank you so much for coming here.
Oh, my pleasure.
Thank you.
And introduce Rick for us again.
This is Rick Cowling. for coming here oh my pleasure thank you and introduce rick for us again rick this is rick
cowling uh rick is yeah as we said been with me for quite some time now and um it's been a great
run rick and thank you thanks i appreciate it uh your replacement will be here on monday
i think he's sitting next to me
you got the gig gilbert thank you for the music sir thank you rick this was great thank you a
real thrill and and i'm gilbert godfrey this gilbert godfrey's amazing colossal
obsessions nope that's not it amazing this is, fuck it all. Oh, I, I, I.
He got the title wrong.
I, yes.
I'm Gilbert Gottfried.
You have a few minutes to shit.
Yeah, yeah.
I get this.
Hi.
I'm Gilbert Gottfried.
You're making me feel better about myself.
Yeah.
Thank you.
I'll try again.
Hi.
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 Nicks. And his one song is Steve Nicks, a star.
Kenny Loggins.
Say hello to Steve Nicks for us.
Hey, Stevie, 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
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
That I'll always remember
That I can recall
Whenever I find myself
To all alone
I can sing me home
Uneasy highway
Traveling where the west of the winds can fly
Somebody tried to tell me
But the man forgot to tell me why
I gotta count on being gone
Come on, mama Come on, come on, daddy
Hear what you want from me
I'm this strong
I'll be weak Please, celebrate me home
Give me another
Please, celebrate me home
Play me one more song
That I'll always remember
I can recall whenever I find myself too 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
Please celebrate me home Give me another piece Celebrate me
Give me another piece
Give me another piece
Celebrate me
Celebrate, celebrate
Celebrate, celebrate
Celebrate, celebrate
Celebrate me home
Please, celebrate me home.
Please, celebrate me home.
Well, I'm finally here, but I'm bound to fall.
Come on, celebrate me home.
Well, I'm finally here Well, I'm bound to roam
Come on, celebrate me, oh
Well, I'm finally here
Well, I'm bound to roam
Come on, celebrate me, oh
Please, celebrate me, oh
Please, celebrate me, celebrate me more
Please celebrate me, celebrate me more
Please celebrate me, celebrate me more
Please celebrate me, celebrate me more I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you
I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you