WEBVTT - Paul McCartney 0:00:02.520 --> 0:00:06.440 I Heart Radio Presents Inside the Studio, I'm your host, 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:11.560 Joe Leading. For this episode, we went on the road 0:00:11.640 --> 0:00:15.440 to Winnipeg, where the temperatures are frigid even in September, 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:19.520 and it's apparently illegal to serve a burger anything other 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:24.000 than well done. We went in search of historic Paul 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.640 Paul McCartney, and he told us about how the fiftieth 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.520 anniversary of Sergeant Pepper's helped inspire work on his new album, 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.839 Egypt Station, why he likes to walk the streets of 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:38.400 New York by himself, and why the recording of the 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:43.400 white album itself now getting a box set fiftieth anniversary release, 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:47.120 may not have been quite as bad as Beatles legend 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:53.320 has it. Eagypt Station is McCartney's first studio album in 0:00:53.400 --> 0:00:59.520 five years. It's gotten rave reviews, though it won't exactly 0:00:59.600 --> 0:01:03.680 change the truism that McCartney's post Beatles music is most 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:07.319 undeniable when the cream is skinned for best of collections 0:01:07.319 --> 0:01:17.080 your playlists, but the comparison to his peers is instructed. 0:01:18.319 --> 0:01:21.520 Bob Dylan hit a late career stride producing himself, starting 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.160 in two thousand and one with Love and Theft for 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:27.560 his last three albums, Dylan is stuck to covers of 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.399 tin pan Alley standards. The Rolling Stones have relied on 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:35.280 the same producer, Don Was for the last twenty four years, 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.720 and their last album, Blue and Lonesome, was a collection 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:44.120 of old school blues songs. McCartney, who describes himself as 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.120 still very competitive in a recent GQ cover story, beat 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.200 them both to the covers thing. He did fifties rock 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:55.920 and roll with Run Devil Run, which you should definitely hear, 0:01:56.360 --> 0:01:58.960 and he did Standards in two thousand and twelve with 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:02.320 Kisses on the Bottom Him, which you should definitely skip. 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:07.160 The producers for new in Egypt Station include Paul Epworth, 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:12.000 Mark Ronson, Greg Kirsten and Ryan Tedder, guys who have 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.560 made some of the biggest hits of recent years with 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:19.640 Adele Bruno, Mars Beyonce, that kind of thing. If Egypt 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.400 Station is McCartney's first ever solo album to enter the 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.520 charts at number one, that's partly because the charts have 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:28.919 changed in the streaming era, and partly because the dude 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:37.960 is seriously trying. Egypt Station has a fair number of 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:41.440 what Paul once called little love songs, except some of 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:50.320 them like for You are sex songs, and though he's 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:53.920 not usually thought of as making protests or political songs, 0:02:54.120 --> 0:02:57.000 the album has a share of those two three If 0:02:57.040 --> 0:03:00.639 you count the anti bullying song who Cares. You might 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:03.959 enjoy the swampy groove of people Want Peace but think 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:08.000 it's wishful thinking, although you might also think what's wrong 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.080 with that? But the song, despite repeated warning, sticks a 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:15.920 little harder. It uses nautical themes what should we do 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:18.800 with the drunken sailor red sky in the morning sailor's 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.400 warning to paint Donald Trump's presidency is an out of 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:25.600 control ship of state, and it was inspired in part 0:03:25.800 --> 0:03:39.080 by Trump's climate change denial. Yes, it doesn't seem like 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.920 people have connected this with another song you did motivated 0:03:42.920 --> 0:03:46.200 by climbing change, big boys bickering. Yeah, that was quite 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:48.160 a few years ago. But at the same thing, you've 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:51.240 been doing your homework an America I have. It's what 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:55.560 they paid before. It's an American president again refusing to 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.880 assign a climate accord. But in this case, George H. W. 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.560 Bush in you do so this is an important issue? Well, 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:05.520 you know the thing is, I think everyone like me 0:04:06.160 --> 0:04:10.800 who believes in climate change and that's a lot of people. 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:17.360 We're looking at these climates accords and these these meetings. 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.200 There was one in Japan, there was one in Copenhagen, 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.240 and you know, as these came up, we'd all be 0:04:24.320 --> 0:04:26.280 looking at and going, this will be the one. We're 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:29.119 going to do something about it. Everyone's going to get together, 0:04:29.160 --> 0:04:31.880 all the nations are going to agree that, you know, 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:36.080 we've got to figure it out. And then it would fail. Oh, 0:04:36.160 --> 0:04:39.839 I don't believe it. America and China didn't sign it, 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:44.440 and it was so disappointing, you know that. Finally when 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:48.040 Paris arrived, it's like, yeah, you can't believe it, you know, 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:52.120 and then Trump pulls out of it. It's like, oh, 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.680 you know, that was like really disappointing. But you know, 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.480 the thing is, as far as I'm concerning, is a reality. 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.159 I don't think there's any doubt about that. You know, 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:09.520 we're getting this freak weather. And you could say, as 0:05:09.080 --> 0:05:12.960 some people who deny climate change say, well, you know, 0:05:13.000 --> 0:05:15.880 there's always been freak weather. It's always been you know, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:19.320 maybe it's just more of the same. But I don't know. 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.520 I believe scientists, you know, I don't think they're study 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:24.880 a bit harder than I do. And they do have 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:28.640 science on their side. They're clever man, you know, but 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:33.239 the science does indicate that if you warm up the planet, 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:36.200 you're going to get these effects. So yeah, I was 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:39.320 in Japan actually, and I saw in the newspaper. I 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.039 saw this phrase, despite repeated warnings. I can't remember what 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:44.960 it was about now it's just about something else. But 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:49.120 I thought, yeah, that's a good phrase, despite repeated warnings, 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.880 and I made the song up about that. And in 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:53.840 the chorus, when you say how can we stop them? 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.560 Grab the keys, lock them up? Are you thinking of 0:05:56.600 --> 0:05:59.920 those lacquer up chants directed at Hillary Clinton at the 0:06:00.040 --> 0:06:03.760 Trump I wasn't, actually, you know, but like it kind 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.080 of plays into it, don't you know. You're writing a song, 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:10.440 so it's not always that logical. You're just writing a song, 0:06:10.680 --> 0:06:14.320 so whatever it's, you know, you you start off maybe 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:17.760 very logical, and then you give yourself the freedom to roam, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:21.560 you know. So I wasn't actually thinking that. I was 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:23.440 thinking what did we do with the drunken sailor, I 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:26.080 must admit, And I was hoping no one would spot 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:47.360 that rebated my head. Well, the captain wasn't this do 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:53.920 what was now. Shortly after we were done talking, Paul 0:06:53.960 --> 0:06:57.479 went on stage and played in nearly three hour set 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:01.960 thirty nine songs, twenty three of them Beatles songs, three 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.760 from Egypt Station and the rest drawn from the other 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:08.160 twenty four studio albums he's recorded solo or with Wings, 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.960 except for the one song he recorded with Kanye West 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.600 and another one he recorded in Night with the Quarryman, 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:26.920 his band with John Lennon and George Harrison before the Beatles. 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:34.840 Three hours songs, even for a guy who's not seventy 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.200 six years old, that is a solid night's work. It's 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.760 roughly twice the number of songs played lately by the 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:43.200 Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, both still out on the 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:45.840 road and long may they run. And it's not even 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:49.320 counting the one hour sound check McCartney played earlier in 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:52.200 the night for those who bought v I P tickets. 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.480 So that's a grand total of about four hours of 0:07:55.520 --> 0:08:00.160 playing guitar, bass, piano and during his verse and of 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:04.720 George Harrison's Something Yuka Lately for those keeping score at home, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.239 four hours. That's about half of the marathon eight hours 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:11.280 sets the Beatles put in in Hamburg. In n when 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:17.160 McCartney was just twenty years old. That's pretty remarkable. The 0:08:17.240 --> 0:08:20.320 rock stars of the sixties used to represent an ideal 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.440 of freedom for their audience, the freedom to live however 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:28.480 you wanted, outside of society's rules, and in their septagenarian years, 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:33.080 these guys represent a different kind of freedom, the freedom 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.480 to keep on keeping on, to be able to do 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:44.840 in your seventies what you used to do in your twenties. 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.040 And no one may be a better or more joyous 0:08:49.040 --> 0:08:54.040 representation of that than Paul McCartney. Score one for vegetarianism. 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.600 McCartney's work ethic may come from his dad, Jim, who 0:08:57.600 --> 0:08:59.839 put in ten hour days as a cotton broker in 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.160 Liverpool and also played trumpet and piano, leading a group 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:06.880 called Jim Max Jazz Band. It goes without saying that 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.080 Paul does not have to do any of this. It's 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.280 not just that he changed the world with the Beatles, 0:09:12.840 --> 0:09:15.560 creating the context that pretty much all of pop music 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.800 unfolds in today. And and by the way, I mean 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.800 that in the most literal sense. The pension for micro 0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:26.920 hooks that defines current modern pop is prefigured by McCartney's 0:09:26.960 --> 0:09:42.760 prodigious gift for melody. Take Band on the Run from 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:45.800 There must be four songs worth of hooks packed into 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:54.640 the first eighties seconds guitar, synthesizer, bass, vocal, And that's 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:56.760 just the intro. Well, really, it's just the first intro, 0:09:56.840 --> 0:09:59.880 because then there's another intra section with another set of guitars, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.360 sand based and vocal hooks, only this time you could 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:16.880 count the drum part two, and then there's a horn 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:25.640 fanfare and then the song actually starts, so in a 0:10:25.679 --> 0:10:29.520 different way than his peers, McCartney has an eternal relevance. 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:32.160 But the other thing that makes how hard he works 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.880 so striking is that McCartney has long been touted as 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:38.800 one of the most wealthy figures in the music industry, 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.920 with a net worth estimated at one point two billion 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:47.000 according to Forbes. He added another fifty four million dollars 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.000 to that pile last year when he was finishing up 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.680 the seventies seven dates of his One on One tour, 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:55.840 making him the thirteenth highest earning artist in the music business, 0:10:56.000 --> 0:11:01.400 on a list topped by Diddy, Beyonce and Drake. There's 0:11:01.440 --> 0:11:05.160 that eternal relevance again, As you're about to find out, 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.600 Paul McCartney has a pretty optimistic view of the world, 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:09.920 and you can hear it just in the way he 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.560 pronounces the word Winnipeg. At one point he told us 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:16.280 that the Beatles never argued about music. If they had 0:11:16.280 --> 0:11:19.439 an argument, it was about other stuff. And then later 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.800 he told us about an argument that they had about music. 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:31.160 Does he contradict himself? Maybe he was also there. I 0:11:31.200 --> 0:11:34.480 think he knows better than you and I so let 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:36.720 me get out of the way, because I've always wanted 0:11:36.720 --> 0:11:46.440 to say this, ladies and gentlemen, Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney, 0:11:46.480 --> 0:11:50.600 welcome to inside the studio like Joe or a very 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:54.760 special edition of Backstage at the Paul McCartney Show. Okay, 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:58.439 and here we are in the Winnipeg. In Winnipeg a 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.640 few months ago, I'm walking up Park Avenue and I 0:12:01.720 --> 0:12:04.720 pass a guy coming down the street who looks remarkably 0:12:04.960 --> 0:12:08.880 like Paul McCartney Park Avenue in eighty nine street. I think, 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:10.839 can't be Paul McCartney. No one with him, no one 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:14.400 around did a double take. It was Paul McCartney. It 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.400 couldn't have been him, but it was. You were just 0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:20.240 walking down the street by yourself and I walked down streets. 0:12:20.840 --> 0:12:24.400 Therefore walking down I've heard that, you know, I like 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:26.320 to get out and about and people say, oh no, 0:12:26.480 --> 0:12:30.360 you're gonna have acreuse of security behind you and stuff. 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:32.320 But I'd like to just get out, you know, just 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:36.360 so as you feel like yourself instead of like a 0:12:36.520 --> 0:12:39.880 rock star. Are there times you do like to feel 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:41.920 like a rock star? You know, when I do the show, 0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:45.640 that's good, but then you know you need to balance it, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.760 so you get off the stage and maybe you know, 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.440 like you said, you're walking somewhere. So I like to 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:54.679 just get out like I always did when I was 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.600 a kid. So you know, it's just keeps me sane, 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:01.800 and it's it's the same feeling as when I was 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:07.439 okay just walking around, only differences. I get recognized. Everyone 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:14.240 reaches in their pocket immediately, you know, but no, I got, 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.920 you know, quite a lot of freedom much and I 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:19.120 I value it. And then you know, if I'm out 0:13:19.160 --> 0:13:21.839 at a restaurant and stuff with my wife, so I'm like, 0:13:21.920 --> 0:13:24.600 come over to grab a father, I say not not 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.640 just now. You know, it's a private moment and most 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.319 people are very cool, understand it. So I like to 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:34.520 keep that, you know, a private bit of my life, 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:37.880 and then I like the other bit even more because 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.320 it's like, wow, this is cool, the other bit being 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:44.520 in public, being on stage. Yeah, you have to like it. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:48.880 You are playing these three hour shows. We just saw 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:51.720 a one hour sound check, and that's something that people 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:55.199 don't actually know that many concerts are preceded by this 0:13:55.280 --> 0:13:57.680 one hour sound check. I think you have no set 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.800 list for that. Many of those songs aren't in the set, right. Yeah. No, 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.720 we always do that, I mean because it's good because 0:14:03.720 --> 0:14:06.160 we need to check the instruments we're going to use, 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:09.400 just to make sure they're all plugged in, they all work, 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.560 and I mean there was a little moment there. Normally 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:15.559 doesn't screw up too much, but our keyboard players moog 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.800 didn't work. So that's good. That's what the sound checks for, 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:21.800 instead of just doing all the numbers from the show, 0:14:22.000 --> 0:14:24.120 which kind of spoils the show for us because when 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:26.480 we get a bit bored doing the numbers again, we 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.560 just use the same instruments we're going to use, but 0:14:29.720 --> 0:14:33.480 we switched the numbers. About we do any ill thing, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:37.480 you know, so we'll do kind of like skillful things, 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:41.520 folk things, early rock and roll things, like a little 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:45.760 solely Things Midnight Special tonight, which was kind of amazing, 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.320 and we always do Midnight Specially, Yeah, what we often do. 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:52.400 You know, You've got certain songs that go way back 0:14:53.160 --> 0:14:56.720 before I started even playing, you know. I think that's 0:14:56.720 --> 0:14:58.880 like a big Bill Brunsi song. So he's an old 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.240 blues sing and they're just songs you learn along the 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.360 way and you like them. So if you get an 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.640 opportunity or something like this where there's a sound check, 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:12.120 all you really need to do is just make sure 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:16.800 everything's working. Then you can indulge yourself and play something 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.160 like that, you know, and it's nice. Keeps it all fresh, 0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.200 you know. Talking about the songs, you do know, there's 0:15:23.200 --> 0:15:24.800 something I wanted to ask you about in the set 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.880 list now, is in spite of all the danger, the 0:15:27.880 --> 0:15:34.240 first song recorded by the Quarryman in nineteen Oh my god, 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:39.440 so it's now sixty years old and that can't be true. 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:43.600 That's before my time. I will say, for those just 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:45.880 listening at home, he could pull that off, because it 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.920 does look like he's not old enough to have written really, 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.920 but thank you. But that said, the amazing thing that 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.600 I realized is that, you know, you're performing songs from 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:57.600 your your newest record, Egypt Station, and the very first 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:01.600 thing you ever recorded, So the audience tonight will hear 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:07.200 sixty years parmacurns. It's right, Yeah, yeah, it is crazy, 0:16:07.280 --> 0:16:12.080 you know. It's um. I've been enjoying playing for that 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:16.240 long and when I do that song in spite of 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:19.240 all the danger, which was just the first little demo 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:21.440 we ever did with the Beatles, before we got a 0:16:21.440 --> 0:16:26.160 record contract or anything. So I always imagine us all 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:30.040 going to this little studio in Liverpool, all paying a 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:36.000 pound each for five pound demo and doing this little song, 0:16:36.160 --> 0:16:40.040 you know, and it's it's so ancient that it's great 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.400 for me because it's like what it is, it's like 0:16:42.480 --> 0:16:46.080 reaching back into your childhood. So it'd be like somebody 0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:49.200 maybe listening to this thinking of when they were on 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:51.880 the beach when they were one, and it's what a 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.880 great memory, you know, So it makes it special for 0:16:54.960 --> 0:16:58.120 me just thinking that, Wow, you know, it goes back 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:02.320 really before we ever went down to Ivy Road, before 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.800 we got a record country, before you've been too Hamburg, right, 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.199 I mean we've been to Hamburg. Yeah, So it's a 0:17:07.200 --> 0:17:10.359 great memory for me and I like doing it because 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:12.879 we get the audience involved on that one, you know, 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.399 and so we have fun with it. So it is 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:17.440 nice to be able to say this is the very 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.400 first thing we ever did, first record I was ever 0:17:21.520 --> 0:17:25.280 involved with, and then we come right up to date 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:27.959 and were saying, now this is like the most recent 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.000 somehow it seems to fit together, you know. You know. 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.960 So that's twice now that you've mentioned drawing on those 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:36.520 childhood feelings. First when we were talking about walking around 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:39.159 by yourself, and now when we're talking about playing that 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.840 song in spite of all the danger. Is that a 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:44.240 wild spring for you going back to that time or 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:47.919 holding onto that energy. Yeah, you know. It's funny. In 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:52.000 the Beatles, even when we were like maybe twenty four 0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:54.680 years old or something in the height of the Beatles, 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.320 we often would we were trying to work out something 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:00.960 on a song or what we're going to do with 0:18:01.000 --> 0:18:04.080 the recording, we'd often say, what would we have done 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:07.640 when we were seventeen, And we check back to our 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.520 seventeen year old selves, who we thought like, we're like 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:14.640 the coolest opinion in the world. Well, we would have said, yeah, 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:18.040 do it, yeah, do it man, or no way that 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.040 that's no good, you know, so you always refer to 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:24.800 that period. You know, it's your formative period, so when 0:18:24.800 --> 0:18:28.080 you get a lot of your ideas, and in my case, 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:33.400 if you're writing songs, those memories are very rich wells 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:37.359 of inspiration. So you know, I can just think I 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:41.520 remember walking along the road with our guitars on our backs, 0:18:42.080 --> 0:18:46.159 me and John just before we were famous, you know, 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:49.320 and me writing let us to people, dear sir, we 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:52.160 are a rock combo, and you know we would love 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:55.479 to play at your place, you know, So all that 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.520 sort of stuff. It's kind of like magic for me, 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:01.880 I think also because of how far I've come. So 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:06.880 you've got that very early innocent period. And then we 0:19:06.960 --> 0:19:09.919 get famous with the Beatles. What before that? We go 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:12.160 to Hamburg, as you say, and then we get famous 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:14.760 with the Beatles, and then we get the American fame, 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.360 and then we make records and we we go through 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:22.960 our various phases. So it's a long, long, long journey. 0:19:23.160 --> 0:19:26.320 And then right now, you know, here I am, you know, 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:30.240 making a new album in Egypt station and long behold 0:19:30.240 --> 0:19:32.520 it goes to number one in America. You know, you 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:36.960 can imagine, you know where partying that night was a party, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:38.960 We'll see. I wanted to ask you about that. Egypt 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.760 Station enters the charts at number one, so I guess 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.200 that if you're keeping score at home, that's your first 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:47.640 record to debut at number one since the Beatles, since 0:19:47.640 --> 0:19:50.840 the Beatles, and the first number one and I believe 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.280 thirty six years. So what was the party? What was 0:19:54.320 --> 0:19:57.119 the well, you know, the great thing was after the show. 0:19:57.280 --> 0:20:01.280 Sometimes if the guys don't have to load out, if 0:20:01.320 --> 0:20:03.200 they're all in a place and we're going to play 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:07.320 the place tomorrow, which was that occasion, I'll say, okay, 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.080 let's all get together, have a little drink, I have 0:20:09.119 --> 0:20:11.320 something to eat, and we get the crowd in so 0:20:11.400 --> 0:20:13.439 we'll get to hang with each other, because it's a 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.119 bit like a family, your tour family, you know. So 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:18.800 we all get together and then our DJ who comes 0:20:18.880 --> 0:20:21.920 with us on the tour, he'll DJ some nice dance 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.399 music and stuff. So we were going to have that 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:28.880 little party anyway. And then suddenly that afternoon, right after 0:20:28.960 --> 0:20:31.720 sound check, on my phone, I get the message Bank 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.520 congratulations request count in the morning and I'm just about 0:20:35.520 --> 0:20:38.879 to go to the dressingroomhich I stopped. Oh wait a minute, 0:20:38.920 --> 0:20:42.639 hey guys, I announced to everyone every number one. You know, 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.600 So that party that evening, that was special because we 0:20:46.640 --> 0:20:49.359 had a real great reason to celebrate. We were going 0:20:49.400 --> 0:20:53.919 to celebrate anyway, just having a party, but it became 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:58.000 really special. We danced the night away. Baby. I was 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:01.600 talking to someone at you label in Los Angeles Capital 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:07.520 and the people, well, they said back at you. They said, 0:21:07.880 --> 0:21:12.920 we're amazed at how hard this guy works, seventy six 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.320 years old, three hour concerts. But also he's out there 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.959 doing things, taking advantage of opportunities we bring him. If 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:22.840 we bring them to a twenty three year old artists, 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.399 they might complain. I was like, yeah, let's do it 0:21:26.280 --> 0:21:28.840 what I always do. Promoting a record used to be 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:32.760 quite boring because they would trot out the same old things. 0:21:33.160 --> 0:21:36.359 You gotta go there, you gotta do thirty six interviews. 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:40.200 We're gonna take you to some place central in Europe 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:44.040 where all the European territories can come in and it 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.719 how it was that was Cologne. They always say you're 0:21:47.760 --> 0:21:49.920 going to Cologne and said why Cologne? So well, it's 0:21:49.960 --> 0:21:51.880 in the middle of Europe, and we'll bring the Italians, 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:55.600 the French and Swiss and everybody in and so I 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:57.879 kind of did it, thinking well, I've got to promote 0:21:57.880 --> 0:22:01.000 the record, but it was a deadly ball. It was 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.880 really like, oh no, not that again. So I kind 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.560 of rebelled one day and the meeting, I said, look, 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:11.080 you know, let's make it something that we're excited about. 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:13.879 Because if we're excited, we actually have a good time. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.480 So let's cook up some ideas that are like fun 0:22:18.080 --> 0:22:21.840 and they're different, and it's not going to Cologne and 0:22:21.920 --> 0:22:25.320 with endless interviews. So we had some great little things. 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.399 We had playbacks at the studio in l A. We 0:22:28.400 --> 0:22:31.520 were working at Henson and we had these little playbacks 0:22:31.520 --> 0:22:34.639 for my heart. These are great little sessions. We just 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.879 cranked it up, played the album for them. So that 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:41.000 was easy. That wasn't like the cancer to Debbey Road 0:22:41.040 --> 0:22:45.360 that you did. And we did a CAVN. We went 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:48.560 back to my old school and the little concert there, 0:22:48.840 --> 0:22:52.320 so you know, it made it fun, it made it interesting, 0:22:52.840 --> 0:22:56.240 and each little thing was different, and so it was Yeah, 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.600 capital were happy, but I was happy with the ideas 0:23:00.000 --> 0:23:02.119 we were cooking up together. You know, as long as 0:23:02.080 --> 0:23:04.680 I have a good idea, is that we're exciting everyone. 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.200 We had a blest. You worked with Greg Kirstin and 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:12.280 Ryan Tedter on this record, and Ryan, you did the 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:15.720 single for you or some might hear it the way 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:19.080 I do, MM, which would be a nought of your word, 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.840 and we can say it for you. There we go. 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.879 So give you. If you give someone a present, you 0:23:24.920 --> 0:23:27.159 don't say this is for you, You go, this is 0:23:27.200 --> 0:23:31.240 for you, for you, okay, if you h okay. So 0:23:31.359 --> 0:23:33.800 this is my story and I'm sticking to it, okay. 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:37.920 And yet I was immediately reminded of something I grew 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:40.680 up reading a Grill Marcus essay in the Old Rolling 0:23:40.720 --> 0:23:43.280 Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll about the Beatles, 0:23:43.280 --> 0:23:46.439 where he recalls hearing I saw her standing there on 0:23:46.520 --> 0:23:49.560 the radio immediately in the days after the first appearance 0:23:49.560 --> 0:23:53.120 on The Ed Sullivan Show. He writes, Paul's one two 0:23:53.160 --> 0:23:56.240 three fuck opening. How in the world did they expect 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:58.760 to get away with that? And the thing is is, 0:23:58.840 --> 0:24:01.359 after I read that, I never heard it another way. 0:24:01.440 --> 0:24:04.320 I always heard it, but I'll never hear another way. Now. 0:24:05.359 --> 0:24:08.639 It wasn't that, But I like it. O. Man. You know, 0:24:09.160 --> 0:24:11.480 you know, it's a kind of nice thing when people 0:24:11.560 --> 0:24:14.320 kind of misinterpret what you've done, or they put extra 0:24:14.440 --> 0:24:16.679 meaning on it. I mean, I did the song Hi 0:24:16.800 --> 0:24:20.399 Hi Hi, which we'll do tonight, and there's a line 0:24:20.400 --> 0:24:22.600 in it which I was just kind of writing, just 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:27.239 like surrealist lyrics. I was like, so I wrote, I 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:32.240 wrote lie on the bed and get ready for my polygone. 0:24:34.520 --> 0:24:37.280 It doesn't mean anything was a polygon, you know, but 0:24:37.840 --> 0:24:40.280 people thought it was getting ready for my body gun. 0:24:41.359 --> 0:24:44.359 I thought, you know what, that is better if you 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:47.760 ever sung it that way. Okay, So you know, sometimes 0:24:47.560 --> 0:24:52.479 the misinterpretation is actually better than the real lyric. You know. 0:24:53.640 --> 0:24:56.879