Speaker 1: He's touring Australia. He's back this bloke. I was traveling
Speaker 1: and a.
Speaker 2: Road felling hungry, and corners are signs food and drinks
Speaker 2: for everyone, so naturally I thought I would take me
Speaker 2: a log sun.
Speaker 1: I don't know which songs he's going to choose for
Speaker 1: the set list, because there's about a million of them
Speaker 1: that we love. Leo Sayer, pop legend englishman turned Australian,
Speaker 1: joins us on the show. Now, hello mate, how are you?
Speaker 2: How are you doing? Bowie? Everything good?
Speaker 1: Good?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: What about you?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Not bad, not bad. I'm over in New South
Speaker 2: Wales and would you believe it? Just about to go
Speaker 2: over and tour the UK before I come, So I'm
Speaker 2: doing to warm up over there, you know, before we
Speaker 2: do the important gigs.
Speaker 1: He's still got that funny accent. Mate, Hey, I actually
Speaker 1: do you know?
Speaker 2: But if I go to England they all say, I'll
Speaker 2: stand Australian. So how do you win?
Speaker 1: I was singing about you, and often artists when they
Speaker 1: reach a certain each and with such a big back catalog,
Speaker 1: sometimes you can be made a night. You could if
Speaker 1: you hadn't gone Australian, you could be surly by now.
Speaker 2: Oh, look, if I'd have spent my time doing charity
Speaker 2: work and all that sort of stuff, probably, you know,
Speaker 2: but look, I'm happy to be judged by my music
Speaker 2: rather than my actions. You know. But it looks if
Speaker 2: you have a long career, there's always going to be
Speaker 2: moments when you have fantastics. But I mean, I met
Speaker 2: the Queen about Elizabeth so many times, and then the
Speaker 2: last time I saw it, I said, oh, nice to
Speaker 2: meet you. Your Majesty said no, you don't have to
Speaker 2: call me your manjesty because we know each other. We're friends.
Speaker 1: How good isn't that nice?
Speaker 2: He was an amazing lady. So you know, you get
Speaker 2: these incredible experiences. They come with the job and you
Speaker 2: just absorbed them. You know. If I was to be knighted,
Speaker 2: I'd be Oh, I'd be the proudest Englishman. But I
Speaker 2: think I'm even more out to be an Australian. So
Speaker 2: let's have an oam first. I think.
Speaker 1: My chick bugger, hey mate, when you when you look
Speaker 1: back at we often I'm a bit younger than you.
Speaker 1: But on a countdown kid, right, So we talk about
Speaker 1: the Countdown era, how influential it was, how it shaked down,
Speaker 1: musical tastes. How important it was. The show itself gave
Speaker 1: you a massive platform in this country, didn't it, And
Speaker 1: that all those film clips and that's it was a
Speaker 1: big part of Australian history, and you're a big part
Speaker 1: of Australian music history because of it.
Speaker 2: No, that's beautiful. I when I came over in nineteen
Speaker 2: seventy five on the first tour, I didn't know who
Speaker 2: Molly Meldon was. Yeah. Yeah, and this bloke is very unusual.
Speaker 2: Bloke stepped on the plane as we arrived in Melbourne
Speaker 2: and they sort of shimmied me off the plane, which
Speaker 2: was a bit peculiar. I thought, what have I done?
Speaker 2: And I get arrested and it was him. And there
Speaker 2: was a car on the tarmac, and we straightened at
Speaker 2: the car and there's a camera crew, you know, on
Speaker 2: the front seat, and those days massively bulky cameras as well.
Speaker 2: So this guy's leaning over and Molly's started asking me questions.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, okay, this is it. We were going live
Speaker 2: on the way to the studio way and all I
Speaker 2: was worried about was my wife was stuck behind me
Speaker 2: somewhere still on the plane. And I've been ferreted away
Speaker 2: and that was my introduction to Countdown straight to the studio,
Speaker 2: straight on air, and the backing track was already playing
Speaker 2: for me to go and sing. And I'm not thinking
Speaker 2: I didn't even have a chance to see Melbourne yet.
Speaker 1: Isn't that amazing? It's amazing it was. But it was
Speaker 1: like that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I loved the way that they made shows
Speaker 2: because everything was they just thought of an idea, they
Speaker 2: felt it and they did it, you know. And there
Speaker 2: were plenty of shows that tried to do that again
Speaker 2: after but they never quite succeeded with that vibe, did they.
Speaker 2: And that was all about Molly.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't know if you remember this, mate, but
Speaker 1: there was a video made by ac DC in the
Speaker 1: back of a flat big truck gets a lot.
Speaker 2: Oh. I love that, Love that. That's one of the
Speaker 2: great ones all time.
Speaker 1: It's fifty years old this week and they're looking to
Speaker 1: remake it. They're looking to redo it. Melbourne City I
Speaker 1: call that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1: And they did create those moments, didn't it? In our
Speaker 1: history and what we got I always felt even towards you. Now,
Speaker 1: I feel like I know you because you did host
Speaker 1: Countdown on your as well as your songs. I mean,
Speaker 1: and I'll ask you about your voice in a minute,
Speaker 1: but the songs and the act, it felt like we
Speaker 1: knew you as a bloke.
Speaker 2: Well yeah, Molly actually asked me the two hundredth show
Speaker 2: in England and we did it over there. He went
Speaker 2: turtle And so I'm kind of famed for the guy
Speaker 2: in the noctop of the Bond, but I love Bond.
Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't mean to do it. It was just
Speaker 2: that he was in the shot. You know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he's from he's from this town, made he's from
Speaker 1: the city.
Speaker 2: And I know he's a lovely boy and he's.
Speaker 1: Got a statue in down on Frio.
Speaker 2: He was very he was a very fun guy. He
Speaker 2: cracks such amazing jokes. He was like he could have
Speaker 2: done stand up. I reckon.
Speaker 1: Heyleo. Why now? And what's in the song is how
Speaker 1: you're putting it together?
Speaker 2: Oh look, there's everything in there. We don't have a
Speaker 2: support act. I do the whole show. It's structured to
Speaker 2: really take you on a journey through all the songs
Speaker 2: and all the career. It's there's there's so much contrasting
Speaker 2: music in there, which I'm very proud of you know.
Speaker 2: There's ballads, and there's story songs, and there's dance songs,
Speaker 2: and there's rock songs. So everything's in there, you know,
Speaker 2: And and it kind of like the lyrics take over
Speaker 2: the narrative of the of the tale as it were,
Speaker 2: you know. And I think that that's that's something that
Speaker 2: I do that is very different to other people, you know,
Speaker 2: and it makes the show, you know. So I'm on
Speaker 2: stage for about an hour and three quarters and yeah,
Speaker 2: and it's cutting everything in is a tricky one, but
Speaker 2: we managed to.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you and I'll let you suggest the song
Speaker 1: we can go out with.
Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing. I mean, I do the same
Speaker 2: show in England exactly as I do in Australia.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's a unique.
Speaker 2: Thing that you know, my career has meant the same
Speaker 2: in both places and the same hits.
Speaker 1: Yeah, mate, you had you had a unique voice. You
Speaker 1: could do the low register stuff. You've got a great
Speaker 1: raspy rock voice. If you need it, you can do
Speaker 1: the I was going to say, can you still can
Speaker 1: you still do the falsetto?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Just about I can't And you make me fillow
Speaker 2: dance and I can't keep going the whole song. I
Speaker 2: break off on after a while, but it's still there.
Speaker 2: And there are other songs where the falsetto is in. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're there.
Speaker 1: So the pipes are holding up. That's good, mate, pipes.
Speaker 2: Are holding up, the hair is still on. It's all good.
Speaker 1: Where you are playing. It's just a natural that I'll
Speaker 1: call you mate. I don't don't know why that is,
Speaker 1: but I hope that's gone.
Speaker 2: Mate.
Speaker 1: I am a mate first as straying too. Since nineteen,
Speaker 1: I've already had a couple.
Speaker 2: I'm talking to my mate Bowie.
Speaker 1: Okay, everywhere your mate, Mandra Thursday September eleventh of the
Speaker 1: Impact and playing at the Astor on Friday September twelfth.
Speaker 1: They're both riper venues. Why should people come along.
Speaker 2: That because they're going to see something very special that's timeless.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, it's not just me, I mean all
Speaker 2: of us guys from our era. The music we made
Speaker 2: was very special. We didn't have mobile phones or social
Speaker 2: media or anything like that. We were able to spend
Speaker 2: a lot of time concentrating on creating these songs, you know,
Speaker 2: because nobody disturbed us, which was wonderful. There was nothing
Speaker 2: to sidetrack us or take our attention away. These days,
Speaker 2: it's not so easy. So I think it's we're echoing
Speaker 2: a fantastic time in life, in our lives, you know,
Speaker 2: And a lot of people come along because they'll say, oh,
Speaker 2: that's a special song or Tide Road, you know, that's
Speaker 2: the song we got married to. So it's nostalgia as well,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Nice to know, you know, when you look back. Nice
Speaker 1: to know that good songs hold up when you play
Speaker 1: live now, mate, when you play live now, what are
Speaker 1: there any that you kind of have you reworked a
Speaker 1: bit or you feel differently about them or yeah, were quite.
Speaker 2: A few of them actually, yeah, because you know, for
Speaker 2: songs fifty years old, you can't do it exactly the
Speaker 2: same as the record. And also I think that that's
Speaker 2: an additive in the concert if you kind of can
Speaker 2: adapt the songs. I mean, some people take it too fast, Moose.
Speaker 2: People criticize Bob Dylan because he's not doing it exactly
Speaker 2: the same. But some of his songs are seventy years old,
Speaker 2: you know, so what do you expect him to do? So?
Speaker 2: But we do adapt them, and we and you know,
Speaker 2: some of the songs we brought something new to like
Speaker 2: reiining in my heart I do, and it's a big
Speaker 2: harmonica and guitar duet in that. You know, we kind
Speaker 2: of play off each other and that becomes a feature
Speaker 2: in itself, and we play with the rhythm of that
Speaker 2: and play with the speed of it, and it becomes
Speaker 2: a bit of a showstopper, you know, in a way.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, really nice to talk to you. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people listening to are my age or
Speaker 1: maybe a bit older, who who remember you fondly and
Speaker 1: always love not only the music but your personality. So
Speaker 1: it'd be nice to see you here. See you in
Speaker 1: ziptimper mate, good man, Thank you for chatting.
Speaker 2: To us, No really looking forward to us.
Speaker 1: Can we be fab all right? All right, cheers buddy,
Speaker 1: see your man now. All the best, Leo Sayer.