1
00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:04,640
Speaker 1: Now here's a highlight from coast to coast AM on iHeartRadio.

2
00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:08,600
Speaker 2: David Frick from Rolling Stone Magazine wrote, you can't talk

3
00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:13,200
Speaker 2: about the seventies without talking about Grand Funk Railroad. Mark

4
00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,520
Speaker 2: Farner is the reason. As one of the founding members,

5
00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:19,920
Speaker 2: lead singer, lead guitarist who wrote more than ninety percent

6
00:00:20,280 --> 00:00:23,520
Speaker 2: of the Grand Funk music catalog, Farner has always been

7
00:00:23,560 --> 00:00:26,920
Speaker 2: known as the energetic driving force on stage, the engine

8
00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:30,120
Speaker 2: that pulled the original Grand Funk Railroad to the top

9
00:00:30,160 --> 00:00:32,919
Speaker 2: of the charts. From his soulful voice and power rock

10
00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,240
Speaker 2: rifts to fueling the funk with his atomic stage presence,

11
00:00:36,800 --> 00:00:39,800
Speaker 2: His story and his imprint on music starts with flint,

12
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:42,720
Speaker 2: and since nineteen sixty nine, from his humble beginnings and

13
00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,080
Speaker 2: a blue collar outlook, Farner has captained a global crusade

14
00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:50,040
Speaker 2: for love, peace and freedom and became a rock and

15
00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,320
Speaker 2: roll icon. More than sixty years later, he commands the

16
00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:57,360
Speaker 2: stage with the same intensity, performing epic hits that defined

17
00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,200
Speaker 2: a generation. I'm Your Captain, Bad Time, some kind of

18
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:05,640
Speaker 2: Wonderful foot stomp and Music, Heartbreaker, Locomotion, Mean Mistreater, and

19
00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:10,919
Speaker 2: We're an American band Today. Farner's amplifying his remarkable career

20
00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:15,800
Speaker 2: another full decibel, selling more than thirty million records worldwide,

21
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:21,080
Speaker 2: including sixteen gold and platinum albums. He's got a brand

22
00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,120
Speaker 2: new album coming out sometime in twenty twenty four. Welcome

23
00:01:25,200 --> 00:01:28,280
Speaker 2: to Coast to Coast, am Mark Farner. How are you.

24
00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,840
Speaker 3: Good to be here? Richard? And fit as a fiddle

25
00:01:32,840 --> 00:01:33,959
Speaker 3: and fine as a frog?

26
00:01:34,040 --> 00:01:42,840
Speaker 2: Here You're still in Michigan and such a hotbed of music,

27
00:01:43,160 --> 00:01:47,039
Speaker 2: not only Grand Funk Railroad, but you know Ted Nugent,

28
00:01:47,440 --> 00:01:54,280
Speaker 2: Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Mitch Ryder, Bob Seeger. Why is

29
00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,120
Speaker 2: it that Michigan produces such great rock and roll?

30
00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:04,000
Speaker 3: Well, I believe that it's largely because of the influx

31
00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,840
Speaker 3: of people from other states who moved to Michigan to

32
00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:15,840
Speaker 3: get the higher paying auto factory jobs. That was that

33
00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,240
Speaker 3: was how my mother came into the state back when

34
00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,280
Speaker 3: she was sixteen years old. She moved with the whole

35
00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:31,160
Speaker 3: family moved, I mean, her grandfather, uncle's aunts, the Deepot cousins,

36
00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:38,320
Speaker 3: moved to Flint, Michigan because my grandfather had landed a

37
00:02:38,440 --> 00:02:43,440
Speaker 3: job at Buick and then he sent and got the

38
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:49,119
Speaker 3: family I mean, and some of that well, I'd say,

39
00:02:49,320 --> 00:02:54,480
Speaker 3: a lot of the Southern you know, from Arkansas and

40
00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:01,560
Speaker 3: Mississippi and Georgia and the places where people came from

41
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:07,639
Speaker 3: and we visited with them. Of course, when my stepdad

42
00:03:07,680 --> 00:03:12,440
Speaker 3: would have people over from the shop, it was always

43
00:03:12,520 --> 00:03:17,120
Speaker 3: somebody you know from the South, and you could tell,

44
00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:19,440
Speaker 3: you know, because of the accent where they came from.

45
00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,560
Speaker 3: But that influx of people that came, they brought their

46
00:03:23,639 --> 00:03:28,720
Speaker 3: instruments and we had jam sessions at my mother's house

47
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,919
Speaker 3: on Davison Road, theren Flint or at my aunt Dorothy's

48
00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,000
Speaker 3: house on Normandy Court. But every Sunday there would be

49
00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:44,320
Speaker 3: a jam session without fail, and we would have food,

50
00:03:44,400 --> 00:03:46,560
Speaker 3: you know. I mean it was like a jam session,

51
00:03:46,800 --> 00:03:50,920
Speaker 3: but it was always jamming some food down your neck too,

52
00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,320
Speaker 3: so you know it was Southern fried chicken with those

53
00:03:54,360 --> 00:04:00,680
Speaker 3: hockey puck dumplings or Sloppy Joe's and lots finger food.

54
00:04:00,920 --> 00:04:05,480
Speaker 3: Everybody would bring something to pass and it was always

55
00:04:05,520 --> 00:04:09,800
Speaker 3: a good time. I mean, even now when I sat

56
00:04:09,880 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 3: down with a bunch of people to eat, I love

57
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,880
Speaker 3: the conversation to to you know, you never know what's

58
00:04:18,920 --> 00:04:24,719
Speaker 3: going to come up in conversation. But I believe because

59
00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:29,960
Speaker 3: of that music that came. It was the North meets

60
00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:35,440
Speaker 3: the South as far as music styles and as far

61
00:04:35,520 --> 00:04:42,360
Speaker 3: as people, and we in Michigan we didn't have racial discord.

62
00:04:43,400 --> 00:04:48,400
Speaker 3: We didn't have the troubles that the South had, So

63
00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:51,200
Speaker 3: it was something they had to get used to when

64
00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:58,960
Speaker 3: they got here to Michigan. Because I always had friends,

65
00:04:59,000 --> 00:05:03,520
Speaker 3: I had black, I have Mexican friends, I've always had.

66
00:05:04,839 --> 00:05:09,120
Speaker 3: People are people you know in my eyes, and just

67
00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:15,160
Speaker 3: because of someone's color, it doesn't it should not signify

68
00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:22,039
Speaker 3: anything out of the ordinary. So anyway, the music that

69
00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:26,640
Speaker 3: was developed was assembly line rock and roll is what

70
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,120
Speaker 3: I referred to it as. And a lot of us

71
00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,160
Speaker 3: kids were the kids of shop rats, and I use

72
00:05:36,279 --> 00:05:41,400
Speaker 3: that term lovingly because shop rats are a clan who

73
00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:43,640
Speaker 3: are proud to be shop rats.

74
00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:51,600
Speaker 2: Sixteen Golden PLANTINUM Records. You're celebrating like sixty years in

75
00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:54,839
Speaker 2: the music business. What do you credit your longevity to?

76
00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:58,520
Speaker 2: How do you know you have such energy? The voice remains,

77
00:05:58,920 --> 00:06:01,839
Speaker 2: you know, just as soul full and energetic.

78
00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:07,320
Speaker 3: How you do it well, it's exercised by reason of use.

79
00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,720
Speaker 3: When I'm my voice as far as you know, my

80
00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,560
Speaker 3: singing abilities, when I'm in the woods, I'm singing when

81
00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,159
Speaker 3: you know, I don't just reserve it for the shower.

82
00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:25,280
Speaker 3: But that's not to say I don't sing in the shower,

83
00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:27,600
Speaker 3: because that's a great place to sing. You got all

84
00:06:27,640 --> 00:06:31,359
Speaker 3: that that steam coming, and you know it's good for

85
00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:37,599
Speaker 3: the vocal cords. It's however, sometimes because you know, we

86
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:42,240
Speaker 3: like to save water. So I shower with my friend,

87
00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:49,200
Speaker 3: my wife and some of my notes. When I hit notes,

88
00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,240
Speaker 3: you know, I have to push a lot of air

89
00:06:52,360 --> 00:06:57,200
Speaker 3: across those vocal cords in order to attain certain frequencies,

90
00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:01,000
Speaker 3: and shit have to grab her ears.

91
00:07:06,120 --> 00:07:08,880
Speaker 2: You've been I mentioned sixty years in the music business,

92
00:07:08,880 --> 00:07:13,200
Speaker 2: maybe even longer you've been. You've been supporting veterans, men

93
00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:15,800
Speaker 2: and women of the arms services. Your dad was a

94
00:07:15,840 --> 00:07:19,240
Speaker 2: World War Two vet. My dad was too. Your mother

95
00:07:19,280 --> 00:07:21,920
Speaker 2: worked in a tank factory in Michigan. My dad was

96
00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:26,080
Speaker 2: a tank gunner in the Second World War. Tell me

97
00:07:26,120 --> 00:07:29,560
Speaker 2: about tell me about your your work with veterans.

98
00:07:30,960 --> 00:07:36,120
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, my dad was a tank driver and your

99
00:07:36,200 --> 00:07:41,680
Speaker 3: dad was a tank gunner. That's that's pretty nice. That's

100
00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:46,040
Speaker 3: pretty you know, something that you can be proud of

101
00:07:47,040 --> 00:07:49,239
Speaker 3: because we won the war. I mean, if we lost

102
00:07:49,280 --> 00:07:51,840
Speaker 3: the war, just thanking you say, oh my god, you know,

103
00:07:53,440 --> 00:08:01,000
Speaker 3: but yeah, it's only and all my uncles on my

104
00:08:01,120 --> 00:08:05,400
Speaker 3: dad's side, there were four men that were all in

105
00:08:05,520 --> 00:08:12,680
Speaker 3: the service, everybody enlisted and all their friends of course,

106
00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:19,440
Speaker 3: So I have always been around service people. I've always

107
00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,080
Speaker 3: had the highest respect for someone who would risk their

108
00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:29,720
Speaker 3: safety to defend ours here in the homeland, and they're

109
00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:36,040
Speaker 3: following orders. And I know I learned how to follow orders.

110
00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:42,240
Speaker 3: And even though I questioned those orders, like when I

111
00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:47,600
Speaker 3: was told to do something and I'm saying, but why,

112
00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:53,920
Speaker 3: as a kid, but why I'm so comfortable where I'm

113
00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:56,040
Speaker 3: at right this minute, and you want me to go,

114
00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:01,520
Speaker 3: It's like why, because I've said so. So I learned

115
00:09:02,520 --> 00:09:10,960
Speaker 3: to accept orders or you could get something across your

116
00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:16,760
Speaker 3: ass if you didn't, and in my case, it may

117
00:09:16,800 --> 00:09:22,240
Speaker 3: have been a buggy whip. So I really came to attention.

118
00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:32,600
Speaker 3: But our soldiers may not even believe in the war

119
00:09:32,679 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 3: that they are fighting in. I don't, you know myself.

120
00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,440
Speaker 3: I don't like war. I hate that we have to

121
00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:47,080
Speaker 3: go to war, but it is a reality that we

122
00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:53,840
Speaker 3: have lived with for generations, and it takes a special

123
00:09:53,960 --> 00:09:59,760
Speaker 3: person in my eyes, and I have reference for those

124
00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:04,400
Speaker 3: people who lay it on the line, who would risk

125
00:10:05,240 --> 00:10:11,280
Speaker 3: their lives to defend our freedoms. And that being said,

126
00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:18,199
Speaker 3: when I do anything, whatever, it is the smallest thing,

127
00:10:18,400 --> 00:10:22,360
Speaker 3: or you know, up to doing that concert for the

128
00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,880
Speaker 3: Vietnam veterans at the Wall on the twenty fifth anniversary

129
00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:33,880
Speaker 3: of the monument in Washington, d C. I am, I'm

130
00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:38,640
Speaker 3: just happy, dude, I am. I couldn't get more happy

131
00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:47,440
Speaker 3: than doing something and seeing the smiles and knowing that

132
00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:57,520
Speaker 3: I'm helping relive memories. I'm helping them, you know, have

133
00:10:57,640 --> 00:11:01,520
Speaker 3: a grip on reality and always a taste of home

134
00:11:02,640 --> 00:11:08,319
Speaker 3: when we've gone, you know, across the continents to play

135
00:11:08,559 --> 00:11:10,800
Speaker 3: a USO show show for the.

136
00:11:10,800 --> 00:11:14,520
Speaker 2: Troops, like I taste a home. I taste a home.

137
00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:16,760
Speaker 2: That's why I guess closer to home. I'm your captain.

138
00:11:16,920 --> 00:11:20,600
Speaker 2: Is it remained such an important song for Vietnam veterans.

139
00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:26,160
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, And I've heard from so many who told

140
00:11:26,240 --> 00:11:30,440
Speaker 3: me that they that they used that song, that that

141
00:11:30,600 --> 00:11:36,240
Speaker 3: song gave them the hope of returning home. And when

142
00:11:36,280 --> 00:11:40,640
Speaker 3: I prayed for that song, Richard, I just you know,

143
00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:44,160
Speaker 3: it was at the end of a prayer and I said,

144
00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,840
Speaker 3: my Now, I lay me down to sleep, prayer and

145
00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:52,280
Speaker 3: blessed everybody in the family, and you know, I came

146
00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:56,320
Speaker 3: to the end of my my win there and I said, God,

147
00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:59,959
Speaker 3: would you please give me a song that would reach

148
00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,480
Speaker 3: and touch the hearts of those you want to get to,

149
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:09,320
Speaker 3: and got up in the middle and I wrote those lyrics.

150
00:12:09,360 --> 00:12:11,880
Speaker 3: But I didn't know they were lyrics when I was

151
00:12:11,880 --> 00:12:14,800
Speaker 3: writing there, because I've written a lot of things in

152
00:12:14,840 --> 00:12:17,400
Speaker 3: the middle of the night that never turn out to

153
00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:24,440
Speaker 3: be songs, and so I didn't I didn't really relate

154
00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:30,000
Speaker 3: to these words as lyrics when I was writing them down,

155
00:12:30,160 --> 00:12:35,360
Speaker 3: because usually when I'm writing a song, I will go

156
00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,600
Speaker 3: back to the top of verse one and read down

157
00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:46,120
Speaker 3: through it to help instill creativity for that second verson

158
00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:51,440
Speaker 3: and put something in there, you know, And I'd read

159
00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,080
Speaker 3: the second verse the first and second to get a

160
00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:57,280
Speaker 3: third verse, or you know, just a reference like that.

161
00:12:57,320 --> 00:12:59,920
Speaker 3: But when I sat up on the edge of the

162
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,840
Speaker 3: bed and I grabbed that steno pad and started writing,

163
00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:07,680
Speaker 3: I was in a state of mind that was halfway

164
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:14,240
Speaker 3: between heaven and Earth, and I knew better than to

165
00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:19,559
Speaker 3: go back to the top of this because it wasn't

166
00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:21,760
Speaker 3: a song to me at the time. It was just

167
00:13:21,920 --> 00:13:27,440
Speaker 3: words and I knew that I couldn't go back to

168
00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,840
Speaker 3: the top. I had to just write because it was coming.

169
00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:33,760
Speaker 3: I didn't have time to go back to the top

170
00:13:33,840 --> 00:13:36,880
Speaker 3: because the words just kept coming and it was flowing.

171
00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:45,440
Speaker 3: And when I finished these words, I was spent physically

172
00:13:46,679 --> 00:13:52,840
Speaker 3: and mentally spent. Dude. I was exhausted, and I rolled

173
00:13:52,880 --> 00:13:56,080
Speaker 3: back into the bed through the sheet over myself, and

174
00:13:56,400 --> 00:13:58,680
Speaker 3: you know, I parked it there till morning.

175
00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:04,920
Speaker 2: That's why that song remains part of the soundscape and

176
00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:06,320
Speaker 2: the soundtrack of our lives.

177
00:14:06,800 --> 00:14:10,080
Speaker 1: Listen to more Coast to Coast AM every weeknight at

178
00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,959
Speaker 1: one a m. Eastern and go to Coast to coastam

179
00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:14,160
Speaker 1: dot com for more