WEBVTT - Neil Sedaka 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.800 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left Seats podcast. 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:16.799 My guest today is the one and only nil Sid Doctor. 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:19.880 Hi, how are you? Thanks for having me? 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:24.560 In February of sixty five, I saw you with the 0:00:24.680 --> 0:00:25.880 Concord Hotel. 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:28.880 Oh my goodness, gracious. 0:00:28.240 --> 0:00:31.040 I would not expect you to remember that specific show, 0:00:31.080 --> 0:00:33.600 but can you tell me about you and your relationship 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:35.360 with the catskills in the Worshpell. 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:41.919 My wife's mother had a hotel a Kachlaine in the 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:48.160 Monticello area. It was called esther Manor, and the big 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:54.400 place to play was the Concord Hotel. And the audience 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.760 was the worst, the worst audience. Who could imagine. They 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.440 were sitting on their hands, and they wanted to know 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:05.600 when the next meal was being served, and they used 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:10.080 to applaud by doing this. They were too tired to 0:01:10.120 --> 0:01:12.720 clap their hands from the food. 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.160 I remember at the Concord they used to give you 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:18.560 these little bangers, like you know, chopsticks with a ball 0:01:18.600 --> 0:01:20.840 at the end to hit on the table to clap. 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.759 That is right. They were too tired from all the 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:29.080 meals that were served, so they tapped the table with 0:01:29.160 --> 0:01:30.679 this little wooden thing. 0:01:32.720 --> 0:01:35.200 So you were a New Yorker. You grew up as 0:01:35.240 --> 0:01:37.480 a Jewish New Yorker. Did you spend time in the 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:38.640 Catskills growing up? 0:01:39.360 --> 0:01:42.560 I had a band at nineteen. We were called the 0:01:42.680 --> 0:01:46.760 Norton Ells. We were three pieces. I played the piano, 0:01:47.240 --> 0:01:51.800 Norman played the trube, and David played the bass. And 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:57.800 we played for the Chatshaw Lessons, the Mumbo Lessons. We 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:02.440 played for the show. If Heinsheins and Dead would come in, 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:04.880 they would put a manuscript in front of me and 0:02:04.920 --> 0:02:08.160 I would have to do their show by reading right 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:09.200 off the manuscript. 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:16.720 You know these challenging times. Have you experienced any anti 0:02:16.720 --> 0:02:18.359 Semitism in your career. 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:20.000 In the musical field? Never? 0:02:21.240 --> 0:02:24.280 Never, Well, how about the non musical field? 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:30.200 Uh hahuh. Well they thought perhaps I was Italian or 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:36.880 Polish or Turkish. I am Turkish now, but I never 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.440 really got a face to face with it. 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:46.760 Okay, so you're eighty five years old, to what the gue? 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:48.400 Are you still active today? 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:53.560 I play the piano. I'm on serious radio with the 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:57.960 program I played by Classical. I started as a concert 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.960 pianist at the Juilliard and I love to play Chopin 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:08.240 and Beethoven and I watched old movies on TCM, of course, 0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:12.240 and then I will go to lunch and dinner every day, 0:03:12.320 --> 0:03:16.400 out lunch and dinner out every day, and I will 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:22.240 I will write some songs. I've written two songs after 0:03:22.320 --> 0:03:26.200 five years of not writing, and they're pretty good. 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.120 Okay, what was the process? Five years go by? Will 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:32.040 you just inspired? How do you do it? 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:36.880 I sat at the piano with a melody first, and 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:42.760 then my help, Kyle Sitter, had never written a song before, 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:47.040 and he's young, so I wanted some young words and 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:51.880 some young phrases, and he was an excellent lyricist. So 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.440 I am going to put it on social media and say, hello, folks, 0:03:56.760 --> 0:03:59.560 I haven't written in five years, and I hope you 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:01.440 like it. And I like it. 0:04:02.440 --> 0:04:06.200 Okay, the melody? Do you play the piano every day? 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:07.000 I do? 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:12.120 And you just mess around? Or you play classical stuff? 0:04:12.120 --> 0:04:12.640 What do you do? 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:15.600 I play classical stuff mainly. 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:18.440 And you say you had a melody. Where did the 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:19.520 melody come from? 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:23.920 The melody comes from my head and from my fingers, 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:28.560 and oh I also do the Alexa. I ask Alexa 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:32.200 to give me some old Nil Sadaka records, and I'm 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.760 shocked I said, who the hell wrote that? It was me? 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.560 I it's almost like another person. It's weird. 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:45.239 So where do you live now? 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:49.000 I live in Los Angeles here and West Hollywood. 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:51.479 And where do you go to luncheon? Who do you 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:52.920 in dinner? And who do you go to lunch and 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:53.400 dinner with? 0:04:53.839 --> 0:04:58.720 With friends? With Barry Manilow in Pump Springs and uh, 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:05.920 I go to Craigs, and I go to Jane Tannah's 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.320 and I go to Mels for lunch for my poached 0:05:10.360 --> 0:05:15.480 eggs in avocado, and I keep pretty busy. 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:18.640 And do people recognize you? 0:05:19.040 --> 0:05:22.680 Yes? They do. I had the other day in Mells 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.159 a whole bunch of English people on a tour of 0:05:27.720 --> 0:05:33.279 Los Angeles, and the tour guide said, would you like 0:05:33.320 --> 0:05:36.320 to meet Neil Sadaka? And said, oh, yes, we'd look 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.520 to And there lined up about twenty of them and 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.320 I took a picture with them. It was it was 0:05:42.440 --> 0:05:48.520 very exciting for me and for them. Wow. I played 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.800 all over the world, so I am known in every 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.719 practically every country in the world. 0:05:54.800 --> 0:05:57.160 Just to be clear, you originally in New york Er. 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:58.360 How long have you lived in. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:02.800 LA I at both places? I still do. I have 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.080 in New York Manhattan and here. So I was going 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:06.880 back and forth. 0:06:07.720 --> 0:06:10.760 And is that based on the weather or anything specific? 0:06:11.160 --> 0:06:14.400 I was getting older, Yes, the weather, and yes I 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:19.000 have friends here, not in show business, but they're very 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:19.800 good friends. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:23.560 I mean, you obviously are one hundred percent. You know, 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:25.800 some people are at eighty five or dead. Some people 0:06:25.880 --> 0:06:29.000 are losing their marbles. You a bat one hundred on 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.040 both of those. You're still kicking to have early marbles. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.400 But what's it like when some of your friends start to. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:42.080 Pass I have great memories of them. I think of 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:48.359 the wonderful times we spent together, and I hope that 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:53.960 they're at a good place and out of their action paions. 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.120 But how do you cope emotionally with their passing? 0:07:01.920 --> 0:07:07.640 Well, I it's inevitable. Everybody passes one day, so you 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:08.960 come to terms with it. 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.040 Any advice for those of us who are experiencing that 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:15.120 for the first time. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:23.120 I think you have to go back. There are two deals, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:27.720 the young Neil and the old Neal, and you have 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:32.840 to accept the old deal and embrace the old Neal. 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.040 For I'm very thankful I can walk, I can talk legibly, 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:42.440 and I can keep active. 0:07:44.600 --> 0:07:50.080 Okay, So since you're bicoastal. What's the difference between LA 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:51.000 and New York for you? 0:07:51.640 --> 0:07:59.920 The weather, the pace is much slower and calmer in Lah. 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:06.000 The people are cooler, more relaxed. In New York. It's 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:13.240 a crazy scene, never sleeps. I didn't write that, okay. 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.720 So you talked earlier about writing a new song, your 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:21.280 helper helping you with the lyrics. So all these years 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:23.720 you've never wrote any lyrics. 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.040 I wrote hundreds of songs by myself, and I felt 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:31.840 that as good as how a Greenfields was Marvelist, as 0:08:31.880 --> 0:08:35.040 good as Still Cody was, there is something when you 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:40.920 write the music and words yourself, and you can it 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.720 gets from your gajaum, from the stomach, and it comes 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:51.640 up as a real Neil song from my experiences, from 0:08:51.720 --> 0:08:55.120 my travels, from my whatever. 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.439 But most of your hits were co writes, right. 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:04.280 The big hit were the album tracks, which I strived 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.880 to make as good as the hits were put in albums. 0:09:08.400 --> 0:09:12.600 At that time, I was a singles artist, so there 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:16.120 were some great songs that were buried in albums. I 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:20.560 called them the forgotten children or the neglected children. I'm 0:09:20.720 --> 0:09:21.680 very proud of them. 0:09:22.840 --> 0:09:25.199 You know, some people just making their music. Other people 0:09:25.200 --> 0:09:28.280 are students of the game, the charts, the business. Where 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:30.000 do you lie on that continuum. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:33.960 I look at publicity, I look at the charts, and 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:39.400 many times I'm inspired by a voice on the radio 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.839 love will keep Us Together. In fact, I was inspired 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:49.880 by three people, Al Green, Diana Ross, and the Beach Boys. 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:53.520 Let me explain. I felt that I could write a 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:58.000 song for these people and tailor made for their voice. 0:09:58.480 --> 0:10:03.160 And I was able to take the voice of Diana 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.120 Ross and make it my own and a song, and 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:12.599 the Beach Boys beat and Al Green's augmented chors. I 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:16.360 put them all together like a designer. 0:10:17.160 --> 0:10:22.520 Okay, but many people write music and they feel like 0:10:22.559 --> 0:10:28.120 they're channeling God. If you are writing with those influences, 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.160 are they just embedded in you or are you literally 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.640 sitting at the piano saying, mmm, I got this thought, 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.800 I got this influence, I want this harmony. Like you know, 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:39.120 the Beach Boys. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.600 How do you do it well? I've listened to all 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:47.000 of them very intently, and yes, I have the experience 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:53.280 of channeling as a antenna. For a couple of the 0:10:53.360 --> 0:10:57.000 songs I really felt came from something spiritual and passed 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:00.240 through my figures and voice. But that doesn't have and 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:03.760 very often you have to say, I'm chosen for this, 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:07.800 and I have to sit very still, and it writes itself. 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:12.080 As far as Diana ross Al Green the Beach Boys, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.800 I literally take the beat from the Beach Boys, one 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:21.200 of their good records, and I take her voice and 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:26.440 make it into a new song for her. She's a 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:30.120 big star. She sold a lot, so I want to 0:11:30.160 --> 0:11:31.600 see what made her tick. 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:38.840 Okay, today you are on serious radio, but are you 0:11:39.120 --> 0:11:40.439 listening to new music? 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:46.520 I listen to rap. I listen to mostly classical. I 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.920 started as a concert pianist at the juliad So, but 0:11:50.040 --> 0:11:54.800 I listened to Elia Fitzgerald the greatest. I listened to 0:11:55.000 --> 0:11:59.000 Frank Sinatra, and I certainly listened to Frank Sinatra singing 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:03.960 my song the Hungry Years. Well, I got a shout out. 0:12:04.280 --> 0:12:07.400 And it's a thrill to get a Sinatra record. It's 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:12.920 a great thrill. Elvis record Solitaire, it's a great thrill. 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:17.600 Okay, let's go back to the beginning. So you grew 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:18.920 up exactly. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:23.280 Where Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Now it's the little Odessa by 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.240 the sea. Now it's the old Russian people from Odessa. 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:33.800 Okay, could you feel that was that palpable growing up there? 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.600 It was a totally Jewish neighborhood. I thought the whole 0:12:37.600 --> 0:12:42.600 world was Jewish. And it was very very friendly. You 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:47.000 never locked your doors. There was no terrorists, there was 0:12:47.080 --> 0:12:51.320 no burglaries. People would come in for coffee and take 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:56.200 oh I'm dropping in, oh place it down. It was 0:12:56.280 --> 0:13:00.920 completely different, very very naive and Caffrey. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:03.800 What did your parents do for work? 0:13:04.320 --> 0:13:08.640 My father was a taxi driver, Maxi the taxi. My 0:13:08.720 --> 0:13:10.920 mother was a housewife. 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:17.120 Your father drove a taxi usually that's very long hours. 0:13:17.480 --> 0:13:22.920 No, he worked for a company, so it was regular hours. 0:13:22.720 --> 0:13:24.360 And there was enough money to pay the bills. 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.520 Yes, we had an apartment for two bedroom apartment for 0:13:30.000 --> 0:13:33.720 two hundred dollars a month, and we were eight people 0:13:33.760 --> 0:13:38.800 in the apartments. My grandmother, my grandfather from Turkey, my 0:13:38.960 --> 0:13:43.480 three aunts, my sister, my mother, and father. One by one, 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:48.000 my aunts got married and they left me, my sister, 0:13:48.280 --> 0:13:51.559 my mother, and father, and my grandparents passed. 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:52.920 Where did everybody sleep. 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:57.040 We had beds in the living room, one bathroom, mind you, 0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:02.440 and we were happy. It was a very happy household. 0:14:03.000 --> 0:14:06.920 Okay, So the other people in the neighborhood. Were their 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:08.040 circumstances the. 0:14:08.000 --> 0:14:13.880 Same, Yes, they were. And every Jewish family had to 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:19.560 have a piano or a violin. And the Jewish people 0:14:19.720 --> 0:14:23.680 liked the culture to raise their children with some culture. 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:28.960 So I had to learn a piano. No, I'll tell 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.920 you exactly. I had a neighbor in the building that 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:37.240 had an upright piano. I was eight years old, and 0:14:37.280 --> 0:14:41.560 I walked in and I was completely drawn to the 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:46.720 smell of the ivory keys on her piano. And I 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:51.000 noticed with one finger that I could pick out a 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:54.400 tune that I had heard on the radio. And my 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:58.520 mother went to get a job. We had no piano, 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:02.120 and she got a job but a and S department store 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.880 as a saleslady, and she worked for six months and 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:10.520 got five hundred dollars and bought me an upright piano 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:15.680 because in the second grade a te shir missus Evelyn Glance, 0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:20.480 saw me reacting to music when she conducted the choir, 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.920 and she said, Neil, get up and conduct, and I 0:15:24.000 --> 0:15:27.000 got up, and she sent me home with a note, 0:15:27.600 --> 0:15:29.400 you must get a piano for Neil. 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:42.200 Okay, let's separate some of the issues your parents born 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:46.640 in the Old Country New York City. Okay, So your 0:15:46.680 --> 0:15:47.840 grandparents are from the. 0:15:47.760 --> 0:15:49.640 Old country Istebul's Turkey. 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.920 Okay, and to what degree was the Turkish culture part 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.040 of your life growing up? 0:15:56.680 --> 0:16:02.160 They spoke Ladino Spanish, not the eshkna. So I learned 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:08.880 your putt la blabras en Espanol, story boy, contento, the chaos, 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:15.280 and I was able to remember muchs palabis many words today. 0:16:16.080 --> 0:16:18.920 Okay, you did some work in Yiddish? Did they speak 0:16:19.000 --> 0:16:19.960 Yiddish growing up? 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.320 My mother's side did the ants and knuckles? On the 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:30.920 Ashkenazi side spoke it. So I sang yiddishamama and bels 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.400 my state of labels, and then on the Turkish side, 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:36.120 I say ishadada. 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:45.160 Okay. So you're growing up on Brighton Beach, densely populated. 0:16:45.600 --> 0:16:47.600 What kind of kid are you? You kind of kid 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.480 who's got a million friends or you bookish at home, 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:52.520 sports guy or not? 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.440 What do you like? I was not a sports guy. 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:05.680 I played Patsi with the girls and I couldn't ruin 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:10.000 my hands. My mother kept saying, this is what you shows. 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:13.080 You cannot ruin your hands and go out and play. 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:17.120 But I was good at Chinese baseball, Chinese king ball. 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:21.000 You know you hit the crack of the wall and 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.040 the floor. Wait wait wait, not everybody knows. Bring it 0:17:24.080 --> 0:17:24.720 back to life. 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:25.639 Tell us the rules. 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:31.800 Well, Chinese handball, you had a nice soft ball against 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:37.240 a wall and you had to play against one person 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:45.840 and if you got the bottom where the sidewalk met 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:50.600 the wall, that was a special special bonus. 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.119 Okay, your sister older younger. 0:17:55.680 --> 0:18:01.960 Eighteen months older, my hero, you're here because she was 0:18:02.080 --> 0:18:06.880 very smart academically. She was the prettiest in school. And 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:10.159 when I followed her, they used to say, are you 0:18:11.240 --> 0:18:15.680 Ronnie Sadaka's brother? Oh boy, you have to really fill 0:18:15.760 --> 0:18:18.760 her shoes. And then later on they used to say, 0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:23.439 are you Neil Sadaka's sister, the singer? 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:26.920 So what how did her life play out? What did 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:27.480 that look like? 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:36.040 She was just full of life. I lost her at 0:18:36.680 --> 0:18:43.440 fifty seven years old. Wow, pancreas. And she was my hero. 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:48.879 She used to fight my battles in school. They would 0:18:48.880 --> 0:18:52.840 call me various names because I would be asked to 0:18:52.880 --> 0:18:57.000 play the piano when the an auditorium. When the film broke, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.639 O'Neil will now play some chopin? And I played and 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:03.520 they giggled in the audience. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.439 Okay, when you were successful and you were making money, 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.760 did you feel responsibility to take care of your family 0:19:11.800 --> 0:19:12.840 and relatives? 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:15.640 I bought a home for my father and mother in 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:22.000 Fort Laddale, my sister and a cousin. 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.040 Okay, so before you don't start with a piano till 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.960 second grade? Are you a good student or mediocre student? 0:19:31.600 --> 0:19:33.199 Seventy five eighty? 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.160 Okay? So now your mother worked at Abraham and Strauss, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.760 she gets the piano. How do you learn how to play? 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:46.119 I had a private teacher, Murray Newman, in Brighton Beach, 0:19:46.760 --> 0:19:49.879 and I studied for one year and then after a 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:53.920 year he called my parents in and said, I can't 0:19:53.960 --> 0:19:57.240 teach him anymore. Let him try out for the Julia's School, 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.080 the prep school, and I got a scholarship for the 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:04.000 prep school at Julliard one hundred and twenty second Street 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:08.920 and Clammont Avenue before it moved to Lincoln Center. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.960 Okay, but before you go to Juilliard grew up in 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:16.919 a Jewish family like I do you? Did you know? 0:20:16.960 --> 0:20:20.560 You start taking piano lessons, but the big issue is practicing. 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:23.879 So did you practice and did you play? 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.800 I practiced five hours a day. I loved it. It 0:20:28.880 --> 0:20:33.480 may be special. I could then go into this classroom 0:20:34.880 --> 0:20:38.400 and play the songs of the day, the Douap songs, 0:20:38.520 --> 0:20:45.800 Earth Angel, all of those great songs, and I became popular. 0:20:47.000 --> 0:20:50.760 I also wrote a song called mister Moon when I 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:56.120 was sixteen and played it the auditorium, and they all 0:20:56.200 --> 0:21:00.840 screamed and shouted. Oh, he's wonderful, he's marvel. And it 0:21:00.880 --> 0:21:04.440 may be important when you're important or important. 0:21:05.200 --> 0:21:07.920 Okay, how old were you when you went to the 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:08.879 Juilliard School. 0:21:09.600 --> 0:21:14.439 I was from nine till seventeen. Then I went to 0:21:14.480 --> 0:21:15.320 the college level. 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:19.360 Okay, you're talking about full includes all classes in addition 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:20.200 to no. 0:21:19.760 --> 0:21:24.240 No, the prep school was only on saturdays, where I 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:30.320 studied with great teachers. The college was a full curriculum. 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:36.360 Okay, So let's go back. You're born, when you grow up, 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:42.080 World War two is happening. When you gain consciousness, it's 0:21:42.359 --> 0:21:46.520 just over. Could you feel that at all? Could you 0:21:46.600 --> 0:21:49.560 feel the war, the end of the war, etc. Or 0:21:49.600 --> 0:21:51.320 you were young kids living your life. 0:21:52.200 --> 0:21:56.600 I knew when Franklin J. Eleanor Roosevelt died, everyone in 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:01.440 the streets were crying. I saw the news. The newsreels 0:22:01.800 --> 0:22:06.320 at the Oceania Theater in the Tuxedo Theater. I saw 0:22:06.920 --> 0:22:10.360 and was aware because two uncles of mine were in 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:15.760 the service, so I felt it. Yes, I was afraid 0:22:15.760 --> 0:22:20.200 of Hitler. My sister said Hitler's waiting in the bathroom, 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:23.320 and I was about six years old. I said what 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:26.240 what what? And she scared the hell out of me. 0:22:27.640 --> 0:22:30.600 And miss Alita was a meetie and the Jacks and 0:22:30.640 --> 0:22:32.040 the Japs were sapped. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:37.320 And to what degree was their talk of the Holocaust? 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.040 I wasn't aware of that at that age. It was 0:22:43.119 --> 0:22:44.879 much later that I was aware of it. 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:51.679 Okay, So this is pre transistor radio. So are you 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:54.600 listening to the radio? Are you listening to the hits 0:22:54.600 --> 0:22:55.000 of the day? 0:22:55.400 --> 0:22:59.600 Oh? Yes, I am listening to your hit parade on 0:22:59.640 --> 0:23:04.640 the rail video. I am listening to Rosemary Clooney, Jeannie 0:23:04.760 --> 0:23:11.560 ray k, Star, elephus Gerald. Loved them, loved them. 0:23:12.080 --> 0:23:14.680 Okay. So if I talked to you when you were 0:23:14.680 --> 0:23:17.679 in high school and I say what was your dream? 0:23:17.760 --> 0:23:18.920 What would you have said then? 0:23:19.920 --> 0:23:24.040 When I was in high school, Yeah, what was my dream? 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:29.320 To be a star? I wanted to be special. I 0:23:29.560 --> 0:23:37.520 wanted to get away from the young Nerdi Nil Sadaka. 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:44.919 I wanted to create something that was important. I wanted 0:23:45.000 --> 0:23:48.320 to be Jesus Christ. There was a sign on the 0:23:48.359 --> 0:23:53.879 subway that said Jesus saves and I said, wouldn't that 0:23:53.960 --> 0:23:58.920 be marvelous to have people worship me? Is that crazy 0:23:59.000 --> 0:23:59.159 or what? 0:24:00.080 --> 0:24:02.240 Not at all? And I thank you for being honest. 0:24:02.280 --> 0:24:04.760 To be that successful, you have to feel that way. However, 0:24:06.240 --> 0:24:09.919 many people who achieved great success, which you did very 0:24:09.960 --> 0:24:15.680 soon they have that success and they think it will 0:24:15.720 --> 0:24:19.919 solve all their problems and then they find out it doesn't. 0:24:20.720 --> 0:24:22.960 A lot of those people can never write another hit song. 0:24:23.640 --> 0:24:25.879 So you wanted to be a star, you wanted to 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:30.200 be famous, you wanted to be respected. That actually happened. 0:24:30.720 --> 0:24:31.720 Was that fulfilling? 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:37.440 Absolutely? I used to take a forty five rpm scratch 0:24:37.480 --> 0:24:39.440 out the name of the artist, and with my pen 0:24:39.840 --> 0:24:43.040 I'd put Nil sajakat to see how it looked. It 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:46.240 was very, very flattering and very wonderful. 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:50.679 Okay, you go to one hundred and twenty second Street 0:24:51.400 --> 0:24:54.440 prior to going to Juilliard. To what degree did your 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:56.000 family go into Manhattan? 0:24:57.200 --> 0:25:02.600 Oh? My father was very cheap, sweet guy. But I 0:25:02.720 --> 0:25:05.200 used to say, oh, Dad, could we go in to 0:25:05.359 --> 0:25:09.200 Manhattan to the Brass Rail restaurant that was the fancy 0:25:09.240 --> 0:25:14.159 one at the day, you remember, And he said, oh, no, 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:18.240 lo tango, Neil, I don't I'm short with money. Nolo tango. 0:25:18.880 --> 0:25:21.639 And once in a while I convinced him when we 0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:23.919 went to the Brass Rail. It was a great treat 0:25:23.960 --> 0:25:27.520 to go to Manhattan. Oh, a radio City musical, the 0:25:27.920 --> 0:25:30.720 Christmas Show, the Roquettes. It was great. 0:25:31.640 --> 0:25:34.920 So you weren't going to the musicals or anything. 0:25:35.000 --> 0:25:37.080 Not that, not at my age at that time. 0:25:37.200 --> 0:25:41.920 Okay, so now you're a big guy in a small 0:25:42.160 --> 0:25:45.440 world and you go to Juilliard on the weekend. What's 0:25:45.480 --> 0:25:47.480 that like? And you see everybody else who's good? 0:25:48.600 --> 0:25:55.040 Uh? I was topped by medi great pianists. I studied 0:25:55.080 --> 0:26:01.120 with adel Marcus, Rosina, Levine, Edgar Robert's great people, and 0:26:01.160 --> 0:26:06.320 there were students that were better than me in classical. However, 0:26:07.160 --> 0:26:12.679 I had one upsmanshift. I could write songs that I 0:26:12.720 --> 0:26:17.960 could sing, and that set me apart. And they said 0:26:17.960 --> 0:26:21.280 to me, what is an Elvis Presley? I said, what 0:26:22.040 --> 0:26:25.280 we hear about Elvis Presley? These people did nothing but 0:26:25.320 --> 0:26:28.960 play Beethoven and Mozart. What is an Elvis Presley, I said, 0:26:29.000 --> 0:26:32.600 he says a rock and roll singer? What is rock 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:35.680 and roll? They were completely sheltered. 0:26:36.920 --> 0:26:40.320 Okay, if you're born in nineteen thirty nine, The first 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:43.480 rock and roll record is debated. Some people would say 0:26:43.520 --> 0:26:47.240 it's Rocket eighty eight by Eke Turner. Other people say 0:26:47.320 --> 0:26:50.760 Rock around the Clock. What was it like your experience 0:26:50.840 --> 0:26:52.679 when rock hit the radio? 0:26:53.520 --> 0:26:57.159 It was a two up song at Andreas Pieter Pauler 0:26:57.200 --> 0:26:59.959 on Brighton Beach Avenue and I went in with my 0:27:00.160 --> 0:27:06.280 girlfriend Carol Klein, who became Carol King, and we danced 0:27:06.480 --> 0:27:10.040 to Earth Angel by the Penguins. That was the first. 0:27:11.480 --> 0:27:14.200 Okay, well wait, let's go sideways for a second. How 0:27:14.240 --> 0:27:16.200 did you meet Carol kleinb. 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:19.760 She was in a neighboring school and we hung out 0:27:19.800 --> 0:27:25.240