WEBVTT - Tom Jones 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:22.516 Pushkin. Hey everyone, Today we'll hear Rick Rubin talk to 0:00:22.556 --> 0:00:26.836 one of his all time favorite vocalists, Tom Jones. In 0:00:26.876 --> 0:00:29.276 the mid sixties, when artists like The Beatles and Bob 0:00:29.316 --> 0:00:33.036 Dylan were starting a counterculture revolution, Tom Jones was getting 0:00:33.076 --> 0:00:35.956 his start singing old standards in fifties rock and roll 0:00:36.116 --> 0:00:40.196 at clubs around South Wales. Jones signed his first record 0:00:40.236 --> 0:00:42.556 deal in sixty four and went on to release now 0:00:42.636 --> 0:00:46.276 timeless hits like It's Not Unusual and Green Green Grass 0:00:46.356 --> 0:00:49.916 of Home. With the soulful baritone and unique interpretation of 0:00:49.956 --> 0:00:53.756 American arm being gospel, Jones became a mainstay at hip 0:00:53.796 --> 0:00:57.796 cabaret clubs in London, New York, and Vegas. It became 0:00:57.876 --> 0:01:01.076 commonplace for female fans to throw their underwear on stage 0:01:01.156 --> 0:01:04.596 during his performances. Of course, that later became a trope 0:01:04.596 --> 0:01:08.716 of the sex symbol crooner. On today's episode, Tom Jones 0:01:08.716 --> 0:01:12.356 shares stories with Rick from his remarkable career, including the 0:01:12.396 --> 0:01:14.236 first time he met Elvis on a movie set in 0:01:14.316 --> 0:01:16.596 Hollywood and the night he turned down an invitation to 0:01:16.676 --> 0:01:18.996 join Little Richard on stage in La out of fear 0:01:19.036 --> 0:01:22.276 he'd be deported. He also talks about why he thought 0:01:22.276 --> 0:01:25.516 Bert Backer Act's lyrics to What's New Pussycat or a joke? 0:01:25.716 --> 0:01:30.876 The first time he heard of this is broken record 0:01:31.196 --> 0:01:33.956 line of notes for the digital age. I'm justin Mirichmond. 0:01:34.596 --> 0:01:37.836 Here's Rick Rubin and Tom Jones. The last time I 0:01:37.836 --> 0:01:41.716 saw you was I want to say seven, seven or 0:01:41.756 --> 0:01:46.396 eight years ago in Las Vegas, backstage after you, after 0:01:46.396 --> 0:01:49.556 you sang and hit. It was beautiful night for me. 0:01:49.996 --> 0:01:51.796 I guess it was a regular night for you, because 0:01:51.796 --> 0:01:55.316 that's what you do all the time. It was a 0:01:55.356 --> 0:01:57.356 long time ago, though, it was longer than because I 0:01:57.356 --> 0:01:59.916 haven't been a Vegas now for about twelve years. Could 0:01:59.956 --> 0:02:02.996 it be that long? I can't believe it. Yeah, amazing. 0:02:03.396 --> 0:02:06.316 I don't think you've done the Johnny Cash albums either 0:02:06.516 --> 0:02:09.636 at that time. Really, I must have and you you 0:02:09.716 --> 0:02:13.196 hadn't done. I know you wouldn't done the Neil Diamond one. Really, 0:02:13.516 --> 0:02:16.116 Is that true? Yeah? Yeah? Yeah, because I remember when 0:02:16.116 --> 0:02:19.316 the Neil Diamond one, I called him and said how 0:02:19.356 --> 0:02:22.436 good I thought the album was, and that's it's It's 0:02:22.516 --> 0:02:24.876 quite a while after I saw you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:02:24.916 --> 0:02:27.276 that was a good one. I liked that one too. Yeah, 0:02:27.316 --> 0:02:29.636 I love that album. I think it's the best album 0:02:29.716 --> 0:02:33.636 he's ever done. Wow, that's incredible. Yeah. I loved him 0:02:33.796 --> 0:02:36.476 since young, like you, you know, like like same era 0:02:36.596 --> 0:02:39.196 of I saw you guys both when I was a 0:02:39.276 --> 0:02:41.836 kid growing up on TV. Yeah, and I got to 0:02:41.876 --> 0:02:45.356 see you perform when I was young. My parents brought 0:02:45.356 --> 0:02:48.796 me to see you at Westbury Music Fair on Long Island. 0:02:49.436 --> 0:02:53.796 So I saw you. Yeah, probably sometime in the seventies, 0:02:53.796 --> 0:02:57.556 I would imagine, would that makes sense? Yeah? But with Neil, 0:02:57.676 --> 0:03:00.156 you know, we started at the same time in the sixties. 0:03:01.036 --> 0:03:04.276 I remember meeting him in London in sixty five, you 0:03:04.316 --> 0:03:06.796 know when I when I had it's not unusual and 0:03:07.996 --> 0:03:10.316 he was he was writing then for different people, you know. 0:03:11.116 --> 0:03:13.636 I think he had done something with Lulu. Yeah, he'd 0:03:13.636 --> 0:03:16.436 done a few things with British artists at the time. 0:03:16.836 --> 0:03:19.916 Tell me about the world of music. Was nineteen sixty 0:03:19.956 --> 0:03:22.476 three when you started? Yeah, when I went. I went 0:03:22.516 --> 0:03:27.036 to London in sixty three. I recorded. In sixty four, 0:03:27.676 --> 0:03:31.876 I did a song called Chills and Fever, which was 0:03:32.556 --> 0:03:35.436 which was a sort of a rocket roll thing because 0:03:36.196 --> 0:03:40.036 in those days, Peter Sullivan, the guy that became my 0:03:40.156 --> 0:03:45.076 recording manager, he saw me singing in dancels and clubs 0:03:45.076 --> 0:03:48.996 in Wales, and I was doing basically fifties rock and roll, 0:03:49.396 --> 0:03:51.756 and so he thought that that would be the way 0:03:52.476 --> 0:03:54.716 to get me going, you know. Yeah, So we found 0:03:54.716 --> 0:03:58.636 this song called Chills and Fever, which was done by 0:03:58.836 --> 0:04:01.596 I called Ronnie Love I think his name was. It 0:04:01.636 --> 0:04:03.076 was an R and B record, you know, and we 0:04:03.116 --> 0:04:05.996 sort of we made it more into a rocket roll record, 0:04:06.236 --> 0:04:09.236 and I mean it just it sort of read just 0:04:09.276 --> 0:04:12.596 said slightly but nothing. It was a hit in Australia. 0:04:12.836 --> 0:04:16.516 I remember that. So then we had to rethink, you know. 0:04:16.596 --> 0:04:20.916 And I was doing demos in London, Gordon Mills with 0:04:20.996 --> 0:04:23.436 my manager and he was writing for Leeds Music and 0:04:23.996 --> 0:04:26.916 so I used to do demos for different things and 0:04:26.956 --> 0:04:30.396 then he wrote It's not Unusual and I did the 0:04:30.476 --> 0:04:34.636 demo on it. It was for Sandy Show really, who 0:04:34.716 --> 0:04:38.036 had some hit records at the time, and so when 0:04:38.036 --> 0:04:40.516 I heard it, I said, this is it. You know, 0:04:40.556 --> 0:04:43.116 this sounds like a hit record to me. Yeah, And 0:04:43.156 --> 0:04:46.516 then Peter Sullivan said, well, if you're going to do it, 0:04:46.556 --> 0:04:48.516 you know, we've got to pump it up because it 0:04:48.596 --> 0:04:51.476 was a milder song, you know, it's a sort of 0:04:51.476 --> 0:04:54.436 a Brazil sixty six type feel to it. But I 0:04:54.516 --> 0:04:57.756 was basically fifties rock a roll music. That's where I 0:04:57.796 --> 0:05:01.676 lived really, you know before that. But then you get 0:05:01.996 --> 0:05:05.956 strange with recordings, as I'm sure you know, but it 0:05:06.076 --> 0:05:09.076 sort of starts to lay a path, you know, because 0:05:09.196 --> 0:05:12.916 I did. It's not unusual with brass. People wanted the 0:05:12.996 --> 0:05:16.156 record company anyway, Decca Records, what did more of the same, 0:05:16.756 --> 0:05:20.476 And then Bert Backer acted What's New Pushycat for the 0:05:20.516 --> 0:05:23.316 Woody Allen film, and then I go again, you know, 0:05:23.316 --> 0:05:26.516 with a pop record, and I all the time I 0:05:26.556 --> 0:05:30.796 wanted to do like Wilson Pickett, you know, and I 0:05:30.916 --> 0:05:33.556 was into soul music by that time, but I could 0:05:33.596 --> 0:05:37.356 never get an original song, you know. If I was 0:05:37.396 --> 0:05:40.756 going to do a soul type thing, it was it 0:05:40.756 --> 0:05:43.436 would have to be covers, you know. So What's New 0:05:43.476 --> 0:05:45.836 Pushy Cat? Then we didn't know what to do after that, 0:05:46.236 --> 0:05:48.236 so then I did The Green Green Grass of Home. 0:05:48.276 --> 0:05:52.916 So it's always different things sort of pop up. Originally 0:05:52.916 --> 0:05:55.356 it was more fifties rock and roll for you yeah, 0:05:55.396 --> 0:05:57.916 oh yeah. When I was doing in the clubs and 0:05:58.236 --> 0:06:01.316 pubs and dance halls in Wales where I come from, 0:06:02.156 --> 0:06:04.636 South Wales, that's what I was doing. You know, it 0:06:04.676 --> 0:06:07.876 was Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis Presley and Fats Domino, 0:06:07.996 --> 0:06:10.796 Chuck Berry, a little rich they were. They were the ones, 0:06:10.836 --> 0:06:13.316 you know when I listened to all the record those 0:06:13.356 --> 0:06:17.476 records today still sound fantastic. Yeah, Little Richard records, it 0:06:17.556 --> 0:06:20.956 sound like they're going to explode. They're so exciting. Oh, 0:06:20.996 --> 0:06:24.516 you know, to get away from those sometimes I'll try 0:06:24.516 --> 0:06:28.076 and listen to the radio nowadays, you know, which which 0:06:28.116 --> 0:06:30.876 says some there's some decent stuff. But once I start 0:06:30.956 --> 0:06:33.996 to stop playing fifties rock and roll music, I got 0:06:34.396 --> 0:06:36.836 I got a job to get away from it. As 0:06:36.836 --> 0:06:40.876 far as listening is concerned, I'm boogie records, you know. 0:06:40.916 --> 0:06:44.036 I love boogie woogie. You know, Pete Johnson and Albert 0:06:44.036 --> 0:06:48.516 Hammonds and mid Lux Lewis, professor long hair, you know 0:06:48.516 --> 0:06:52.356 those people. I love that kind of stuff. How about 0:06:52.356 --> 0:06:55.116 the blues? Has the blues been a part of your 0:06:55.116 --> 0:06:58.756 repertoire as well listening? Yeah? Well, when I was young ish, 0:06:58.876 --> 0:07:01.676 I was always listening to voices. I liked the way 0:07:01.756 --> 0:07:05.796 people sounded. I think that's what it was. So like 0:07:05.916 --> 0:07:10.196 when I hit Majeleia Jackson sing, Oh my God, you know, 0:07:10.236 --> 0:07:13.436 those those gospel songs came to life. I mean, we 0:07:13.436 --> 0:07:17.036 were singing those songs in chapel, in the Presbyterian Chapel, 0:07:17.596 --> 0:07:20.356 same songs, you know, a lot of them were, but 0:07:20.636 --> 0:07:24.956 not like that. So that got me interested in black 0:07:24.956 --> 0:07:29.676 gospel music and rhythm and blues, you know, but mostly 0:07:30.356 --> 0:07:33.796 New Orleans type. You know. I loved Louis Armstrong. I 0:07:33.836 --> 0:07:37.356 loved that stuff that was coming out of New Orleans. 0:07:38.036 --> 0:07:41.396 The blues. As far as the blues were concerned, Lead 0:07:41.436 --> 0:07:44.236 Belly I'd heard, but my favorite was always Big Bill 0:07:44.276 --> 0:07:47.916 bruns was always more musical to me than some of 0:07:47.956 --> 0:07:50.276 the other ones that came a little later, like Muddy Waters, 0:07:50.316 --> 0:07:52.676 you know, and there was more of sort of electric 0:07:52.676 --> 0:07:56.316 blues with Big Bill Brunsy. He was playing acoustic acoustic 0:07:56.356 --> 0:08:01.756 guitar and like fingerstyle, you know, more than but very rhythmic, 0:08:01.796 --> 0:08:05.836 you know. He was very rhythmic within himself, just playing 0:08:05.876 --> 0:08:08.836 and singing. So as far as the blues was concerned, 0:08:08.836 --> 0:08:11.316 I would say Big Bill Brunsey was was the one 0:08:11.316 --> 0:08:14.756 that I was listening to. There. Have you ever considered 0:08:14.756 --> 0:08:18.196 making a gospel album? Yeah, well, when I did Praise 0:08:18.196 --> 0:08:21.916 and Blame, you know, with Ethan John's we did. We 0:08:21.996 --> 0:08:24.876 did some Ain't No Grave, you know, going to hold 0:08:24.876 --> 0:08:27.476 My Body down in and we did quite a few 0:08:27.516 --> 0:08:32.516 gospel songs then, but I've never actually recorded a whole 0:08:32.676 --> 0:08:36.156 album of gospel songs, which it could happen. And the 0:08:36.196 --> 0:08:39.516 same thing with blues. There's a lot of big Bill 0:08:39.556 --> 0:08:43.436 Brunsey stuff that I would love to I would love 0:08:43.476 --> 0:08:46.836 to do. There's a lot of possibilities. It's always, as 0:08:46.836 --> 0:08:49.276 you know, it's where do I Where do I go 0:08:49.356 --> 0:08:53.036 from here? You know what? But you've got to have 0:08:53.116 --> 0:08:56.196 some kind of theme. You've got to have some kind 0:08:56.196 --> 0:08:59.516 of idea to link the stuff together, as opposed to 0:08:59.596 --> 0:09:03.996 just going in there and recording a mishmash of material. 0:09:04.596 --> 0:09:08.556 Because I like so many different types of songs as well, 0:09:08.596 --> 0:09:10.996 you see, yeah, you know, I mean I still love 0:09:10.996 --> 0:09:13.756 Frankie Lane, you know when Frankie Lane came out, So 0:09:13.796 --> 0:09:17.636 I like those big sort of soulful ballads, you know, 0:09:17.716 --> 0:09:20.756 like I believe. Yeah, But then again that's of a 0:09:20.836 --> 0:09:23.916 gospel nature as well. You see, in the early days 0:09:23.956 --> 0:09:26.556 in Wales, what was the music scene, like you were 0:09:26.596 --> 0:09:28.876 of rock and roll age. It's funny because the perception 0:09:28.876 --> 0:09:31.236 of you is not in the world of rock and roll. No, 0:09:31.356 --> 0:09:35.756 I know, I know, but as I was saying recording 0:09:35.796 --> 0:09:39.156 those songs in my early record, it's it's not unusual, 0:09:39.476 --> 0:09:41.196 you know, and then what's your pushy at it? It 0:09:41.316 --> 0:09:45.996 sort of takes you that way. But my love has 0:09:46.036 --> 0:09:50.516 always been fifties rock and roll music before anything else. Yeah, 0:09:50.636 --> 0:09:54.396 Jerry le Lewis is still Jerry le Lewis. Yeah. And 0:09:54.436 --> 0:09:58.996 I suppose agewise, you were probably contemporary with the Beatles now, yeah, well, 0:09:59.036 --> 0:10:03.036 the same thing. See, we were all the Beatles, the Stones, 0:10:03.996 --> 0:10:08.356 Van Morrison, Joe cockab we were all listening to those 0:10:08.676 --> 0:10:12.356 earlier fifties Walker Role music. When when anybody has asked 0:10:12.956 --> 0:10:15.436 what was the first Walker Role record, it's always Rock 0:10:15.476 --> 0:10:18.916 around the Clock from Blackboat Jungle, you know, from the movie. 0:10:19.276 --> 0:10:21.516 And I know everybody will tell you the same thing, 0:10:21.756 --> 0:10:25.236 all of our age. And then when I when I 0:10:25.316 --> 0:10:29.276 realized that they when I'd asked musicians about them later on, 0:10:29.876 --> 0:10:33.436 that things were might individually would say had never done 0:10:33.436 --> 0:10:37.996 with a rhythm section before. That's why they sounded so hot. So, 0:10:38.636 --> 0:10:41.836 you know, I remember asking Count Basie about it, you know, 0:10:41.876 --> 0:10:44.636 I said, what do you think of rock a room music? 0:10:44.676 --> 0:10:47.716 You know, Why do you think it sounded so different? 0:10:47.756 --> 0:10:50.676 He said, because they spent more money on it. He said, 0:10:50.676 --> 0:10:53.916 this all comes from rhythm and blues really, but those 0:10:53.956 --> 0:10:57.316 early black records that were being made, they didn't have 0:10:57.356 --> 0:11:00.156 the money to spend, you know, to make them sound 0:11:00.796 --> 0:11:03.676 like the records. Then that came later, like when when 0:11:03.716 --> 0:11:06.396 Little Richard then came on the scene. They were black 0:11:06.436 --> 0:11:09.516 records still, you know, but they sounded much better than 0:11:09.596 --> 0:11:13.436 the earlier records. You know that the black entertainers recorded. 0:11:14.116 --> 0:11:16.436 Living in Wales, was it hard to hear this music? 0:11:16.916 --> 0:11:19.316 How did you get to hear it? Yeah? While on 0:11:19.356 --> 0:11:22.916 the radio, you see. But the BBC they had to 0:11:22.956 --> 0:11:26.916 play everything because we didn't have any regional stations, you know, 0:11:26.956 --> 0:11:30.156 we didn't have a gospel station or a country station. 0:11:30.316 --> 0:11:33.636 It was all the BBC. And then there was a 0:11:34.556 --> 0:11:39.436 station that came out of Germany called Radio Luxembourg that 0:11:39.596 --> 0:11:42.476 you could get if you had the right wilet, you know, 0:11:42.516 --> 0:11:44.996 the right radio set you could you could pick that 0:11:45.076 --> 0:11:50.316 up and they played more blues, gospel, country than rock 0:11:50.396 --> 0:11:54.156 and roll. And when I heard something and I thought, 0:11:54.196 --> 0:11:56.876 what is that? You know, why is that different? Because 0:11:56.916 --> 0:12:00.116 you know, I was born in nineteen forty so the 0:12:00.116 --> 0:12:03.836 big band music was still being played, you know, and 0:12:03.996 --> 0:12:07.836 and Frank Sinatra and those singers that sang with bands, 0:12:08.436 --> 0:12:10.676 you know, they were bands that were that were being 0:12:11.476 --> 0:12:14.756 So that was the music. I'm very Lynn you know 0:12:14.836 --> 0:12:18.076 in the war after the war, those songs that Very 0:12:18.156 --> 0:12:21.076 Lynn would sing. So they were the things that I've heard. 0:12:21.316 --> 0:12:25.636 But then you get that occasional American R and B, 0:12:25.916 --> 0:12:30.316 you know, a blues record that would come on or gospel, 0:12:30.796 --> 0:12:33.236 you know, and I knew it was different, and a 0:12:33.276 --> 0:12:37.036 lot of people my age, we were we were being 0:12:37.036 --> 0:12:39.036 influenced by that. You know, when you heard it, you 0:12:39.156 --> 0:12:42.476 think that's different, Why is that different? Why does that 0:12:42.516 --> 0:12:45.756 sound like that? Who is that? And then you look 0:12:45.876 --> 0:12:48.596 you look into it. Then what were the other big 0:12:48.716 --> 0:12:51.436 voices from your youth that you just felt like, these 0:12:51.436 --> 0:12:55.236 are the voices that are inspiring. Well, Frankie Laine was 0:12:55.276 --> 0:13:00.476 definitely one. And Billy Daniels and Old black Magic. You 0:13:00.476 --> 0:13:04.036 know when he sang old black Magic, I get I 0:13:04.076 --> 0:13:06.636 get a kick out of you. You know, that was 0:13:06.716 --> 0:13:10.876 different that he sang it, different to what Frank Sonato did, 0:13:11.236 --> 0:13:14.236 Billy Eckstein when he did I Get a kick it 0:13:14.316 --> 0:13:16.596 was like you know he meant that he was really 0:13:16.596 --> 0:13:19.476 getting the kick it was, you know, yeah, the way 0:13:19.516 --> 0:13:23.356 with the words so oh in Tennessee Ernie Ford. When 0:13:23.396 --> 0:13:26.676 I first heard those boogie records that Tennessee Ernie Ford 0:13:26.716 --> 0:13:30.356 did Catfish Boogie and Black Betty Boogie, and I think 0:13:30.396 --> 0:13:34.516 they were the beginning of that rock and roll sound 0:13:34.996 --> 0:13:36.636 you know that was being done because it was a 0:13:36.676 --> 0:13:40.196 heavily piano I think it was Moon Mulligan was playing 0:13:40.196 --> 0:13:45.116 piano I think on those records, so that they were 0:13:45.156 --> 0:13:47.956 definitely different, but they were boogie records. You see. Were 0:13:47.956 --> 0:13:51.836 you a fan of any of the previous generation singers 0:13:51.836 --> 0:13:54.996 like the Sinatras that came before rock and roll was 0:13:55.036 --> 0:13:58.716 well or not so much, not so much afterwards. Funnily enough, 0:13:59.156 --> 0:14:04.596 I learned to appreciate Sinatra when I got older. No, 0:14:04.836 --> 0:14:07.996 I wasn't. I wasn't a fan of of that music, 0:14:08.596 --> 0:14:11.116 you know, and roll. When rock and roll kicked in, 0:14:11.156 --> 0:14:12.556 it was like a breath of fresh air. You know, 0:14:12.596 --> 0:14:15.476 it was like, oh my god, you know, this is 0:14:16.156 --> 0:14:21.516 this is tremendous. And all the musicians, you know, when 0:14:21.556 --> 0:14:24.396 singers at the time hated it, you know, the established 0:14:24.436 --> 0:14:28.596 singers because they couldn't do it, yeah, you know, And 0:14:28.636 --> 0:14:31.516 it's a strange thing because I was talking to musicians 0:14:31.996 --> 0:14:34.956 when I was in the fifties. I was working in 0:14:34.996 --> 0:14:38.836 a glove factory making gloves, and all these glove cutters, 0:14:38.876 --> 0:14:42.236 these guys that were making the gloves by hand, they 0:14:42.276 --> 0:14:44.996 were musicians, you know, they were amateur musicians, are playing 0:14:44.996 --> 0:14:48.076 in dance bans and everything, and rock and roll would 0:14:48.116 --> 0:14:50.276 come on the radio and I would be like with 0:14:50.356 --> 0:14:54.076 the ruler, you know, banging this desk. Work to do 0:14:54.236 --> 0:14:57.956 one too was like Jesus. So they said, what is 0:14:57.996 --> 0:15:00.716 that crap? You know? And I said, well, what's the 0:15:00.716 --> 0:15:04.676 matter with you? It's tremendous. And they were trying to 0:15:04.716 --> 0:15:08.196 get me to listen to, you know, other other music, 0:15:08.636 --> 0:15:11.476 and I said, nah, no, this this is it, and 0:15:12.156 --> 0:15:14.476 they said, well it's it's it's nothing. It's easy to do. 0:15:14.836 --> 0:15:16.796 Then I would go and watch them in these bands 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:19.596 that they were playing in and they would try and 0:15:19.636 --> 0:15:22.676 play them, you know, and they couldn't do it. They 0:15:22.716 --> 0:15:27.116 just could not do it. It's a strange thing. Elvis 0:15:27.156 --> 0:15:28.876 Presley used to talk about it when he first went 0:15:28.916 --> 0:15:33.276 on television to try and get those TV bands in America, 0:15:33.476 --> 0:15:37.156 like the Dorsey brothers. When he went on there, they 0:15:37.196 --> 0:15:40.356 couldn't play it. Yeah, Quincy Jones was telling me, he said, 0:15:40.396 --> 0:15:43.596 they it wasn't happening. Yeah, and until he until he 0:15:43.636 --> 0:15:47.676 brought his rhythm section in, you know. So it's a 0:15:47.716 --> 0:15:50.956 strange thing. And boogie, you know, boogie music is the same. 0:15:51.316 --> 0:15:53.596 You know a lot of piano players they don't think 0:15:53.676 --> 0:15:56.916 much of boogie boogie, but get him to play it. Yeah, 0:15:56.956 --> 0:15:59.356 it's the it's a feel thing. It's like, if you 0:15:59.396 --> 0:16:02.876 don't feel it, it's not it's not about playing it right, 0:16:03.076 --> 0:16:06.876 It's about feeling it. And the same the way you sing, 0:16:07.236 --> 0:16:10.756 even though you have essentially what feels like an operatic voice, 0:16:11.476 --> 0:16:15.436 there's a groove always when you're singing. So I asked 0:16:15.436 --> 0:16:18.596 about the blues earlier. It's like it feels like there's 0:16:18.356 --> 0:16:24.356 a groovyness always. Yeah, in your interpretations, you know, there's 0:16:24.356 --> 0:16:27.516 always a blues There's a blues element on all the 0:16:27.556 --> 0:16:30.916 songs that I've done, you know, even the ballads. There's 0:16:31.276 --> 0:16:34.996 I tend to lean towards bluesy notes, you know, whenever 0:16:35.076 --> 0:16:39.236 I can inject them in there. Yeah, you know, it 0:16:39.276 --> 0:16:41.356 sounds more like you, and it makes it feel more 0:16:41.396 --> 0:16:44.276 personal and it makes it feel more soulful and more 0:16:44.356 --> 0:16:47.516 from the heart than just singing the notes of the song, 0:16:47.596 --> 0:16:50.356 you know. Yeah, well that's that's what I felt about 0:16:50.396 --> 0:16:53.276 a lot of the singers that came prior to to that, 0:16:53.396 --> 0:16:56.676 you know, the big band things, and the songs didn't 0:16:56.716 --> 0:17:00.436 didn't register with me, except for the ballads. I mean, 0:17:00.476 --> 0:17:04.636 I always loved my Funny Valentine, and I always loved 0:17:04.836 --> 0:17:08.916 Autumn Leaves. You're recording of Autumn Leaves is staggering. Oh, 0:17:09.156 --> 0:17:11.356 thank you, I love it. I was twenty four then, 0:17:12.836 --> 0:17:16.676 so good. Yeah, well, let you see that first album 0:17:16.716 --> 0:17:19.236 that I did, you know, along came Jones. I had 0:17:19.276 --> 0:17:21.356 to do that song. I always loved that song since 0:17:21.396 --> 0:17:24.996 I was a child. But then you know, Memphis Tennessee 0:17:25.076 --> 0:17:27.556 is also on There You See Ye and I Need 0:17:27.556 --> 0:17:29.356 You Love It. You know, I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, 0:17:29.356 --> 0:17:33.316 whoa whoa Dan Dan. You know, it's like on the 0:17:33.356 --> 0:17:36.276 same album. Yeah, how how old were you when you 0:17:36.276 --> 0:17:39.356 went to London? I was twenty three and then I 0:17:39.396 --> 0:17:41.676 recorded that I was twenty four. And how did it 0:17:41.716 --> 0:17:43.436 work out for you to get signed? And tell me? 0:17:43.556 --> 0:17:46.356 Tell me the first experience going to London. Well, when 0:17:46.356 --> 0:17:49.436 I did. I did an audition, you know, they'd heard 0:17:49.476 --> 0:17:52.516 me sing demos, you know, we were sending demos to 0:17:52.676 --> 0:17:58.476 different record companies and Decca Records. Peter Sullivan he heard 0:17:59.036 --> 0:18:01.876 the demo that I sent and asked me, when I 0:18:01.956 --> 0:18:04.676 come to London and do an audition, you know, which 0:18:04.676 --> 0:18:07.516 I did, and he said, fine, we'll sign you if 0:18:07.516 --> 0:18:11.036 you fancy it. You know, for three singles. It's like 0:18:11.076 --> 0:18:13.516 three three three strikes that you're out, you know, It's 0:18:13.596 --> 0:18:16.276 like you get three. Yeah, So we did Chills and 0:18:16.396 --> 0:18:19.396 fever where because he'd he'd heard me singing, you know, 0:18:19.436 --> 0:18:21.276 and saw me in these clubs when he came to 0:18:21.276 --> 0:18:23.836 see me and thought a rock and roll record would 0:18:23.836 --> 0:18:26.076 be the way to go. So that was the first one, 0:18:26.676 --> 0:18:28.956 and then it's not unusual it was a second record, 0:18:29.476 --> 0:18:32.556 so that I was that I was flying, then amazing 0:18:32.596 --> 0:18:35.396 and that and that essentially has been I guess it's 0:18:35.436 --> 0:18:38.156 the song most associated with you still to this day 0:18:38.556 --> 0:18:42.036 of everything. I think, yeah, yeah, it is. Well, well, 0:18:42.076 --> 0:18:44.876 I think maybe because I had a TV show with 0:18:44.956 --> 0:18:47.876 the late sixties early seventies, and we always opened the 0:18:47.916 --> 0:18:51.076 show singing that live. You know, I sang it every 0:18:51.116 --> 0:18:54.636 time live on the show. So I think people heard that, 0:18:55.396 --> 0:18:58.036 you know, more than than anything else. Because anytime anybody 0:18:58.076 --> 0:18:59.796 sees me, if they're going to sing something at me, 0:19:00.316 --> 0:19:02.836 you know it'll be It's not unusual. Tell me about 0:19:02.836 --> 0:19:05.316 the TV experience. What was that like having a TV show? 0:19:05.636 --> 0:19:09.676 It was fantastic because I could then get people on 0:19:09.796 --> 0:19:12.756 that I that I wanted, Like Jerry le Lewis was 0:19:12.796 --> 0:19:15.436 on one of the shows, Little Richard was on the shows, 0:19:15.636 --> 0:19:17.996 and then a lot of motown action of Stevie wondered 0:19:17.996 --> 0:19:20.556 had just come on the scene. Ray Charles came on. 0:19:20.836 --> 0:19:26.276 Janis Joplin came on, and she wouldn't do variety shows 0:19:26.516 --> 0:19:29.436 in those days. You know. She said, I'm only doing 0:19:29.436 --> 0:19:32.316 it because it's you. Wow. And I said, well, thank you, 0:19:32.556 --> 0:19:34.116 and we did it. We did a hell of a 0:19:34.236 --> 0:19:37.156 duet together, I remember. Great. Did you do duets with 0:19:37.196 --> 0:19:41.916 everyone who came on? Everybody? Yes, wow, fantastic. Yeah, it 0:19:41.996 --> 0:19:45.156 was tremendous. And Wilson Pickett, you know, we did Hey 0:19:45.236 --> 0:19:48.356 Jude and Barefoot and Gray and Ray Charles, you know, 0:19:48.396 --> 0:19:51.996 and yeah, everybody everybody that was around in those days. 0:19:52.036 --> 0:19:54.956 But I had a push for Little Richard and Jerry 0:19:54.996 --> 0:19:57.596 Lee Lewis you know, because they said, oh fifties Rocket 0:19:57.636 --> 0:20:00.956 rolled and I said, look please. Once the show was 0:20:00.996 --> 0:20:03.596 a success, I had more of a of a saying it. 0:20:03.836 --> 0:20:05.636 I mean I tried. I wanted to get Chuck Berry. 0:20:05.676 --> 0:20:07.956 I wanted to I wanted to get Fats Domino, you know, 0:20:07.996 --> 0:20:10.516 I wanted a lot of people. But if they weren't 0:20:10.516 --> 0:20:13.756 selling records at the time it was, it was difficult 0:20:13.756 --> 0:20:16.556 to get them on. We have to take a quick break, 0:20:16.676 --> 0:20:18.716 but we'll be right back with more from Rick Rubin 0:20:18.876 --> 0:20:25.476 and Tom Jones. We're back with more of Rick Ruben's 0:20:25.476 --> 0:20:30.196 conversation with Tom Jones. How has the live experience changed 0:20:30.236 --> 0:20:32.876 from the time you were young to now? Just in 0:20:32.996 --> 0:20:35.916 terms of what's it like, What was it like when 0:20:35.916 --> 0:20:39.676 you started, what was monitoring like, what were the audiences like, 0:20:39.836 --> 0:20:42.636 what what were the venues like? Talk about all of 0:20:42.636 --> 0:20:45.756 the different things you've seen over the years, because you've 0:20:45.836 --> 0:20:50.356 you've seen it changed completely from the early days. I imagine. 0:20:51.036 --> 0:20:54.596 Oh yeah, well, growing up in Wales, you know, I 0:20:55.156 --> 0:20:57.876 would saying first of all, in school, you know, and 0:20:58.036 --> 0:21:00.676 in chapel you know, that's what I that's what I 0:21:00.756 --> 0:21:03.556 learned to get in front of an audience gatherings and 0:21:03.756 --> 0:21:06.596 weddings and parties in the house. And I come from 0:21:07.036 --> 0:21:10.876 a large family with the aunties and uncles and cousins, 0:21:11.076 --> 0:21:14.156 and we all were all singers really, So there was 0:21:14.196 --> 0:21:17.636 a lot of singing going on in South Wales, and 0:21:17.956 --> 0:21:20.756 everybody loved singing, you know, and there were a lot 0:21:20.796 --> 0:21:23.436 of singers. So I would go and watch them when 0:21:23.436 --> 0:21:25.916 I was old enough to go into the local club, 0:21:26.516 --> 0:21:29.916 Workerman's Club, and there were singers that would get up 0:21:29.956 --> 0:21:33.076 there and sing songs Frankie Layne songs, you know, and 0:21:33.196 --> 0:21:36.316 songs like my Mother's Eyes. You know. There was this 0:21:36.396 --> 0:21:38.836 big rugby player that used to get up there and 0:21:38.916 --> 0:21:43.236 all a Sunday night, Me and my teenage you know, 0:21:43.276 --> 0:21:46.716 we'd say, oh, come on, Glenog his name was Glenog Evans, 0:21:47.156 --> 0:21:49.636 great name, come on, give us a song, you know, 0:21:49.716 --> 0:21:52.996 sing my mother's eyes, you know, sort of half making 0:21:53.036 --> 0:21:56.716 fun of him. Well by the time he finished, there 0:21:56.796 --> 0:21:59.596 wasn't a dry eye in the place, you know. I mean, 0:21:59.716 --> 0:22:03.036 this felt I could like, I mean, he'd do it, 0:22:03.396 --> 0:22:05.796 you know, he just stand there and sing the shit 0:22:05.876 --> 0:22:09.436 out of my mother's eyes and you think, oh my god, 0:22:09.756 --> 0:22:13.916 that's it. So I got that and then listening, as 0:22:13.996 --> 0:22:17.476 I say, to too early, to the blues and to 0:22:17.596 --> 0:22:20.116 gospel and stuff on the radio. You know, that's what 0:22:20.156 --> 0:22:22.756 I was listening to. So I would I would incorporate 0:22:22.796 --> 0:22:26.756 that sometimes when I would get up in, but I 0:22:26.796 --> 0:22:29.836 would always like, For instance, when I took a rock 0:22:29.876 --> 0:22:33.316 and roll band into a workermen's club. This was in 0:22:33.356 --> 0:22:37.076 the late fifties, they had never seen electric guitars in 0:22:37.796 --> 0:22:42.116 these clubs and drums, you know. But I was saying, 0:22:42.156 --> 0:22:44.876 I was singing with this local band in a YMCA. 0:22:45.356 --> 0:22:48.036 So I said to them, do you fancy coming into 0:22:48.116 --> 0:22:50.476 one of these workingmen's club because I've I used to 0:22:50.476 --> 0:22:53.396 play guitar and saying, you know, just like that in 0:22:53.436 --> 0:22:56.316 these clubs. Would you fancy it? Oh, well, we've never 0:22:56.356 --> 0:22:58.356 done it. I said, well let's try it. So we 0:22:58.476 --> 0:23:01.716 go into this workermen's club, and they had a habit. 0:23:02.116 --> 0:23:05.076 If they didn't like you, they would shout pay him off, 0:23:05.636 --> 0:23:09.476 which means pay you not to play. Yeah, just pay 0:23:09.516 --> 0:23:11.556 them and get them out here. So when we were 0:23:11.716 --> 0:23:13.916 walking in with the amplifiers you know in the guitars 0:23:13.916 --> 0:23:17.436 and the drum, oh Jesus Christ, you know, we don't 0:23:17.436 --> 0:23:19.836 want any of this crap. But I've been there before. 0:23:19.916 --> 0:23:22.636 You see, I've been to these clubs, you know, I'm saying, 0:23:22.716 --> 0:23:25.396 and I get up and saying, oh, look, fellas, you know, 0:23:25.516 --> 0:23:28.276 please give us a shot here because you know me. 0:23:28.356 --> 0:23:31.516 Oh yes, you were lovely Tommy. Tommy's got a lovely voice. 0:23:31.676 --> 0:23:34.996 But we don't want this rock and roll. So I 0:23:35.076 --> 0:23:37.196 said to the band the first time, I remembered it 0:23:37.396 --> 0:23:40.396 so well, and I said, look, we'll start off with 0:23:40.596 --> 0:23:43.916 I believe fully enough. Yes, I said, we'll do it. 0:23:44.076 --> 0:23:46.596 We'll do it. I believe We'll do my mother's eyes, 0:23:47.196 --> 0:23:50.116 we'll do we'll do my Yiddish, your mamma, because I 0:23:50.196 --> 0:23:53.396 heard Billy Daniels do it. So we would do these things. 0:23:53.556 --> 0:23:56.436 And then when everybody was like, yes, yes, we get it, 0:23:56.636 --> 0:23:59.116 we love it, all of a sudden that that that 0:23:59.476 --> 0:24:01.276 you check my nerves and you ran up, you know 0:24:01.276 --> 0:24:04.156 what I mean. It's like they were like in you know. 0:24:04.516 --> 0:24:07.956 So that was it. Yeah. And then in one night 0:24:08.076 --> 0:24:11.236 I remember from just pay them off when we first 0:24:11.236 --> 0:24:15.396 walked in about halfway through the night, the fellow that 0:24:15.396 --> 0:24:18.596 had booked us there, he said, if I called the 0:24:18.636 --> 0:24:22.156 police station and get an extension on the liquor, you know, 0:24:22.196 --> 0:24:25.916 the Liquor Loves only went to like eleven o'clock. He said, 0:24:26.316 --> 0:24:29.076 if I could get the Liquor Loves to twelve, would 0:24:29.076 --> 0:24:31.916 you play until midnight? Wow? I said, yeah, if you 0:24:32.156 --> 0:24:34.716 if you pay us a few you know, a few 0:24:34.756 --> 0:24:37.996 more pounds. So it was all in one night from 0:24:38.236 --> 0:24:42.196 pay them off to could you could you stay till midnight? 0:24:42.396 --> 0:24:45.196 I move, move all the tables and chairs back, and 0:24:45.236 --> 0:24:47.956 they all had a dance, you know. So we took 0:24:48.516 --> 0:24:52.036 rock and roll music into these workingmen's clubs and then 0:24:52.076 --> 0:24:54.356 they would have they'd have dances on different nights of 0:24:54.436 --> 0:24:56.516 the week. And they were starting then to get a 0:24:56.556 --> 0:24:59.076 lot of younger people coming in because it was a 0:24:59.156 --> 0:25:02.956 mother's of moms and dad's place to start with, which 0:25:02.956 --> 0:25:06.436 you wouldn't get a lot of teenagers going into. So 0:25:06.476 --> 0:25:08.556 then they would start to come into these places. So 0:25:08.556 --> 0:25:13.356 we built a reputation of playing pop music really, you know, 0:25:13.716 --> 0:25:15.596 but but a lot of fifties rock and roll. But 0:25:15.716 --> 0:25:18.796 it was in there and they were loving it. So cool, 0:25:18.836 --> 0:25:21.156 What a great story. I love. I love hearing about 0:25:21.236 --> 0:25:23.596 the and you ended up turning them onto rock and 0:25:23.716 --> 0:25:27.476 roll and they ended up loving it. Yeah, And I 0:25:27.756 --> 0:25:30.316 I thought to myself. If it's as long as it's 0:25:30.356 --> 0:25:33.116 presented properly, you know what I mean, as long as 0:25:33.156 --> 0:25:36.516 you go into their place, rather than try to get 0:25:36.516 --> 0:25:40.196 those older people to come into a dance hall with 0:25:40.316 --> 0:25:45.636 a band playing all records being played, rock and roll records. 0:25:45.836 --> 0:25:48.036 You know, they wouldn't be they wouldn't they wouldn't want 0:25:48.036 --> 0:25:50.196 to go and do that. But go to them with 0:25:50.276 --> 0:25:53.796 it and present it in a way. As long as 0:25:53.796 --> 0:25:55.876 you can do some ballads as well, you know, as 0:25:55.876 --> 0:25:58.836 long as you can do stuff that they can understand, 0:25:59.476 --> 0:26:02.796 then you can do Johnny be Good, you know. Yeah, 0:26:02.916 --> 0:26:05.796 what were the first performances you did once you were 0:26:05.796 --> 0:26:08.756 in London? What were those like? Well, it was I 0:26:08.836 --> 0:26:10.956 was doing them mostly in South Wales and then came 0:26:10.996 --> 0:26:13.516 in and did the record contract, you know, got the 0:26:13.556 --> 0:26:16.716 records out. Then I was playing quite a lot of 0:26:17.236 --> 0:26:23.156 American basses because the Americans were still in Britain, you know, 0:26:23.196 --> 0:26:26.716 in the early sixties, you know, air force bases especially, 0:26:27.516 --> 0:26:31.116 so we would go and play these places. So I 0:26:31.156 --> 0:26:36.196 became very popular in these American Air Force bases when 0:26:36.236 --> 0:26:39.596 I had It's not unusual what even before that, before 0:26:39.596 --> 0:26:42.916 I had the hit record, we would play them and 0:26:42.996 --> 0:26:45.636 so I knew a lot of American songs, you see, 0:26:45.876 --> 0:26:49.156 which the gis loved. So I was you know, we 0:26:49.396 --> 0:26:52.236 sort of built up a bit of a reputation in 0:26:52.276 --> 0:26:55.796 these American servicemen's clubs. What was the first time he 0:26:55.836 --> 0:26:58.756 came to the United States? That was to do an 0:26:58.756 --> 0:27:03.276 At Sullivan show. Fantastic, yeah, in the early sixty five. 0:27:04.036 --> 0:27:07.436 It was amazing. It's not unusual. Came out in January 0:27:07.636 --> 0:27:11.636 the twenty second, nineteen sixty five, and it was number 0:27:11.676 --> 0:27:15.116 one by March the first, you know, in Britain, and 0:27:15.196 --> 0:27:17.196 it was released in the States and he went to 0:27:17.276 --> 0:27:22.076 number ten on the one hundred Top one hundred. So 0:27:22.116 --> 0:27:25.636 then they booked me on the Ed Sullivan Show, and 0:27:25.676 --> 0:27:29.276 I became he liked me, you know, so I think 0:27:29.276 --> 0:27:32.756 I did like six d Sullivan shows. Wow. Great, Yeah 0:27:32.836 --> 0:27:36.156 in sixty five, and the TV had gone to color, 0:27:36.436 --> 0:27:40.436 so they couldn't transmit in color from New York, so 0:27:40.596 --> 0:27:42.796 the Ed Sullivan Show had to go to Los Angeles 0:27:43.156 --> 0:27:46.556 to transmit in color. So then I went to to 0:27:46.676 --> 0:27:51.316 La I met Elvis Presley. Wow, how was that Trema? 0:27:51.796 --> 0:27:54.356 I mean, when I used to sing in these clubs 0:27:54.356 --> 0:27:56.996 in ways, right, and I would do Elvis Presley songs 0:27:57.476 --> 0:28:00.636 of course, and my friends used to say, wow, Tom, 0:28:00.876 --> 0:28:02.956 you know you sing that as good as Elvis Presley. 0:28:03.276 --> 0:28:06.076 I said, well, I'll tell him that, and they said, oh, 0:28:06.476 --> 0:28:09.636 come on, you know, I said, I said, I got 0:28:09.676 --> 0:28:12.636 a feeling that I'm going to meet Elvis Presley. I 0:28:12.676 --> 0:28:16.436 had this feeling. So when I went to Paramount Studios 0:28:16.596 --> 0:28:19.596 in the LA to talk about a song for a movie, 0:28:19.876 --> 0:28:21.916 and they said, Elvis is here today and he would 0:28:21.956 --> 0:28:24.396 like to meet you. Jesus. I mean this was in 0:28:24.476 --> 0:28:28.396 September of sixty five. Wow, you know, And I said, 0:28:28.556 --> 0:28:30.636 my god, I didn't even know that he knew anything 0:28:30.636 --> 0:28:33.756 about me. So I went on to the set and 0:28:33.836 --> 0:28:36.036 he was in a mock helicopter. He was doing this 0:28:36.436 --> 0:28:38.636 the trades Fair I think the movie was with this 0:28:38.716 --> 0:28:42.276 little girl in this helicopter. And I'm standing in the 0:28:42.316 --> 0:28:45.796 back of the set close set in this hangar with 0:28:45.956 --> 0:28:49.876 the Memphis Mafia, and they stopped filming and he waves, 0:28:50.676 --> 0:28:53.116 you know. So I'm like just standing there and they 0:28:53.116 --> 0:28:55.596 said to me, Elvis is waving at you, you know. 0:28:56.156 --> 0:28:59.596 Oh really, So I waved back and I had a 0:28:59.636 --> 0:29:02.436 song out at the time. It was my third single. 0:29:02.756 --> 0:29:07.196 It was a ballad called with These Hands, and Elvis 0:29:07.276 --> 0:29:11.076 Presley come out of the helicopter and he's walking towards me, 0:29:11.396 --> 0:29:15.796 singing with these hands. And I thought, my god, if 0:29:15.836 --> 0:29:18.596 the boy's back home could see me now, you know. 0:29:19.276 --> 0:29:20.996 And he did it like Alvis Presley, you know, he 0:29:21.076 --> 0:29:22.556 pointed at me at the same time, you know what 0:29:22.556 --> 0:29:24.436 I mean, the way Alvis used to put his hand up, 0:29:24.436 --> 0:29:27.516 you know, and he's like with his hair, I will 0:29:27.596 --> 0:29:30.436 cling to you. And I thought, my god, here comes 0:29:30.476 --> 0:29:38.156 Elvis Presley singing my song. It was like it was surreal, unbelievable, unbelievable. 0:29:38.516 --> 0:29:40.716 It sounds like a dream. What you're describing a dream. 0:29:40.916 --> 0:29:43.036 It was like a dream. And he said to me, 0:29:43.156 --> 0:29:46.676 how the hell do you sing like that? Honestly? And 0:29:46.796 --> 0:29:51.476 I said, it's listening to people like you. He said yeah, 0:29:51.476 --> 0:29:53.436 but I was brought up with it, you know. He said, 0:29:53.436 --> 0:29:57.276 I was going into black gospel churches as a boy. 0:29:57.556 --> 0:30:00.836 Do you have any black gospel churches in Wales? I 0:30:00.996 --> 0:30:03.956 said no, you know, the only black people are down 0:30:03.996 --> 0:30:07.156 in Cardiff, in Tiger Bay, you know. But I said, 0:30:07.196 --> 0:30:10.316 it's it's from the radio that i've I've these songs. 0:30:10.716 --> 0:30:13.996 And he couldn't believe that I sound like I sound 0:30:14.116 --> 0:30:16.956 coming from where I came from. Yes, you know, yes, 0:30:17.196 --> 0:30:19.236 unless you were born there, you know, unless you were 0:30:19.276 --> 0:30:21.796 born that he couldn't understand it. Yeah, but in the 0:30:21.876 --> 0:30:24.956 same way he got to hear it by being there. 0:30:25.236 --> 0:30:26.996 You got to hear it by hearing it on the radio. 0:30:27.036 --> 0:30:29.636 But it was still it was still coming through one 0:30:29.636 --> 0:30:32.596 way or another. The inspiration was there, and you were 0:30:32.596 --> 0:30:35.396 exposed to it and you got to feel it. Yes, 0:30:35.756 --> 0:30:38.796 I knew the difference when I would hear my Halio 0:30:38.916 --> 0:30:42.916 Jackson sing, you know, I would know the difference for 0:30:43.036 --> 0:30:45.476 the sound of her voice. So I was attracted to it. 0:30:45.716 --> 0:30:49.276 So just like Elvis was more attracted to black gospel 0:30:49.356 --> 0:30:52.556 churches as he was to white you know. So you've 0:30:52.596 --> 0:30:56.076 got to be attracted to it in order to know 0:30:56.196 --> 0:30:59.316 what it is, and whether it's on the radio or 0:30:59.316 --> 0:31:02.716 whether it's life, you've got to go to and think, well, 0:31:02.756 --> 0:31:04.916 what is what is that? You know? Why is that 0:31:05.036 --> 0:31:10.196 sounding so wonderful and uplifting and unreal that they sound 0:31:10.316 --> 0:31:12.516 like they mean it? When you when you came to 0:31:12.556 --> 0:31:14.356 the US to do the Ed Sullivan Show, would you 0:31:14.396 --> 0:31:19.476 also do live performances for audiences as well. I couldn't 0:31:19.476 --> 0:31:21.476 bring my band, you see, so that was a problem. 0:31:21.916 --> 0:31:25.956 So I had nobody to do shows with. Really. I 0:31:25.996 --> 0:31:29.076 remember the first time I met Little Richard was in 0:31:29.156 --> 0:31:32.516 sixty five, and I'd seen him do shows in England, 0:31:32.836 --> 0:31:36.036 you know before. But I was in Los Angeles doing 0:31:36.076 --> 0:31:38.636 the Ed Sullivan Show. So I said to my manager, 0:31:38.756 --> 0:31:41.716 I think I'll stay for a couple of weeks, you know, 0:31:41.796 --> 0:31:44.556 just to see what's happening in LA. And so he 0:31:44.636 --> 0:31:47.276 said to me, well, look, your visa has run out. Now. 0:31:47.316 --> 0:31:48.996 You know, you only get a visa for a week 0:31:49.476 --> 0:31:52.356 to do the Ed Sullivan Show. Now you know, if 0:31:52.396 --> 0:31:54.756 you're going to stay any longer than that, you're not 0:31:54.756 --> 0:31:57.476 on a visitor's visa. You know, you don't have. You're 0:31:57.596 --> 0:32:02.076 illegally in the country, right, So he said, for God's sake, 0:32:02.116 --> 0:32:05.236 don't get up in a club or something and draw 0:32:05.236 --> 0:32:08.316 attention to yourself. So I said, no, okay, I won't. 0:32:08.516 --> 0:32:10.716 So I'll go to see Little Richard. He play in 0:32:10.716 --> 0:32:14.076 a club just off sunset. So I'm backstage with him 0:32:14.116 --> 0:32:17.396 and were chatting away and it was great. And so 0:32:17.436 --> 0:32:20.196 he introduces me when he's on stage, and he asked 0:32:20.196 --> 0:32:22.156 me to get up on the stage, and I wanted 0:32:22.196 --> 0:32:24.956 it because I knew every little Richard song. So he said, 0:32:24.996 --> 0:32:27.356 come on, let's do this one. And I said, I can't. 0:32:27.356 --> 0:32:29.796 I can't, I can't. You know, I can't do it. Honestly, 0:32:29.836 --> 0:32:32.556 I would love to, and I still think of that 0:32:32.996 --> 0:32:36.036 now to this day. I think, my god, you know, 0:32:36.396 --> 0:32:38.396 why didn't I just do it? You know, but I 0:32:38.436 --> 0:32:44.036 was so scared of of immigrations, you know, I locked 0:32:44.116 --> 0:32:46.196 me up or something. But then I got him on 0:32:46.236 --> 0:32:48.756 my TV show. You see, then we did it, you 0:32:48.796 --> 0:32:51.036 know where it really mattered, you know that millions of 0:32:51.036 --> 0:32:53.956 people could then see it. So so I got my 0:32:54.276 --> 0:32:56.236 I got my wish at the end. But I would 0:32:56.276 --> 0:32:58.636 have loved to have just done that with him that night. 0:32:58.716 --> 0:33:01.356 You know, in sixty five, where did you do your 0:33:01.356 --> 0:33:06.076 TV show from? From London? Just north of London, right, yeah, 0:33:06.116 --> 0:33:09.676 Elstree Studios, And which is funny, where we do the 0:33:09.756 --> 0:33:12.476 voice from now? You know, I'm a coach on the 0:33:12.596 --> 0:33:15.116 on the voice UKA and we'll do it from the 0:33:15.156 --> 0:33:19.756 same place. Fantastic thought, my god, after all this time, 0:33:20.116 --> 0:33:22.596 you know, because that was like sixty nine, seventy seventy 0:33:22.596 --> 0:33:26.316 one when I did this is Tom Jones. So it's 0:33:26.356 --> 0:33:28.316 still a pain in the ass to get there, you know, 0:33:29.596 --> 0:33:32.196 on the road. But it's it's great that I'm still 0:33:32.316 --> 0:33:35.196 I'm still doing it, you know. So I always think 0:33:35.236 --> 0:33:37.876 of that. I think if somebody had told me back 0:33:37.916 --> 0:33:41.196 then that I would be doing still going to the 0:33:41.236 --> 0:33:45.316 studios in Elstreet now, it's it's a great feeling. It's 0:33:45.396 --> 0:33:48.276 it's a great I love it so cool. If you're 0:33:48.356 --> 0:33:50.996 up for it. Let's listen to my very favorite of 0:33:51.036 --> 0:33:54.156 your songs. Never going to fall in Love is my 0:33:54.236 --> 0:33:56.996 favorite of them all. Oh, thank you, and let's listen 0:33:56.996 --> 0:33:59.516 to that together, and then you can tell me anything 0:33:59.556 --> 0:34:15.036 you want to tell me about that one. Okay, I've 0:34:15.116 --> 0:34:21.796 been in love so many times, thought I knew the score, 0:34:24.476 --> 0:34:29.876 but now you've treated me so the wrong. I can't 0:34:29.956 --> 0:34:41.076 take anymore. And it looks like I'm never gonna fall 0:34:42.836 --> 0:35:11.476 in love. Okay, I'm never gonna fall Hello, I'm beating 0:35:11.636 --> 0:35:35.076 into fall in love. All these thingss I heard about you, 0:35:38.036 --> 0:35:43.676 I thought they were only lies. But when I caught 0:35:43.756 --> 0:35:49.756 him in his arms, I just broke down and crime 0:35:51.556 --> 0:36:20.116 and it doo slide. I'm never gonna fall in lovely, lie, no, no, no, 0:36:20.116 --> 0:36:40.156 nonna fall love. I mean it. I mean it for locking. 0:36:49.436 --> 0:36:57.956 I gave my heart so reasonly I justust aside my pride. 0:37:00.836 --> 0:37:05.836 But when you felt for someone has baby, I broke 0:37:05.996 --> 0:37:15.996 the bone side and then looks like I'm never gonna 0:37:16.156 --> 0:37:46.796 fall helloking, That's why I'm I saying no gonna Please 0:37:46.916 --> 0:38:17.876 don't make me fall so beautiful yeah, yeah. So where 0:38:17.916 --> 0:38:21.596 that song come from, Well, it was originally a song 0:38:21.636 --> 0:38:25.556 called I'm Never Gonna Cease My Wandering, which was from 0:38:26.516 --> 0:38:30.116 the depression, you know, in the thirties. And I knew 0:38:30.156 --> 0:38:33.556 the song in Wales in one of these workingmen's clubs 0:38:33.556 --> 0:38:35.076 as a fellow used to get up and sing it, 0:38:35.476 --> 0:38:37.476 I'm Never Gonna Cease My Wandering, and I thought, what 0:38:37.556 --> 0:38:40.956 a great song that is, yeah, you know. And so 0:38:40.996 --> 0:38:43.156 then I did some shows with a fella called Lonnie 0:38:43.196 --> 0:38:48.076 Donigan Yes in England skiffle Yes, skiffle yeah, which was 0:38:48.156 --> 0:38:51.796 really old sort of lead belly type blues, you know, 0:38:51.916 --> 0:38:54.676 they called it skiffle. So I did some shows with 0:38:54.756 --> 0:38:56.916 him and he said, look, I've just written a song 0:38:56.956 --> 0:38:58.436 and you would sing the shit out of it. So 0:38:58.516 --> 0:39:00.716 he played me a demo that he had done on 0:39:00.756 --> 0:39:04.396 it never gonna fall in love again. And I said, well, 0:39:04.396 --> 0:39:07.156 that's never gonna cease my wandering. He said, yes it is, 0:39:07.236 --> 0:39:10.036 but he said, there's no horace and never going to 0:39:10.076 --> 0:39:12.836 cease my wandering, you know. He said. We changed the 0:39:12.876 --> 0:39:17.076 words and then put that fall and that wasn't in 0:39:17.236 --> 0:39:20.556 any original. That wasn't there, which is the most commercial 0:39:20.596 --> 0:39:22.596 part of the song. And I said, oh, I gotta 0:39:22.636 --> 0:39:24.436 do it. I got I'm gonna try this. And so 0:39:24.476 --> 0:39:26.956 I said to Peter Sullivan, Lorne Donna Going has written 0:39:26.996 --> 0:39:29.036 a song, and I want to do it. Okay, let's 0:39:29.036 --> 0:39:31.476 do it. So we did. And then when when I 0:39:31.596 --> 0:39:34.756 did it, we used to get an ascetate, yeah, to 0:39:34.876 --> 0:39:37.596 take home, you know, to play it at home. And 0:39:37.636 --> 0:39:41.396 I took it home and we only had the one right, 0:39:41.636 --> 0:39:44.396 so my wife took it to my manager's house. We 0:39:44.516 --> 0:39:48.436 lived close in England. She said, this is what Thomas 0:39:48.476 --> 0:39:52.436 just done. While they were fighting over this ascetate, my 0:39:52.516 --> 0:39:56.636 wife and my manager's wife to keep it. That night, 0:39:57.076 --> 0:39:59.396 my wife says, you know, it's my husband saying it. 0:39:59.676 --> 0:40:03.436 She said, yeah, but my husband managers. There was a 0:40:03.516 --> 0:40:06.676 big fight over this one ascetate because that was the 0:40:06.716 --> 0:40:09.636 only copy that we had at that point, So to 0:40:09.716 --> 0:40:12.596 get two women fighting over, you know, over the song. 0:40:12.636 --> 0:40:14.516 I thought it was a good this is good, this 0:40:14.596 --> 0:40:17.076 is this is gonna be a hit, and of course 0:40:17.116 --> 0:40:20.716 it was not good. Yeah, it's such a great song, 0:40:20.836 --> 0:40:23.476 the energy of it, and and yes, the hookiness of 0:40:23.516 --> 0:40:27.396 the chorus. It's got a real sing along chorus and 0:40:27.476 --> 0:40:30.396 the vocal performance is just stunning. And you save the 0:40:30.796 --> 0:40:33.916 big note for the ends, almost like a Roy Orbison type. 0:40:33.956 --> 0:40:38.316 I mean, you're not singing like him, but but the drama, 0:40:39.076 --> 0:40:41.956 the big note at the end where you can't like, 0:40:42.076 --> 0:40:44.356 you can't think it could get any more dramatic, and 0:40:44.396 --> 0:40:47.836 then you go there. It's so beautiful, but a great song. Yeah, 0:40:49.476 --> 0:40:51.356 we'll be right back after a break with more from 0:40:51.396 --> 0:40:57.716 Tom Jones and Rick Rubin. We're back with the rest 0:40:57.756 --> 0:41:01.356 of Rick Rubin's conversation with Tom Jones. So talk more 0:41:01.396 --> 0:41:04.436 about live performances and where were the types of places 0:41:04.436 --> 0:41:08.276 you played once you started having success and anywhere in 0:41:08.276 --> 0:41:11.276 the world. Right, So it went from I played these 0:41:11.356 --> 0:41:16.276 Air Force bases, American places in and around London and 0:41:16.316 --> 0:41:19.716 we would play then ballrooms, you know, dance halls. People 0:41:19.756 --> 0:41:23.796 that had hit records in those days would play either 0:41:23.916 --> 0:41:28.556 theaters or dancehols, you know, one show at night, and 0:41:28.676 --> 0:41:31.076 some of them were on peers. You know. They used 0:41:31.116 --> 0:41:35.156 to have you know, peers in seaside resorts and you'd 0:41:35.516 --> 0:41:37.196 have a dance hall at the end of the pier, 0:41:37.676 --> 0:41:41.036 just like in the state, said the same thing. So 0:41:41.836 --> 0:41:45.436 we would then go and play these dancehols in the summertime, 0:41:45.556 --> 0:41:49.236 especially on the end of these peers. But then we 0:41:49.276 --> 0:41:54.476 started getting interests coming from northern nightclubs in the North 0:41:54.516 --> 0:41:57.716 of England. So my manager and my agent, they said, 0:41:57.796 --> 0:42:01.676 we get a lot of requests from clubs, dancehols as well, 0:42:01.796 --> 0:42:05.676 and theaters as well. But these clubs now, you know 0:42:05.756 --> 0:42:07.796 up in the North of England, they're putting on a 0:42:07.796 --> 0:42:12.476 lot of cabaret shows which were like mini Vegas. When 0:42:12.476 --> 0:42:15.156 I went to Vegas, i saw you know, the showrooms 0:42:15.236 --> 0:42:19.116 in Las Vegas, and they had things very similar, not 0:42:19.196 --> 0:42:22.436 as grand, but in the North of England they had 0:42:22.436 --> 0:42:25.156 these nightclubs, you see, because they had casinos as well, 0:42:25.236 --> 0:42:27.636 you know coming in there. So then I started playing 0:42:27.636 --> 0:42:32.916 these northern clubs while they were like glorified workingmen's clubs 0:42:32.916 --> 0:42:35.356 that I had played in South Wales. So that's what 0:42:35.716 --> 0:42:40.356 what happened. So it's been a problem, maybe a nice problem, 0:42:40.396 --> 0:42:43.636 I don't know. But my audience has always been a 0:42:43.756 --> 0:42:47.556 wide variety of people, you see. So I could play 0:42:47.556 --> 0:42:50.116 the kids, you know, even in Wales, I could play 0:42:50.156 --> 0:42:54.996 a ymca to teenagers on a on a Friday night 0:42:55.276 --> 0:42:58.196 and play a workingmen's club on a Saturday to adults. 0:42:58.796 --> 0:43:02.236 So the same thing basically has gone through my career. 0:43:02.676 --> 0:43:05.436 I would play the Talk of the Town, for instance, 0:43:05.516 --> 0:43:08.316 which was a huge nightclub in London in the sixties, 0:43:08.676 --> 0:43:10.916 and my agent, my American agent, came to see me 0:43:10.956 --> 0:43:13.036 there and he said, you've got to play the Copacabana 0:43:13.076 --> 0:43:16.316 in New York. This is where where it's hat. So 0:43:16.716 --> 0:43:20.236 I said, okay. So then I played the Copacabanner and 0:43:20.276 --> 0:43:23.636 they were saying, to be funny enough, they said, are 0:43:23.676 --> 0:43:25.516 you scared, you know, because it's like a lot of 0:43:25.556 --> 0:43:28.676 gangsters go in there. And I said, excuse me. If 0:43:28.716 --> 0:43:32.236 you've played, if you've sung to coal miners and their 0:43:32.316 --> 0:43:36.436 wives and girlfriends, you know, the mafia does a scape. 0:43:36.836 --> 0:43:39.636 It's the only differences. They got guns, you know, we 0:43:39.676 --> 0:43:42.556 didn't have guns. But to get over to those people, 0:43:42.956 --> 0:43:45.116 you know, you've got to be able to deliver. So 0:43:45.436 --> 0:43:47.836 that was a big thing. In sixty eight. I played 0:43:47.876 --> 0:43:50.676 the Talk of the Town in sixty seven in London, 0:43:50.956 --> 0:43:53.116 and then sixty eight I went into the Coopa in 0:43:53.116 --> 0:43:55.676 New York and it was tremendous, you know, to play 0:43:55.916 --> 0:43:59.796 a place where all these giants of American show business 0:43:59.876 --> 0:44:02.996 had played before. Everyone. Yeah. Then that led to the 0:44:03.036 --> 0:44:07.876 Flamingo in Vegas and the Douville in Miami. You know, 0:44:07.876 --> 0:44:11.876 so a lot of these clubs then nightclubs. But then 0:44:11.876 --> 0:44:14.836 when my TV show hit, you know, became so big 0:44:15.156 --> 0:44:20.156 that I started playing arenas. Wow, you know, basketball arenas 0:44:20.636 --> 0:44:23.716 which people people have never played before, you know, they've 0:44:23.756 --> 0:44:29.436 never they'd never had musical venues. Maybe Madison Square Gardens, 0:44:29.636 --> 0:44:32.556 I think maybe it was the only one, but all 0:44:32.716 --> 0:44:37.796 all these big basketball arenas. Then I started playing because 0:44:37.796 --> 0:44:40.356 the club's got too small. Even though I was still 0:44:40.356 --> 0:44:42.396 playing Las Vegas. You know, I would still go back 0:44:42.396 --> 0:44:46.476 to Vegas, which I used to moan about because I say, 0:44:46.716 --> 0:44:48.916 how come I can make as much money or one night, 0:44:49.236 --> 0:44:51.996 you know, playing an arena and they got to play 0:44:52.196 --> 0:44:54.596 you know, a week, two shows a night in Las Vegas. 0:44:54.796 --> 0:44:56.756 But they said, well, you know that's that's the way 0:44:56.756 --> 0:44:59.396 it is. But there you go. You do it when 0:44:59.436 --> 0:45:01.636 you're young, you know. It's it's you get in front 0:45:01.676 --> 0:45:04.836 of up in front of people, whether it's two thousand 0:45:04.916 --> 0:45:08.316 or twenty thousand, you're performing, and that's that's what I do. 0:45:08.676 --> 0:45:12.676 How the audiences react to different songs in different parts 0:45:12.716 --> 0:45:16.956 of the world, is it pretty consistent or are there variations? 0:45:17.556 --> 0:45:19.956 It's about the Yeah, it's about the same, you know. 0:45:20.036 --> 0:45:22.956 I mean, I'm always aware if it's an English speaking audience. Yes, 0:45:23.476 --> 0:45:25.156 if you know, if I'm in Britain, or I'm in 0:45:25.196 --> 0:45:28.596 America or Australia or Canada or you know, I'm aware 0:45:28.596 --> 0:45:31.476 of it. But all of European countries, you see, all 0:45:31.516 --> 0:45:34.796 the different countries, they love all all the stuff that 0:45:34.836 --> 0:45:38.836 I do, you know. So a surprise that I had 0:45:38.876 --> 0:45:41.876 in the seventies when I went to Japan, so I said, 0:45:42.116 --> 0:45:46.516 to promote there any songs you think would go over 0:45:46.636 --> 0:45:49.676 you know, more in Japan than and he said, well, 0:45:49.716 --> 0:45:52.716 you have to do Danny Boy. I said Danny Boy, 0:45:52.836 --> 0:45:55.716 because I had done it on my TV show, you know, 0:45:55.796 --> 0:45:59.356 and they saw me doing Danny Boy, and I said, 0:45:59.396 --> 0:46:03.676 well to the Japanese people understand the story of and 0:46:03.716 --> 0:46:07.596 he said, it's the emotion. Wow, they feel your emotion 0:46:07.676 --> 0:46:09.996 when you sing it. Yeah, so that was a big 0:46:09.996 --> 0:46:12.916 surprise to me that that I had to keep Danny 0:46:12.956 --> 0:46:17.956 Boy in the show in Japan especially. Yeah. Yeah, but 0:46:18.036 --> 0:46:21.436 what I play Israel, you know, ma Yiddishamama in Israel 0:46:21.556 --> 0:46:25.716 is fantastic, fantastic. What's the part of your working life 0:46:25.716 --> 0:46:30.276 that you most enjoy being on stage? That's the fun part, 0:46:30.396 --> 0:46:33.036 you know, That's that's the part like all roads lead 0:46:33.116 --> 0:46:35.876 to the stage, yes, you know, everything that I do 0:46:36.316 --> 0:46:42.116 is it all sort of helps getting me to getting 0:46:42.196 --> 0:46:44.036 the people in there, you know, so that I can 0:46:44.116 --> 0:46:47.836 go on. But to be on the stage giving it, 0:46:48.116 --> 0:46:52.516 you know, and receiving from the audience is a tremendous feeling. 0:46:52.516 --> 0:46:56.036 There's nothing else like it. It's like the closest thing 0:46:56.116 --> 0:46:58.676 to sex. You know, when you're going up the steps 0:46:58.676 --> 0:47:02.236 onto the stage, you know, or just walking from the 0:47:02.236 --> 0:47:05.556 wings onto the stage is anticipation. Is the build up 0:47:05.756 --> 0:47:07.716 before you make love, you know, and when you're when 0:47:07.756 --> 0:47:11.076 you're actually you know, when you're when you're in it, 0:47:10.476 --> 0:47:14.556 it's like and then the coming down afterwards, you know, 0:47:14.596 --> 0:47:18.676 the relaxing part after you do the show. Yeah, if 0:47:18.716 --> 0:47:22.356 I go to dinner after the show, the food taste better, 0:47:22.436 --> 0:47:26.156 the wine taste better, everything beautiful. It is better after 0:47:26.236 --> 0:47:28.396 that show. Do you get nervous at all before going 0:47:28.396 --> 0:47:31.676 on stage? Well, as I say, like before sex, you know, 0:47:31.716 --> 0:47:35.796 before before making love. Let's say, you know, when you 0:47:35.836 --> 0:47:38.636 get that exciting feeling, you know, and then you get 0:47:38.636 --> 0:47:41.596 at it, of course. And then the only time if 0:47:41.636 --> 0:47:43.556 I get nervous is if I've if I've got a 0:47:43.596 --> 0:47:46.316 cold or something, you know that I feel that I'm underpowered. 0:47:46.436 --> 0:47:48.836 I'm will it work? You know? Will my voice work 0:47:49.236 --> 0:47:51.996 as well as I wanted to? So I'll get a 0:47:51.996 --> 0:47:56.036 bit nervous then, but no, excited yes, but nervous no. 0:47:56.516 --> 0:47:58.836 And how long does it take to come down after 0:47:58.876 --> 0:48:02.076 the show? Like? How soon can you sleep after a show? Oh? 0:48:02.116 --> 0:48:04.796 A long time. I'm a night owl anyway, you know. 0:48:04.836 --> 0:48:09.236 So it's show business is perfect for me because I 0:48:09.236 --> 0:48:11.316 I live at night anyway, I always have done ever 0:48:11.356 --> 0:48:14.196 since I was a kid. So it's uh, it's great. 0:48:14.276 --> 0:48:17.356 You know. I like to be awake at night. I 0:48:17.396 --> 0:48:20.396 think the world looks better at night. You know, when 0:48:20.396 --> 0:48:22.676 you're in a city, if you if you go out 0:48:22.716 --> 0:48:25.676 into a city in the daytime, it's bedlam, you know. 0:48:25.716 --> 0:48:28.596 You go out at night, things like a much calmer, Yeah, 0:48:28.636 --> 0:48:31.716 and most people are asleep, so there's less energy. Yeah, 0:48:31.756 --> 0:48:34.516 and it's a it's a more peaceful world at night, Yes, 0:48:34.636 --> 0:48:37.036 I think so. So it's it's great, you know, to 0:48:37.076 --> 0:48:39.436 go to a restaurant and you know, and and just 0:48:39.556 --> 0:48:44.356 relax with some friends and it's it's that's it's lovely. 0:48:44.396 --> 0:48:47.036 It's it's a lovely feeling, the whole thing. And if 0:48:47.036 --> 0:48:48.876 I'm going to do a runner, you know, I'm getting 0:48:48.916 --> 0:48:51.596 a limousine and go somewhere else or come on, jump 0:48:51.636 --> 0:48:55.036 on a plane, whatever it is. It's just a great 0:48:55.156 --> 0:48:59.876 feeling when when you've achieved that that show. Are you 0:48:59.956 --> 0:49:04.716 ever surprised by what songs people react to that you've sung, Yeah, 0:49:04.956 --> 0:49:07.596 going as big as as they have. Yeah. You know, 0:49:07.676 --> 0:49:10.236 when when I recorded the Green Green Grass of Home, 0:49:10.516 --> 0:49:13.596 I heard the Jerry Lee Lewis version. It was I 0:49:13.636 --> 0:49:15.956 bought it on an album in sixty five in a 0:49:16.036 --> 0:49:18.036 colony record shop in New York and he was called 0:49:18.316 --> 0:49:22.676 Country Songs for city Folk and he was doing country 0:49:22.716 --> 0:49:25.756 songs of the day, you know, of that time, and 0:49:25.956 --> 0:49:28.156 the Green Green Grass of Home was a Porter Wagner song. 0:49:28.796 --> 0:49:31.836 So he did that. But that's the first time I 0:49:31.916 --> 0:49:34.676 heard it was Jerry Lee Lewis doing it. So I thought, oh, 0:49:34.716 --> 0:49:36.796 I got to do that. You know, that's a great song, 0:49:37.436 --> 0:49:39.796 you know, a surprise thing. You know, the man is 0:49:39.876 --> 0:49:43.036 in his cell dreaming about all this, which I thought 0:49:43.116 --> 0:49:46.236 was tremendous. So I thought, well, let's try it. And 0:49:46.556 --> 0:49:50.236 it became a monster, you know, it became huge, which 0:49:50.236 --> 0:49:52.156 I didn't expect. I thought it was going to be 0:49:52.196 --> 0:49:54.596 a good record, and I think that was thanks to 0:49:54.716 --> 0:49:57.356 Les Read as well, who did the arrangement, because he, 0:49:58.196 --> 0:50:00.996 you know, he stretched it. He made it more of 0:50:01.076 --> 0:50:05.116 a pop record as opposed to a country record. You know. Yeah, 0:50:05.116 --> 0:50:07.956 so I didn't expect that. Oh and watch the Pushy 0:50:07.956 --> 0:50:11.036 Cat when I assured that. When Bert Bakrack sang that 0:50:11.076 --> 0:50:12.836 and played it to me, you know, he played the 0:50:12.836 --> 0:50:16.276 piano and sang it live, I thought he was joking. 0:50:16.436 --> 0:50:18.796 I said, you, you know, you must be joking. I 0:50:18.836 --> 0:50:22.316 can't say that. He so he demoed the record and 0:50:22.356 --> 0:50:24.156 he said take it away of I listened and live 0:50:24.236 --> 0:50:25.876 with it and see what do you think? And then 0:50:25.876 --> 0:50:28.796 I went in and recorded it. I still didn't think 0:50:28.996 --> 0:50:31.276 that there was going to be anything, and then of 0:50:31.316 --> 0:50:33.996 course you know, it was the Woody Allen film. Yes, 0:50:34.156 --> 0:50:35.956 the film was a hit, the song was a hit, 0:50:35.996 --> 0:50:38.876 and there you go. It's a strange song. It's definitely 0:50:38.956 --> 0:50:42.156 a strange song. Oh the chord changes, I mean I 0:50:42.276 --> 0:50:45.516 never heard car change just like that. You know, da 0:50:45.676 --> 0:50:49.836 da da da da da da da da da what 0:50:50.476 --> 0:50:52.676 you know? What is this? It sounds like a like 0:50:52.716 --> 0:50:56.236 a German drinking song, you know, like a beer hall song. 0:50:56.636 --> 0:50:59.876 Dash right exactly. So you don't know, you know you 0:51:00.356 --> 0:51:02.516 I didn't. I didn't think that that was gonna be 0:51:02.556 --> 0:51:05.516 as anywhere near what happened to that. Is it as 0:51:05.596 --> 0:51:08.236 much fun making music now as it's been from the 0:51:08.236 --> 0:51:11.996 beginning for you? Oh yeah, definitely. I think it's even more. 0:51:12.036 --> 0:51:16.116 You get more freedom now as when I first started off. 0:51:16.516 --> 0:51:19.636 You'd get with an arranger, you know, you'd picked the songs, 0:51:20.356 --> 0:51:23.676 you'd you'd set the key, you get the arrangement done, 0:51:23.916 --> 0:51:26.516 so all those things were done before you stepped into 0:51:26.556 --> 0:51:29.796 the studio, and then you'd have a three hour session 0:51:30.596 --> 0:51:34.116 to do three songs, and like the first hour was 0:51:34.156 --> 0:51:37.876 taken up by getting the balance, and then you'd know 0:51:37.996 --> 0:51:42.156 you'd do the other two after that, So you'd have 0:51:42.196 --> 0:51:46.236 to get three songs within three hours. Wow, And studio 0:51:46.276 --> 0:51:49.076 time was very expensive. So they told me, you know, 0:51:49.156 --> 0:51:52.556 in the record company, so it was different, and they 0:51:52.636 --> 0:51:56.636 had a singles division and then if you were selling 0:51:57.596 --> 0:52:00.836 a lot of singles, then you'd you could make an album. 0:52:00.956 --> 0:52:04.116 Then you'd go to the album section of the record company. 0:52:04.796 --> 0:52:08.636 So they had two different two different sections, and then 0:52:08.676 --> 0:52:11.116 you'd have a bit more time, but still you'd still 0:52:11.116 --> 0:52:13.876 have to try and get three songs in three hours. 0:52:14.196 --> 0:52:17.956 Now I'm going to be recording with Ethan John's you know, great, 0:52:18.156 --> 0:52:20.356 We're going to start off and go to the studio 0:52:21.116 --> 0:52:26.356 in the real world in Peter Gabriel Studio in Boxing 0:52:26.436 --> 0:52:30.756 Wilsha and which I've recorded many times, and then well 0:52:30.956 --> 0:52:32.716 we'll live there, you know. We'll go in there for 0:52:32.756 --> 0:52:36.676 a few weeks and start kicking stuff around, you know, 0:52:36.756 --> 0:52:40.236 with a rhythm section, and and see what happens. Do 0:52:40.276 --> 0:52:42.956 you ever love a song and then record it and 0:52:43.076 --> 0:52:46.436 feel like it's not right to to release. Yeah? With 0:52:46.636 --> 0:52:49.676 letd Cohen, for instance, I wanted I wanted to do 0:52:49.716 --> 0:52:52.996 a Leond Cohen song so and I loved I'm Your Man, 0:52:53.476 --> 0:52:55.556 so we went in. I thought, oh, I gotta do this, 0:52:55.796 --> 0:52:58.236 you know, yeah, you know, I'll do anything for you. 0:52:58.236 --> 0:52:59.996 You know, I'll be this and i'll be that whatever 0:53:00.036 --> 0:53:02.516 it is. I'm your man. And we were all set 0:53:02.556 --> 0:53:05.596 to do that. And then we tried it and it 0:53:05.636 --> 0:53:07.756 was okay, but it wasn't as good as I thought 0:53:07.796 --> 0:53:11.396 it would be. Then Ethan said, look, if you really 0:53:11.436 --> 0:53:15.316 like Leonard Cohen, but about Tower of Song, And I said, 0:53:15.676 --> 0:53:18.436 let me listen. Well, when I heard it, I loved it, 0:53:18.916 --> 0:53:22.756 and so we then tried it. You know, well let's 0:53:22.796 --> 0:53:26.916 try it and it was great, Oh fantastic. Well, thank 0:53:26.916 --> 0:53:29.276 you so much for doing this. It's such a pleasure. 0:53:29.516 --> 0:53:34.196 I'm a lifelong fan. I continue listening and anytime, and 0:53:34.556 --> 0:53:37.596 this was an opportunity for us to speak. And I 0:53:37.676 --> 0:53:39.516 went back and listened to a stuff that I haven't 0:53:39.556 --> 0:53:42.356 listened to recently, and again every time I hear it, 0:53:42.356 --> 0:53:45.716 it blows my mind. So I thank you. Oh good, well, 0:53:45.756 --> 0:53:47.996 thank you. I'm coming from you. That's that's a compliment 0:53:47.996 --> 0:53:50.236 because I've loved the things that you've done, you know, 0:53:50.396 --> 0:53:53.836 the records that you've made tremendous. Thank you so much. 0:53:54.276 --> 0:53:59.676 All right, Rick tick Hare, thanks to Tom Jones for 0:53:59.716 --> 0:54:03.036 taking us through his incredible career. To hear more of 0:54:03.036 --> 0:54:05.756 our favorite Tom Jones songs, check out our playlist at 0:54:05.796 --> 0:54:09.396 broken record podcast dot com. Be sure to subscrib to 0:54:09.436 --> 0:54:12.596 our YouTube channel at YouTube dot com slash broken Record Podcast, 0:54:12.716 --> 0:54:15.356 where you can find all of our new episodes. You 0:54:15.356 --> 0:54:18.676 can follow us on Twitter at broken Record. Broken Record 0:54:18.716 --> 0:54:22.076 is produced with help from Lea Rose, Jason Gambrel, Bentaladay, 0:54:22.156 --> 0:54:26.396 Eric Sandler, and Jennifer Sanchez, with engineering help from Nick Chafey. 0:54:26.476 --> 0:54:30.316 Our executive producer is Mia Lobell. Broken Record is a 0:54:30.356 --> 0:54:33.236 production of Pushkin Industries. If you like this show and 0:54:33.356 --> 0:54:37.476 others from Pushkin, consider subscribing to Pushkin Plus. Pushkin Plus 0:54:37.556 --> 0:54:41.196 is a podcast subscription that offers bonus content an uninterrupted 0:54:41.236 --> 0:54:44.476 ad free listening for four ninety nine a month. Look 0:54:44.476 --> 0:54:48.036 for Pushkin Plus on Apple podcast subscriptions, and if you 0:54:48.116 --> 0:54:50.596 like the show, please remember to share, rate, and review 0:54:50.676 --> 0:54:53.596 us on your podcast app or theme musics by Kenny Beats. 0:54:53.876 --> 0:54:54.876 I'm justin Richmond.