1 00:00:15,476 --> 00:00:15,956 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:18,436 --> 00:00:21,516 Speaker 2: Hey everyone, it's justin Richmond. As a broken record listener, 3 00:00:21,596 --> 00:00:23,516 Speaker 2: you get to hear from some of the most talented 4 00:00:23,596 --> 00:00:27,996 Speaker 2: and creative musicians around. But every so often a performer 5 00:00:28,156 --> 00:00:32,556 Speaker 2: feels just a cut above the rest. They're particularly fascinating, 6 00:00:33,196 --> 00:00:36,676 Speaker 2: and I include Steve Martin in that category. He's an 7 00:00:36,676 --> 00:00:41,316 Speaker 2: incredible actor, writer, comedic, performer, musician, and it turns out 8 00:00:41,396 --> 00:00:44,556 Speaker 2: even has an eye for art. For decades now, Steve 9 00:00:44,596 --> 00:00:48,956 Speaker 2: Martin's been a pure creative force, and now, through Pushkin, 10 00:00:49,156 --> 00:00:52,396 Speaker 2: Steve has his own original audiobook that I'm excited to 11 00:00:52,396 --> 00:00:55,996 Speaker 2: share an excerpt of with you today. It's called So 12 00:00:56,076 --> 00:00:59,236 Speaker 2: Many Steve's, and it's an exploration of Steve Martin's many 13 00:00:59,276 --> 00:01:02,436 Speaker 2: creative lives and conversation with his friend and New Yorker 14 00:01:02,476 --> 00:01:06,476 Speaker 2: writer Adam Gotnik. In this preview, you'll hear Steve Martin 15 00:01:06,516 --> 00:01:09,836 Speaker 2: and Adam talk about Steve's music career. You'll even get 16 00:01:09,836 --> 00:01:13,636 Speaker 2: to hear him score their conversation on banjo. Check out 17 00:01:13,676 --> 00:01:17,516 Speaker 2: the audiobook on pushkin dot Fm for the complete conversations, 18 00:01:17,636 --> 00:01:22,356 Speaker 2: and in the meantime, enjoy this excerpt of So Many Steves. 19 00:01:38,436 --> 00:01:45,316 Speaker 3: Chapter five Music Man, You did a whole record that 20 00:01:45,356 --> 00:01:47,156 Speaker 3: had one whole musical side right in there. 21 00:01:47,196 --> 00:01:52,236 Speaker 4: Yeah, but that's a long story. That's because that's because 22 00:01:52,236 --> 00:02:01,356 Speaker 4: I was out of comedy material, just really out of it. 23 00:02:01,676 --> 00:02:06,156 Speaker 4: And I was at a roadblock of writing more at 24 00:02:06,156 --> 00:02:08,796 Speaker 4: that time in the early eighties, and I had these 25 00:02:08,836 --> 00:02:12,436 Speaker 4: songs that I'd recorded like eight years earlier. Oh really 26 00:02:12,476 --> 00:02:16,116 Speaker 4: they yeah, And I thought, well, maybe this will work. 27 00:02:17,076 --> 00:02:20,596 Speaker 3: The record Steve is referencing is called The Steve Martin 28 00:02:20,636 --> 00:02:22,716 Speaker 3: Brothers and it was released in nineteen eighty one. 29 00:02:23,516 --> 00:02:26,316 Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know, it's not the smartest thing, because 30 00:02:26,316 --> 00:02:27,876 Speaker 4: if you're buying a comedy record, you don't want a 31 00:02:27,956 --> 00:02:29,676 Speaker 4: music record, and if you're buying a music record, you 32 00:02:29,676 --> 00:02:32,556 Speaker 4: don't want a comedy record. But anyway, so I didn't 33 00:02:32,556 --> 00:02:35,876 Speaker 4: consider myself a music act. And you know, while I 34 00:02:35,916 --> 00:02:39,036 Speaker 4: was making movies, I just sort of kept the banjo enough. 35 00:02:39,716 --> 00:02:41,756 Speaker 4: You kept it in the trailer with you, Yeah, kept 36 00:02:41,796 --> 00:02:43,876 Speaker 4: it in the trailer and everything. Didn't write any songs. 37 00:02:44,596 --> 00:02:47,316 Speaker 3: Steve is a man of many ambitions, but if one 38 00:02:47,436 --> 00:02:51,556 Speaker 3: electric current or strand of DNA, depending on your pet metaphor, 39 00:02:52,116 --> 00:02:56,436 Speaker 3: runs through it all, it's his love of music, in particular, 40 00:02:56,516 --> 00:02:58,996 Speaker 3: his love of the kind of American music we more 41 00:02:59,036 --> 00:03:03,476 Speaker 3: ignorant folks call bluegrass. I have already learned that the banjo, 42 00:03:03,756 --> 00:03:06,756 Speaker 3: which I had foolishly imagined as a kind of deliberately 43 00:03:07,196 --> 00:03:10,596 Speaker 3: camp instrument, was in fact a source of passion and 44 00:03:10,676 --> 00:03:14,996 Speaker 3: satisfaction to Steve. He loved its tone, the American trail 45 00:03:15,036 --> 00:03:18,516 Speaker 3: that left behind, its jangling sound and its Civil War 46 00:03:18,676 --> 00:03:22,476 Speaker 3: campfire integrity. And yet, as you just heard, at the 47 00:03:22,516 --> 00:03:26,156 Speaker 3: height of his conventional fame, he had stopped playing the 48 00:03:26,196 --> 00:03:30,156 Speaker 3: banjo entirely. I want to know why he'd stopped, and 49 00:03:30,196 --> 00:03:33,756 Speaker 3: how this improbable instrument had made him begin again and 50 00:03:33,916 --> 00:03:37,156 Speaker 3: drawn him back in and then opened him to an 51 00:03:37,236 --> 00:03:39,836 Speaker 3: even larger world of music and composition. 52 00:03:40,916 --> 00:03:45,756 Speaker 4: So around two thousand, Earl Scruggs was doing some kind 53 00:03:45,756 --> 00:03:47,956 Speaker 4: of anniversary record and he said, would you. 54 00:03:47,916 --> 00:03:51,076 Speaker 3: Earl Scruggs, Master of the American that's. 55 00:03:50,956 --> 00:03:54,916 Speaker 4: A great master. Changed the instrument, absolutely changed the instrument. 56 00:03:55,116 --> 00:03:58,596 Speaker 4: And he said, I'm doing a seventy to fifth anniversary album. 57 00:03:58,596 --> 00:04:01,436 Speaker 4: Would you play Foggy Mountain Breakdown with me? You know, 58 00:04:01,436 --> 00:04:04,556 Speaker 4: we're getting a lot of celebrities. I said, sure, you know, 59 00:04:04,636 --> 00:04:06,956 Speaker 4: because I can play Foggy Mountain Breakdown, and. 60 00:04:06,996 --> 00:04:10,796 Speaker 3: Remember Steve had performed this very same song with Scruggs 61 00:04:10,996 --> 00:04:12,036 Speaker 3: earlier in his career. 62 00:04:15,756 --> 00:04:18,916 Speaker 4: So I go to this recording session and they put 63 00:04:18,956 --> 00:04:21,396 Speaker 4: it on. They have the track I'm gonna play along with. 64 00:04:22,836 --> 00:04:27,476 Speaker 4: It was so fast I couldn't believe it. 65 00:04:28,396 --> 00:04:28,516 Speaker 5: Now. 66 00:04:28,556 --> 00:04:32,156 Speaker 4: I could get it back up to speed, but it 67 00:04:32,196 --> 00:04:36,236 Speaker 4: took some doing, and I thought I'm rusty, and so 68 00:04:36,316 --> 00:04:40,356 Speaker 4: I started getting back into the banjo. That began the 69 00:04:40,396 --> 00:04:47,956 Speaker 4: second period of my musical life. And so I started 70 00:04:47,956 --> 00:04:52,596 Speaker 4: writing these songs. But I didn't write songs with lyrics 71 00:04:53,636 --> 00:04:56,476 Speaker 4: because I didn't know how. I thought, Okay, I can 72 00:04:56,516 --> 00:05:00,516 Speaker 4: write a banjo song with a melody, but I don't 73 00:05:00,596 --> 00:05:03,076 Speaker 4: understand how the next melody lays on top of that. 74 00:05:03,996 --> 00:05:06,196 Speaker 4: So if I'm playing in CEA, I don't because I 75 00:05:06,196 --> 00:05:08,236 Speaker 4: don't know music. I don't know what note, I don't 76 00:05:08,236 --> 00:05:10,556 Speaker 4: know what fits. I don't And then I was talking 77 00:05:10,556 --> 00:05:13,036 Speaker 4: to Earl Scruggs. I heard him be interviewed one time 78 00:05:13,236 --> 00:05:16,916 Speaker 4: and he said, well, he said, I'd just play the melody, 79 00:05:17,556 --> 00:05:22,196 Speaker 4: and I thought, oh, my songs have melodies. Why don't 80 00:05:22,236 --> 00:05:24,756 Speaker 4: I make that the melody and just find lyrics that 81 00:05:24,836 --> 00:05:28,396 Speaker 4: go along with that, and then subordinate the chords the 82 00:05:28,436 --> 00:05:30,996 Speaker 4: top line. Just take off the top line, and then 83 00:05:31,036 --> 00:05:33,516 Speaker 4: I was able to write songs. I don't think I 84 00:05:33,556 --> 00:05:35,156 Speaker 4: wrote some pretty good ones for the genre. 85 00:05:37,996 --> 00:05:41,796 Speaker 3: With that inspiration from Earl Scruggs, Steve felt newly empowered 86 00:05:42,196 --> 00:05:45,756 Speaker 3: with the ability to write the top line for his songs. Soon, 87 00:05:45,876 --> 00:05:49,036 Speaker 3: Steve's next record came out, his first in decades, and 88 00:05:49,156 --> 00:05:52,556 Speaker 3: it was all music, no comedy at all. Released in 89 00:05:52,596 --> 00:05:55,876 Speaker 3: two thousand and nine, it's called The Crow New Songs 90 00:05:55,916 --> 00:05:57,036 Speaker 3: for the five String Banjo. 91 00:05:57,316 --> 00:06:00,116 Speaker 4: I was very proud that they were new songs for 92 00:06:00,156 --> 00:06:11,556 Speaker 4: the five string banjo. So we recorded them and John 93 00:06:11,596 --> 00:06:15,796 Speaker 4: mckewan produced it. And then my agent, a great agent, 94 00:06:15,796 --> 00:06:17,716 Speaker 4: Mark Geiger, said you've got to go on the road. 95 00:06:18,196 --> 00:06:21,516 Speaker 4: I said, I can't go on the road, and he said, now, look, 96 00:06:21,516 --> 00:06:24,476 Speaker 4: you got to go on the road. So here's the options. 97 00:06:24,876 --> 00:06:27,396 Speaker 4: You're going to either hire a pickup band, which means 98 00:06:27,396 --> 00:06:28,636 Speaker 4: every time you go on the road you have to 99 00:06:28,636 --> 00:06:30,796 Speaker 4: find five new players who to learn all the songs, 100 00:06:30,796 --> 00:06:33,476 Speaker 4: et cetera, which is possible because these players are great. 101 00:06:33,956 --> 00:06:37,756 Speaker 4: Or you just team up with an existing band because 102 00:06:37,756 --> 00:06:41,316 Speaker 4: they'll either be all available or not all available. And 103 00:06:41,356 --> 00:06:45,036 Speaker 4: I said, well, I only know one band because I 104 00:06:45,036 --> 00:06:47,276 Speaker 4: had met the Steep Canyon Rangers in North Carolina at 105 00:06:47,316 --> 00:06:51,476 Speaker 4: a party. I thought, wow, they sound great, so I 106 00:06:51,476 --> 00:06:53,836 Speaker 4: asked them if they wanted to team up not lugging Away. 107 00:06:55,316 --> 00:06:59,236 Speaker 4: My best friends all had worn not blugging Away. Even 108 00:06:59,276 --> 00:07:03,316 Speaker 4: your mom said you were nuts and dreams. You wear 109 00:07:03,316 --> 00:07:05,476 Speaker 4: a red cape ban a pitch, not wlugging away. 110 00:07:06,516 --> 00:07:07,356 Speaker 3: Jumilationday. 111 00:07:08,316 --> 00:07:11,596 Speaker 4: And then I'm talking to this other friend, Pete Warneck 112 00:07:11,836 --> 00:07:13,916 Speaker 4: is a banjo player, and he was helped me out 113 00:07:13,956 --> 00:07:18,316 Speaker 4: quite a bit early on with the negotiating the bluegrass world. 114 00:07:19,396 --> 00:07:21,916 Speaker 4: And I said, I don't know what to do in 115 00:07:21,956 --> 00:07:25,196 Speaker 4: the show. I guess we just play the songs. He said, no, no, no, 116 00:07:25,676 --> 00:07:28,156 Speaker 4: he says, you've got to do comedy. I said, I 117 00:07:28,196 --> 00:07:29,836 Speaker 4: don't have any. I don't have any. Well, if you 118 00:07:29,836 --> 00:07:32,676 Speaker 4: don't do comedy, they're gonna be disappointed. I said, why 119 00:07:32,996 --> 00:07:35,716 Speaker 4: it's a music show. Why He says, because they'll be 120 00:07:35,756 --> 00:07:39,916 Speaker 4: disappointed if they're expecting you to do comedy. And I went, oh, 121 00:07:40,236 --> 00:07:48,076 Speaker 4: I mean, like I should have known that. Yeah, But 122 00:07:48,156 --> 00:07:50,756 Speaker 4: it worked out because I loved and eventually just loved 123 00:07:51,116 --> 00:08:00,676 Speaker 4: working out humor for that touring banjo show. This actually happened. 124 00:08:01,476 --> 00:08:05,916 Speaker 4: I had a book call it was an omnibus of 125 00:08:06,596 --> 00:08:08,956 Speaker 4: bad poetry. It was a big, thick book. 126 00:08:09,196 --> 00:08:09,836 Speaker 3: It's called The Stuff. 127 00:08:09,916 --> 00:08:13,796 Speaker 4: Now, yeah it is. That's right, that's right. So I thought, 128 00:08:13,876 --> 00:08:16,516 Speaker 4: just as a joke, I thought, I'm going to write 129 00:08:16,516 --> 00:08:21,956 Speaker 4: some bad poetry. So I wrote some bad poetry about 130 00:08:22,196 --> 00:08:24,796 Speaker 4: a kid and his dad played the banjo and blah 131 00:08:24,796 --> 00:08:26,516 Speaker 4: blah goes on and on and on and on. 132 00:08:26,516 --> 00:08:26,716 Speaker 5: You know. 133 00:08:27,516 --> 00:08:29,556 Speaker 4: And I looked at it and I thought, you know, 134 00:08:30,956 --> 00:08:34,676 Speaker 4: this is some pretty bad poetry, but it might make 135 00:08:34,716 --> 00:08:40,796 Speaker 4: a good country song. It actually did. It was called 136 00:08:40,836 --> 00:08:41,956 Speaker 4: Daddy Played the Bad Joe. 137 00:08:42,716 --> 00:08:48,876 Speaker 2: Daddy played the band, Open the Yellow Tree. It right 138 00:08:48,956 --> 00:08:51,956 Speaker 2: across the backyard and old town mellow. 139 00:08:53,516 --> 00:08:55,196 Speaker 3: Bad poetry often makes good lyrics. 140 00:08:55,356 --> 00:08:57,956 Speaker 4: I mean that absolutely absolutely. 141 00:08:58,996 --> 00:09:01,836 Speaker 3: Steve was about to meet someone who would become central 142 00:09:01,876 --> 00:09:05,236 Speaker 3: to his work as a musician, and that was Edie Brokel. 143 00:09:05,836 --> 00:09:08,796 Speaker 3: Edie Brokel, as you probably know, is a pop and 144 00:09:09,276 --> 00:09:13,476 Speaker 3: tree star, and latterly she had gotten married to Steve's friend, 145 00:09:13,716 --> 00:09:15,516 Speaker 3: the great songwriter Paul Simon. 146 00:09:16,036 --> 00:09:20,516 Speaker 4: One time I was at a dinner party and Edie 147 00:09:20,596 --> 00:09:22,596 Speaker 4: came up to me and she said, you know, I 148 00:09:22,636 --> 00:09:25,756 Speaker 4: heard a song you wrote I think it was Daddy 149 00:09:25,756 --> 00:09:28,516 Speaker 4: played the banjo, I think, and she said, it's so 150 00:09:29,916 --> 00:09:31,956 Speaker 4: kind of knocked me out. Would you ever like to 151 00:09:31,956 --> 00:09:35,276 Speaker 4: write songs together? And I didn't know anything about writing 152 00:09:35,276 --> 00:09:37,076 Speaker 4: songs together, and I said, well, sure, you know here 153 00:09:37,156 --> 00:09:39,876 Speaker 4: yeh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think We met at 154 00:09:40,036 --> 00:09:44,116 Speaker 4: Edie's house and I didn't know anything about collaborating at all, 155 00:09:44,636 --> 00:09:48,716 Speaker 4: and kind of got a few things. But eventually it 156 00:09:48,836 --> 00:09:54,676 Speaker 4: worked out that I would send the banjo line line, 157 00:09:54,716 --> 00:09:58,716 Speaker 4: the form and everything, and then she would lyricize it 158 00:09:59,756 --> 00:10:02,036 Speaker 4: and often change the licks so it'd have the two 159 00:10:02,076 --> 00:10:04,756 Speaker 4: counter melodies. You'd have the banjo counter melody and her 160 00:10:04,796 --> 00:10:06,916 Speaker 4: melody on top of it. And that's how we started 161 00:10:06,916 --> 00:10:09,476 Speaker 4: writing them. And she was the exclusive writer of the lyric. 162 00:10:10,036 --> 00:10:10,196 Speaker 2: You know. 163 00:10:10,236 --> 00:10:11,996 Speaker 4: I thought we were going to collaborate on lyrics, but 164 00:10:12,156 --> 00:10:14,756 Speaker 4: she had an insight. Yeah, she has had an insight 165 00:10:14,836 --> 00:10:18,196 Speaker 4: into lyric writing, you know. So that's how that happened. 166 00:10:18,756 --> 00:10:22,276 Speaker 1: She had a child by that man from the bank. 167 00:10:23,116 --> 00:10:29,196 Speaker 1: He was married with the song. All of her family 168 00:10:29,356 --> 00:10:32,396 Speaker 1: said give that child away, chat. 169 00:10:32,316 --> 00:10:33,956 Speaker 2: To erase what you do. 170 00:10:34,796 --> 00:10:37,636 Speaker 4: We went on a tour with Edie and the Rangers 171 00:10:37,636 --> 00:10:40,476 Speaker 4: and worked in comedy and it was a big show 172 00:10:40,916 --> 00:10:41,236 Speaker 4: and it. 173 00:10:41,196 --> 00:10:44,676 Speaker 5: Did well, you know, and traveling bluegrass, yeah, but in 174 00:10:44,756 --> 00:10:45,236 Speaker 5: a bus. 175 00:10:46,316 --> 00:10:48,076 Speaker 4: And then one day we were just talking and we 176 00:10:48,196 --> 00:10:50,556 Speaker 4: said how much we both like musicals. 177 00:10:53,476 --> 00:10:57,356 Speaker 3: Now Steve loves musicals. We talk about them all the time. 178 00:10:58,076 --> 00:11:08,716 Speaker 3: West Side Story, the Bernstein Sondheim Classic, Gypsy, the Julie 179 00:11:08,756 --> 00:11:11,276 Speaker 3: Stein and Son Time Classic were have. 180 00:11:11,436 --> 00:11:18,476 Speaker 4: Always I wept through the whole thing, just from oh 181 00:11:18,596 --> 00:11:20,796 Speaker 4: this song, Oh that song, Oh this song, you know, 182 00:11:20,836 --> 00:11:21,676 Speaker 4: it's so sweet. 183 00:11:22,276 --> 00:11:25,756 Speaker 3: And Meredith Wilson's one of a kind nineteen fifty seven 184 00:11:25,836 --> 00:11:27,236 Speaker 3: show The Music. 185 00:11:26,956 --> 00:11:28,476 Speaker 5: Man was. 186 00:11:33,196 --> 00:11:38,036 Speaker 3: What did you ever pursue the idea of playing Harold Hill? 187 00:11:38,556 --> 00:11:39,956 Speaker 4: You know, it was always in the back of my mind. 188 00:11:39,956 --> 00:11:42,196 Speaker 4: But I have a big problem. I can't sing there 189 00:11:42,196 --> 00:11:44,636 Speaker 4: were bells on the Hill. I don't have that voice. 190 00:11:50,596 --> 00:11:54,996 Speaker 3: Steve is a true connoisseur of classic musicals, and yet. 191 00:11:55,196 --> 00:11:58,836 Speaker 4: I still don't really understand Oklahoma in what sense the 192 00:11:58,916 --> 00:12:04,236 Speaker 4: story is so weird it's insane. 193 00:12:05,596 --> 00:12:09,956 Speaker 3: Oklahoma, I should say, was the first Rogers and Emerstein show, 194 00:12:10,476 --> 00:12:12,636 Speaker 3: and it was based on a play called Green Grow 195 00:12:12,676 --> 00:12:16,916 Speaker 3: the Lilacs. The spirit of Oklahoma is all very Americana, 196 00:12:16,996 --> 00:12:20,356 Speaker 3: but the play itself has some very weird and strange 197 00:12:20,356 --> 00:12:23,556 Speaker 3: turns within it. There's a whole sequence where the hero 198 00:12:23,876 --> 00:12:27,676 Speaker 3: accidentally murders the very misunderstood villain. 199 00:12:27,956 --> 00:12:29,956 Speaker 4: I mean, when I saw it recently, I really enjoyed it, 200 00:12:30,196 --> 00:12:35,396 Speaker 4: and I still thought, so they kill him, and I 201 00:12:35,396 --> 00:12:35,716 Speaker 4: don't know. 202 00:12:36,356 --> 00:12:40,276 Speaker 3: It takes such a bizarre turn into darkness and then 203 00:12:40,356 --> 00:12:44,236 Speaker 3: sort of leaves unrecognized the turn that it's taken at the. 204 00:12:44,276 --> 00:12:58,756 Speaker 5: End, and that it ends with Okay. 205 00:12:59,516 --> 00:13:00,636 Speaker 4: But the songs are great. 206 00:13:00,796 --> 00:13:01,996 Speaker 5: The songs are great. 207 00:13:02,436 --> 00:13:05,196 Speaker 3: You know. The song out of My Dreams gorgeous, such 208 00:13:05,236 --> 00:13:18,076 Speaker 3: a gorgeous Oh my God. Tis The musical Steve went 209 00:13:18,076 --> 00:13:21,196 Speaker 3: on to write with Edie Brokel is called Bright Star. 210 00:13:21,756 --> 00:13:25,756 Speaker 3: It premiered on Broadway in twenty sixteen. Steve wrote what 211 00:13:25,916 --> 00:13:29,036 Speaker 3: musical theater people call the book, in other words, the play, 212 00:13:29,596 --> 00:13:32,916 Speaker 3: and he and Edie Brokell wrote the music, while Edie 213 00:13:32,956 --> 00:13:34,956 Speaker 3: wrote all the lyrics to those songs. 214 00:13:35,596 --> 00:13:38,476 Speaker 4: You know the best part of any of these things 215 00:13:38,556 --> 00:13:42,116 Speaker 4: is the rehearsal and you're hearing your song sung by 216 00:13:42,556 --> 00:13:45,756 Speaker 4: really good voice. Yes, you know. I was never happier 217 00:13:45,756 --> 00:13:48,116 Speaker 4: than when we were working on Bright Star. And I'd 218 00:13:48,116 --> 00:13:51,076 Speaker 4: get on a bicycle in the summer and bike downtown 219 00:13:51,156 --> 00:13:54,076 Speaker 4: to the rehearsal hall and get to see things brought 220 00:13:54,116 --> 00:13:56,676 Speaker 4: to life. And that's the thing. You write a song 221 00:13:57,276 --> 00:13:58,996 Speaker 4: and you're just staring at it and it's like a 222 00:13:59,076 --> 00:14:02,276 Speaker 4: banjo melody in your stupid little voice, and then you 223 00:14:02,276 --> 00:14:04,596 Speaker 4: hear somebody who can really you can really do it, it, 224 00:14:04,596 --> 00:14:06,916 Speaker 4: can really play it, who could kill it? And you go, wow, 225 00:14:06,996 --> 00:14:10,196 Speaker 4: I can't believe that happened. I mean, our ears, you know, 226 00:14:10,236 --> 00:14:26,276 Speaker 4: the writers were going genius. You know, we actually based 227 00:14:26,276 --> 00:14:29,836 Speaker 4: it on a story that Edie discovered, a true story 228 00:14:30,476 --> 00:14:33,156 Speaker 4: about a baby in a suitcase thrown from a train 229 00:14:33,196 --> 00:14:36,956 Speaker 4: in a suitcase and a couple heard the cries walking 230 00:14:36,996 --> 00:14:38,796 Speaker 4: along the railroad track, found him, took him home and 231 00:14:38,876 --> 00:14:40,556 Speaker 4: raised him, and he became the boy from the train. 232 00:14:40,996 --> 00:14:43,596 Speaker 4: So we wrote a song about it. She wrote the 233 00:14:43,676 --> 00:14:46,076 Speaker 4: lyrics Sarah Jane and the Iron Mountain Baby. It's called 234 00:14:46,116 --> 00:14:47,236 Speaker 4: the Iron Mountains. 235 00:14:46,836 --> 00:14:54,756 Speaker 3: Sarah Jane being the mother, who is Sarah Sarah. 236 00:14:53,596 --> 00:14:57,116 Speaker 4: A moment of the Boy from the train, and that's 237 00:14:57,156 --> 00:15:03,596 Speaker 4: our big closer, and eventually we cut that song. Yeah. Well, 238 00:15:03,956 --> 00:15:05,956 Speaker 4: the problem of course with the song is that it 239 00:15:06,036 --> 00:15:07,956 Speaker 4: told the story that we just told. 240 00:15:10,076 --> 00:15:13,236 Speaker 3: Bright Starr had only a short run on Broadway just 241 00:15:13,276 --> 00:15:16,836 Speaker 3: about three months, but in the years that followed, a 242 00:15:16,956 --> 00:15:21,196 Speaker 3: national tour gave it a second vibrant life. In twenty sixteen, 243 00:15:21,356 --> 00:15:24,876 Speaker 3: it was nominated for multiple Tony Awards, including Best Musical, 244 00:15:25,556 --> 00:15:29,156 Speaker 3: and those awards are in line with Steve's successful career 245 00:15:29,196 --> 00:15:32,436 Speaker 3: as a musician. He really wasn't a comedian, just dabbling 246 00:15:32,516 --> 00:15:36,156 Speaker 3: with melodies and top lines. He won three Grammys, performed 247 00:15:36,156 --> 00:15:39,516 Speaker 3: a duet with Paul Simon on SNL, and even wrote 248 00:15:39,596 --> 00:15:41,996 Speaker 3: a song of his own for Vince Gill and Dolly 249 00:15:41,996 --> 00:15:57,196 Speaker 3: Parton to sing they Nevertheless, when it came to making 250 00:15:57,236 --> 00:16:00,676 Speaker 3: Bright Star, I think Steve was, if not exactly repelled, 251 00:16:01,156 --> 00:16:04,036 Speaker 3: then at least a little stunned by how much coordinated 252 00:16:04,076 --> 00:16:06,796 Speaker 3: teamwork has to go into the creation of a musical. 253 00:16:07,636 --> 00:16:11,476 Speaker 3: It's the exact opposite it of, for instance, stand up comedy, 254 00:16:11,796 --> 00:16:14,876 Speaker 3: which is essentially you and at most to microphone and 255 00:16:14,956 --> 00:16:18,356 Speaker 3: an audience. In a musical, every single time you make 256 00:16:18,396 --> 00:16:21,356 Speaker 3: a change, two hundred other things and two hundred other 257 00:16:21,396 --> 00:16:25,716 Speaker 3: people have to change with you, because the second bassoon 258 00:16:25,796 --> 00:16:28,516 Speaker 3: in the orchestra has to change its note, and the 259 00:16:28,556 --> 00:16:31,236 Speaker 3: singer has to change her syllables. And on and on 260 00:16:31,316 --> 00:16:34,076 Speaker 3: and on. A musical is a kind of great ocean 261 00:16:34,116 --> 00:16:37,356 Speaker 3: liner of a work of art. And I think Steve 262 00:16:37,476 --> 00:16:40,396 Speaker 3: was in some respects, if not short tempered, then at 263 00:16:40,476 --> 00:16:44,196 Speaker 3: least stubborn in the face of all of that composite resistance. 264 00:16:45,196 --> 00:16:48,356 Speaker 4: As a comedian, you want everything to work, everything to work, 265 00:16:49,116 --> 00:16:52,756 Speaker 4: and so you know, you're patching holes and fixing this, 266 00:16:52,876 --> 00:16:55,156 Speaker 4: and that's why it's always been on everything. By the way, 267 00:16:55,196 --> 00:16:59,516 Speaker 4: it's nothing made that wasn't fixed to some degree. But 268 00:16:59,796 --> 00:17:01,996 Speaker 4: like you say, there's so many moving parts to it. 269 00:17:02,196 --> 00:17:04,036 Speaker 4: If you want to change a line in a musical, 270 00:17:04,356 --> 00:17:07,716 Speaker 4: the director will say, legitimately, well, we'll get to it 271 00:17:07,756 --> 00:17:09,676 Speaker 4: next week, and I say, no, it's just one line. 272 00:17:09,676 --> 00:17:13,436 Speaker 4: It's just one line. No, Yeah, because their focus is 273 00:17:13,476 --> 00:17:17,476 Speaker 4: somewhere else, or it's authoritarian, and often means well, we 274 00:17:17,556 --> 00:17:19,396 Speaker 4: have to change the music, we have to cut two bars, 275 00:17:19,396 --> 00:17:21,076 Speaker 4: we have to think it scene as longer though thought. 276 00:17:21,876 --> 00:17:24,196 Speaker 4: And it goes on and on and on, and you know, 277 00:17:24,316 --> 00:17:26,716 Speaker 4: if it was a gigantic, monstrous hit, by the way, 278 00:17:26,756 --> 00:17:30,156 Speaker 4: it's still being done. It's done a lot, but I'm 279 00:17:30,236 --> 00:17:32,476 Speaker 4: sure I think differently about it. Yeah, but there's a 280 00:17:32,516 --> 00:17:35,276 Speaker 4: struggle a struggle, a struggle, you know, and then nine 281 00:17:35,276 --> 00:17:40,556 Speaker 4: months later you're closed. Yeah. 282 00:17:40,636 --> 00:17:42,516 Speaker 3: I hate to say this, Steve, because you'll reject anybod 283 00:17:42,556 --> 00:17:45,636 Speaker 3: it occurs me. Three Amigos would make a very effective musical. 284 00:17:45,276 --> 00:17:48,796 Speaker 4: There on it. Oh really yeah? Yeah? John Mulaney's been 285 00:17:48,836 --> 00:17:50,036 Speaker 4: signed up to write it. 286 00:17:50,076 --> 00:17:50,636 Speaker 1: Is that right? 287 00:17:52,316 --> 00:17:55,316 Speaker 3: Three Amigos, of Course is a nineteen eighty six comedy 288 00:17:55,436 --> 00:17:59,956 Speaker 3: directed by Jonathan Landis. Chevy Chase, Martin Short, and Steve 289 00:18:00,276 --> 00:18:04,156 Speaker 3: star as actors mistaken for gun slinging heroes in Mexico. 290 00:18:04,956 --> 00:18:05,156 Speaker 1: Oh. 291 00:18:05,196 --> 00:18:06,276 Speaker 5: I had no idea that, but. 292 00:18:06,356 --> 00:18:08,596 Speaker 4: That was my instant response. Would say, would you like 293 00:18:08,636 --> 00:18:12,276 Speaker 4: to write it? Said? No way, yeah, because I know 294 00:18:12,316 --> 00:18:15,356 Speaker 4: what that means. It's like three years every night down 295 00:18:15,396 --> 00:18:16,196 Speaker 4: there with heartbreak. 296 00:18:22,036 --> 00:18:24,516 Speaker 3: Steve is adamant that he does not want to do 297 00:18:24,676 --> 00:18:27,996 Speaker 3: another musical. So why I wonder had Steve chosen to 298 00:18:28,036 --> 00:18:33,356 Speaker 3: write a musical in the first place. Some of it, 299 00:18:33,396 --> 00:18:35,796 Speaker 3: I suppose, was part of his usual search for the 300 00:18:35,836 --> 00:18:39,316 Speaker 3: next thing, the new self. The musical comedy was a 301 00:18:39,396 --> 00:18:43,196 Speaker 3: kind of great white whale of American entertainment. Everyone wants 302 00:18:43,196 --> 00:18:45,916 Speaker 3: to write or perform in one sooner or later, But 303 00:18:46,116 --> 00:18:49,036 Speaker 3: it also involved a kind of fascination with a particular 304 00:18:49,116 --> 00:18:53,916 Speaker 3: line of Americana. That kind of music represents an authenticity 305 00:18:54,116 --> 00:18:57,516 Speaker 3: that largely escapes us. Now Bright Star, the musical that 306 00:18:57,556 --> 00:19:01,436 Speaker 3: he and Edie Brokel would write together represented an attempt 307 00:19:01,556 --> 00:19:05,196 Speaker 3: to summon up some of that authentic American musical energy, 308 00:19:06,076 --> 00:19:11,276 Speaker 3: and it was part I felt, however, subliminally, of Steve's 309 00:19:11,276 --> 00:19:14,516 Speaker 3: place in what I always think of as the comedy 310 00:19:14,676 --> 00:19:18,556 Speaker 3: of American Resistance. You see, I have a unified theory 311 00:19:18,596 --> 00:19:22,196 Speaker 3: of American comedy in the twentieth century, which is doubtless 312 00:19:22,196 --> 00:19:25,956 Speaker 3: as flawed is all unified theories of anything always are. 313 00:19:26,716 --> 00:19:29,036 Speaker 3: But it's one in which two kinds of comedy made 314 00:19:29,116 --> 00:19:32,156 Speaker 3: themselves felt in the first half of the century and 315 00:19:32,196 --> 00:19:35,836 Speaker 3: then on through the rest. One was the comedy of invasion, 316 00:19:36,116 --> 00:19:39,676 Speaker 3: and the other the comedy of resistance. There's the immigrant 317 00:19:39,796 --> 00:19:44,676 Speaker 3: and yes mostly Jewish comedy of energy, entrepreneurial mischief, anything 318 00:19:44,756 --> 00:19:49,436 Speaker 3: Goes anarchy, a comedy of enterprise and noise. The Marx 319 00:19:49,476 --> 00:19:52,836 Speaker 3: Brothers are obviously supreme here, but it's a vein that 320 00:19:52,956 --> 00:19:56,836 Speaker 3: runs right up to Phil Silver's Sergeant Bilko swindling the 321 00:19:56,876 --> 00:20:00,316 Speaker 3: simpleton officers at the army base, and it's telling that 322 00:20:00,356 --> 00:20:04,236 Speaker 3: Steve trying to become Bilko never really worked. But in 323 00:20:04,316 --> 00:20:08,156 Speaker 3: response to that comedy of invasion comes the comedy of 324 00:20:08,236 --> 00:20:13,556 Speaker 3: an older American resistance to all that immigrant energy and explosion, 325 00:20:14,116 --> 00:20:17,836 Speaker 3: struggling to hold on to order and decency and gallantry. 326 00:20:18,436 --> 00:20:21,956 Speaker 3: It's a comedy exemplified by W. C. Fields struggling to 327 00:20:22,076 --> 00:20:24,996 Speaker 3: sleep on his sleeping porchain. It's a gift while the 328 00:20:24,996 --> 00:20:30,516 Speaker 3: neighborhood around him explodes refuses to quiet down. The division 329 00:20:30,596 --> 00:20:33,596 Speaker 3: extends even onto the written humor of the period, with 330 00:20:33,836 --> 00:20:38,116 Speaker 3: James Thurber the model of the uncomprehending and baffled midwesterner 331 00:20:38,556 --> 00:20:42,916 Speaker 3: nostalgically watching Civil War values passing, and S. J. Prowman, 332 00:20:43,076 --> 00:20:47,636 Speaker 3: the cynical navigator and of necessity commercial participant in the 333 00:20:47,756 --> 00:20:52,956 Speaker 3: endless ocean of American vulgarity. Steve Martin has a place 334 00:20:52,996 --> 00:20:55,476 Speaker 3: in this story, I think as the model of the 335 00:20:55,516 --> 00:20:59,796 Speaker 3: modern wasp resistor. It's there everywhere. It's in the double 336 00:20:59,876 --> 00:21:03,796 Speaker 3: takes he offers at the accented extravagances of the Martin 337 00:21:03,916 --> 00:21:07,396 Speaker 3: short wedding planner character in the Father of the Bride series. 338 00:21:07,516 --> 00:21:10,916 Speaker 4: A kick, Frank is flower and water. My first car 339 00:21:10,996 --> 00:21:12,436 Speaker 4: didn't cost twelve hundred dollars. 340 00:21:15,116 --> 00:21:17,516 Speaker 1: Welcome to the nineties, mister Baum. 341 00:21:18,476 --> 00:21:21,076 Speaker 3: It's there in the dumb doggedness of his character in 342 00:21:21,116 --> 00:21:25,596 Speaker 3: the La story, who accepts the absurdities of La as 343 00:21:25,636 --> 00:21:28,076 Speaker 3: a fact to be coped with, not something to be 344 00:21:28,236 --> 00:21:29,316 Speaker 3: polemical about it. 345 00:21:29,476 --> 00:21:31,076 Speaker 4: With a great lunch and animum thanks. 346 00:21:31,996 --> 00:21:35,756 Speaker 3: It's there in the weary, beautiful bafflement he offers us 347 00:21:35,756 --> 00:21:39,116 Speaker 3: again and again. It's there even in the underlying cheerful 348 00:21:39,196 --> 00:21:42,716 Speaker 3: premise of the guy in the white suit, an entertainer 349 00:21:42,996 --> 00:21:46,316 Speaker 3: who doesn't know that what he's doing no longer quite 350 00:21:46,436 --> 00:21:48,036 Speaker 3: counts as entertainment. 351 00:21:48,596 --> 00:21:50,676 Speaker 4: Because I am a wild and. 352 00:21:50,956 --> 00:21:57,836 Speaker 3: Crazy making a bluegrass musical might be a way of, 353 00:21:58,316 --> 00:22:01,676 Speaker 3: at however unconscious a level, a way of participating in 354 00:22:01,716 --> 00:22:05,396 Speaker 3: this tradition. It referenced the mystic past to Lost America 355 00:22:05,476 --> 00:22:09,956 Speaker 3: trains and banjos and steamer trunks another time, not at 356 00:22:09,956 --> 00:22:13,916 Speaker 3: all in a reactionary manner, but out of deep affection 357 00:22:14,076 --> 00:22:18,396 Speaker 3: for disappearing sounds and stories, or at least that's what 358 00:22:18,516 --> 00:22:35,476 Speaker 3: I chose to think.