WEBVTT - Daryl Hall and Danny Bennett - Summer Staff Picks 0:00:02.400 --> 0:00:05.720 I'm Carrie Donahue and this is Here's the Thing from 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:09.520 My Heart Radio. And I'm Alec Baldwin and this is 0:00:09.600 --> 0:00:12.800 Here's the thing from my Heart Radio. Oh hey, Alec, 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:17.159 you're back, back back, Yes, Carrie, summer's over and I 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.480 have returned. Did you miss me? Of course, well listen. 0:00:20.520 --> 0:00:22.799 Thanks to you and the rest of the team for 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:26.520 hosting our archival episodes over the summer. And now it's 0:00:26.560 --> 0:00:29.640 your turn to highlight some favorites. Right. Yes, we're going 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.600 to revisit two conversations I loved Darryl Hall from holl 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.599 And Oates and Danny Bennett to Tony Bennett's son and 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:40.680 longtime manager. Sounds like a great pairing. Glad you're back, Alec. 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:43.959 Oh and Kerry before you go, we should tell listeners 0:00:43.960 --> 0:00:46.919 for the next couple of months we'll be releasing episodes 0:00:47.000 --> 0:00:51.160 every other week. Good idea and done, take it away, Alec. 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:55.440 Now onto two of my favorite conversations from the archives. 0:00:55.880 --> 0:01:00.880 Tony Bennett has a timeless style. He celebrated his ninety 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:04.840 fifth birthday this summer with two sold out shows at 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.039 Radio City Music Hall, and as always, he brought the 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.240 house down. He even has a new album coming out 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.679 this fall, called Love for Sale. Tony Bennett planned to 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.200 play more live dates, but the legendary showman recently received 0:01:19.560 --> 0:01:23.440 a devastating warning from his doctor, no more live shows. 0:01:24.200 --> 0:01:27.160 That's going to be a shift for Tony's son, Danny 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:31.319 Bennett as well. Danny has been his father's manager for decades, 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.480 a job he describes as managing a legacy as much 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:39.399 as a career. But first, we're revisiting my two thousand 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:44.119 nineteen conversation with Darryl Hall with partner John Oates, Hall 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.000 and Oates is the best selling vocal duo in history. 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.360 They have seven platinum albums and another six gold ones. 0:01:52.720 --> 0:01:56.400 They made the Billboard Hot one thirty four times with 0:01:56.520 --> 0:01:59.600 mega hits like Man Eater, Rich Girl, You make my 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.400 dreams come true and I can't go for that. Darryl 0:02:03.440 --> 0:02:06.240 Hall has had a sort of second career on television 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:11.000 with two shows Live from Darryl's House and Darryl's Restoration 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:15.200 Overhaul on the d I Y Network. Darryl Hall started 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:20.200 singing on the streets in Philadelphia. So I started at 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:23.359 a really young age doing doing you know, like busking, 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:27.640 more like the doop, you know, the street corn music. 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:32.280 There was no instruments involved, acapella and all that, and uh, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:36.880 it was always very racially integrated, you know, is that 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:39.360 whole thing? And uh? And then when I went to Philly, 0:02:39.400 --> 0:02:43.480 I had already been involved in that stuff. And there 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.119 was this place called Mitton Hall where all everybody hung out. 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.680 It was like the place where the whole Temple University went, 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.160 and people used to stand in the corners and sing. 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:52.800 It was it was that's that kind of stuff was 0:02:52.840 --> 0:02:54.760 still going on. So I just walked up one day 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.440 and started singing along with these strangers. And that's how 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.400 I got into Philadelphia. And but at a time when 0:03:01.720 --> 0:03:04.080 in my mind when I think about Philadelphia, then I 0:03:04.080 --> 0:03:07.600 think about a lot of racial difficulties and move and 0:03:07.639 --> 0:03:10.920 you know, historically not not for you. I'm saying, the 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.360 city has always had a kind of a racial stratification. 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.040 It seems like, what was it about you that these 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:20.240 people welcomed you with open arms. I just thing, I 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:23.200 grew up in a very racially integrated environment, you know. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.160 And in Pottstown there's a big black community, and my 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.480 my parents best friends lived right in the middle of 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.680 the black neighborhood. So I as as a kid. I'm 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.520 talking like a kid kid. For the summer, I would 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.600 be over there and and all my waking hours, really 0:03:39.000 --> 0:03:42.080 I would be hanging out with white and black kids together. 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:45.400 So the music that I grew up with was that, 0:03:45.560 --> 0:03:47.680 you know, R and B and soul music. Uh. It 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:50.440 was really my baby food, you know, And it just 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:52.680 went that way off from my dad was he musically 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.800 and he was in a vocal group. Sang he sang 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:59.320 like gospel vocal group and uh he Uh. I learned 0:03:59.320 --> 0:04:02.080 a lot about harm me from him. And uh, my 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:05.080 mother was a musician. She uh did other cons of music, 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:07.680 you know, she like musicals and she was in a band. 0:04:07.840 --> 0:04:09.840 So it was very musical environment. Let me just put 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:12.240 these cards on the table, which is you are one 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:14.680 of the ten greatest male vocalists in all of history 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.240 of rock and roll. I mean you are. And what 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.160 kills me is like how you've stayed because a lot 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.200 of these guys have to drop it a key and 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.000 we interview a lot of my you know, you name it, 0:04:25.040 --> 0:04:28.320 and only you and Bono pretty much sound the same. 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.400 Now almost First of all, I do on stage, I 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.800 do drop it a half a key now I do 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:36.360 so I admit it. But but you know what, that's 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:38.719 that's cool too. It gives me more room to play 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.520 around up top. Um. But you know, my voice has 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.839 changed a lot over the years. You listen to those 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.320 records that I made, you know, the Rich Girl and 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:49.640 all those kind of songs, I'm like a little boy 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:52.279 compared to the way I sing now I have, I 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:54.000 sort of have the voice now I always wanted to have. 0:04:54.279 --> 0:04:59.119 It's that bigger, mascular voice I know. And um yeah, 0:04:59.320 --> 0:05:02.640 so but so I like how my voice has evolved. 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.920 And I haven't lost any of the stuff that I had. 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:08.440 I just it's just sort of got bigger and white. 0:05:08.480 --> 0:05:10.920 Where did you start singing? When did singing? My mother was, 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:12.599 as I said, she was in a band, but she 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.360 was also a vocal teacher and things like that, and 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.919 she encouraged you. Yeah, and she it was sort of 0:05:17.960 --> 0:05:20.400 always there and she taught me how to sing. Did 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:24.599 they both play instruments? Yeah, my mother played piano and uh, um, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:29.360 I started taking piano lessons around five and uh took 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:32.200 lessons all the way through and then I unfortunately was 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:34.840 got into it was I would say I got into 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.679 I was forced forced to play the trombone for a while, 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:41.560 but uh, that didn't last long. But no, it's it. 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:44.000 I've been playing piano since five and then I started 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.599 playing guitar himself taught you took yourself on the guitar. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:48.039 How old were you when you picked up the guitar 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:52.320 for the first maybe late teens, early twenties. And when 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:55.760 you go then you go to Temple to study music? Why, well, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:05:58.320 at first I was going to go. I didn't think 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.120 there was any money and in music at all. It 0:06:01.120 --> 0:06:03.680 didn't even occur to me. Uh, and to have a 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:05.360 career in music, so I was gonna be I was. 0:06:05.560 --> 0:06:09.159 I wanted to be a psychiatrist. Why because I was 0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.080 really interested in the life of the mind. And I 0:06:12.120 --> 0:06:14.240 was up against these I didn't realize and might and 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:15.680 I have tell you that you had to be a 0:06:15.720 --> 0:06:18.680 doctor to do at least in a medical degree. I 0:06:18.760 --> 0:06:21.080 quit that one too, And then I was up against 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.880 all these kids that were like premed and I failed miserably. 0:06:24.920 --> 0:06:26.840 It was just horrible. This is not for me. I 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:28.359 had the same problem. I was like, I had to 0:06:28.400 --> 0:06:30.240 have to study chemistry just I just want to talk 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:33.320 to people. Yeah, man, what happened was I did that 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:35.279 for a year and then I switched to the Temple 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.960 Music School and they you know, they let me in 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 and you finished and I finished, well, I I quit. 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:44.680 I quit five weeks before I graduation because I was 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.599 a student teacher and I was up, you know, early 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:49.839 in the morning all day doing all that stuff. And 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.240 then I had a bar gig, playing playing music in 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.760 a bar band at night until two o'clock in the morning. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:57.920 So I didn't work out so well. And the teacher said, 0:06:57.960 --> 0:06:59.560 you know, you have to choose one or the other. 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:01.240 And I thought to myself, do I want to be 0:07:01.279 --> 0:07:03.320 a music teacher or do I want to be a 0:07:03.400 --> 0:07:06.039 musician for real? And there was no choice in my head. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:10.400 So I said, Okay, see you later when you uh 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.280 leave Temple. When you leave, when you finished school, what 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:18.920 happens after that? During my time in Temple, as I said, 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:21.120 the whole thing was sort of simultaneous. I was going 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.280 to music school, but I was also hanging out with 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.400 Tommy Bell and uh who was that? For people who 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.720 don't know, Tommy Bell was was the the producer and 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:34.760 writer behind oh a great number of the Philadelphia sound, 0:07:35.440 --> 0:07:40.400 the stylistics and the delphonics, and people like that. Um, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.560 he was very, very influential in the sound of Philadelphia, 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.200 and he sort of took me under his wing. He 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.440 was not that much older than me, but but I 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:50.360 would just sit around and listen to him, right, and 0:07:50.400 --> 0:07:53.880 he was an amazing writer, and uh so I was 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.880 friendly with him. And then I also I had a 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.320 band that sort of came out of that thing I 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.440 was talking about and in mitton all and we called 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.440 ourselves the temp Tones because we're a temple university. Everybody 0:08:05.440 --> 0:08:07.040 thought it was the Temptation, but it's because we were 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.400 a temple. And uh. We did a talent show at 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.000 the Uptown Theater, which was not that far from the 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.520 university from the campus, and it was on what they 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:17.960 used to call the Chipland Circuit, and you know, every 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:21.000 soul group on earth came to the Uptown. It was 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.520 like the Apollo, and uh I used to hang out 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.559 there and uh, just like the Apollo, the had talent 0:08:26.600 --> 0:08:30.240 shows and we won the talent show and James Brown 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.640 band was the house band backing us up. That was 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:34.880 I was like eighteen years old. I'm singing, Oh Baby 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.000 Baby with James Brown's band, and we won the talent 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.160 show and The prize was you got to record a 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.320 record with Gamble and Huff, the songwriters songwriter producers who 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.360 Gamble and Huff and Tommy Bell basically created what the 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.720 world knows as the sound of Philadelphia. I did a 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:55.280 record with Gamble and Huff and it came out and 0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.520 went on the charts and w D A S and 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.560 Philadelphia the R and B station. And I was doing 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:02.959 all this while I was going to school, and so 0:09:03.080 --> 0:09:06.320 I became part of that whole scene. That's the I 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.800 started hanging out at Sigma Sound and with studio musicians, 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:11.839 and I wanted to be a studio musician, you know, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.120 I want to learn things from them. So that's what 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:16.920 I was doing during my student years. And and in 0:09:16.960 --> 0:09:19.559 the meantime, I met this guy, John Oates who was 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:25.080 in Temple University. Yeah, we we we were from He's 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:28.960 from about fifteen miles from me and North Wales, Pennsylvania, 0:09:29.120 --> 0:09:35.160 just northwest of northwest of Philadelphia. So um uh. We 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.240 were both promoting our singles because he had he managed 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:42.000 to get a single too on Kenny Gamble's label. He 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.640 had a group called the Masters, and we were both 0:09:44.640 --> 0:09:48.000 promoting our single at this place called the Adelphi ballroom 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.920 and uh, before either one of us went on, Uh, 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.080 it was a gang fight broke out. This whole thing 0:09:55.120 --> 0:09:58.160 went down typical Philadelphia and it was on a it 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.040 was on a second floor, and you know, people started 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.120 whipping chains out, and you know, the whole you know, typical, 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:07.200 Like I said, typical, all too typical of Philadelphia at 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.599 that time. And uh, we said okay, time to leave timely. 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:12.840 So I didn't even know the guy, and we both 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:16.040 wound up in this little elevator going downstairs. I said, okay, 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.720 we just dodged that bullet. And I was looking at 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.679 and said, hey, so who are you? You know? And 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.280 I found out right then that he was also at Temple. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.040 I said, oh, man, okay, you know because I figured 0:10:27.200 --> 0:10:31.120 kindred spirits here and we sort of got to know 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:36.240 each other that way. Uh and um, then I needed 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:38.600 I don't this is a little vague in my mind, 0:10:38.640 --> 0:10:41.520 but I needed a roommate because I was I wanted 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:45.480 to have an apartment Philly, and he volunteered. So we 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:48.600 we got this hobby just moving together. Yeah, we we 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.280 moved in and we started sharing apartments and we did 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.080 that on and off through school without any idea that 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.720 we were gonna work together. We were. There was no plan, 0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:00.120 you know, we just he was your roommate, my roommates, 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.960 you know, they was done partner or anything. And uh so, 0:11:04.120 --> 0:11:07.199 after after school was over, I became a full time 0:11:07.240 --> 0:11:10.880 studio musician at Sigma for the whole sound of Philadelphia people. 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:13.560 And John went to Europe for a little while, came back, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.000 had no place to live, and moved in again with 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.520 me and my new I guess she was my wife 0:11:18.559 --> 0:11:23.640 at the time. And uh we we renovated this eighteenth 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:26.440 century house right in the center of Philadelphia, lived in 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.560 it for a while, and that's when we at the 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.400 beginning of that bug for you as well. Yeah, we're 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:34.800 talking about that. Yeah, and uh we decided, okay, we 0:11:34.800 --> 0:11:37.760 were in close proximity, so we just started playing together 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:39.960 and said, well, maybe we should try doing something. Let's 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:42.400 share a stage, let's uh you play your songs, I'll 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:44.760 play my songs, and we'll do them together. When does 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.040 songwriting begin with you? When do you decide you want 0:11:47.040 --> 0:11:51.559 to write songs around? I think I wrote a song 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.400 when I was about fourteen and I thought, okay, maybe 0:11:54.440 --> 0:11:57.679 I can write a song. And I do remember The 0:11:57.760 --> 0:11:59.360 name of it was called I Broke my Own Heart? 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.520 That was that a weird title? No? I like it? Actually, 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:06.760 haven't we all done that? Yes? At fourteen? What did 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.720 I know? Yeah, you're a little advanced. That was your 0:12:10.720 --> 0:12:12.360 first song. That was the first song, I Broke my 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:14.520 Own Heart? And when did you write your first song 0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:18.120 that you recorded? Uh? That was the song girl I 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.160 Love You with the tempting and that was I don't 0:12:21.160 --> 0:12:23.520 know how well was I nineteen? I guess the recording 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.680 country you got from winning the place? So when do 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.120 you and he start to how do you and he 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:36.559 fused to become what you become? We didn't we sorted. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.040 It's hard to describe. We were just trying to write. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:42.160 We tried to write songs together, but it was mostly 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.680 he would write songs that I write songs and we 0:12:44.800 --> 0:12:47.440 and we do them on stage together. And we played 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.199 at this place called um World Control Headquarters, which was 0:12:51.440 --> 0:12:54.680 held about a hundred people, and we became sort of 0:12:54.679 --> 0:12:57.440 a fixture there. There was another guy. You could do 0:12:57.480 --> 0:12:59.360 anything you wanted there. I would sit there with my 0:12:59.360 --> 0:13:02.640 world it's you know, and Mike Mandolin and John would 0:13:02.640 --> 0:13:05.040 play acoustic guitar and we would just tell stories and 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:07.560 play songs. It was. It was sort of in that 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:10.360 folky tradition, but it wasn't folk music. It was something else. 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.520 And uh, we did that, and we got we started 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.760 getting a following doing it. And I remember one of 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:20.840 the first things that happened was it was all kids, 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:24.040 right because we were we were kids. But then these 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.480 older people started coming when I thought were older people 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:30.040 like forty fifty, you know, And I'm like, and I remember, 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.560 and this is the late sixties, and uh, I remember 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:36.840 saying to John, you know, this is really strange. Older 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.240 people like our music too, not just people our own age, 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:43.960 that maybe we're doing something different. Because I actually said 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:46.720 that to him, I'll never forget it. And now, of 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.680 course it's the reverse. Younger kids like what I do 0:13:49.880 --> 0:13:52.760 and the older people have lived with it, right, So 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:58.080 it's always been multi generational and multicultural. Something about people. Well, 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.680 I don't know whatever it is. It's I think some 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:04.800 of your songs are pretty good. Well say that people 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:08.200 like what's good? The multi generation thing that happens, Yeah, 0:14:08.240 --> 0:14:12.520 I guess it does for sure. I'm assuming that, um, 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.400 you meet someone who's a producer, like as your dessert 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.240 a producer that comes into your life, that takes you 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.120 to the next level, that helps you make the sound, 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:23.040 that becomes your sound. Yeah, who's that? A Reef Martin 0:14:23.880 --> 0:14:26.560 the producer arranger behind A Wretha Franklin and you name it, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:31.720 Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, uh oh man, on and on 0:14:31.760 --> 0:14:34.480 and on and on. I can't even tell you his 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.920 his His label was Atlantic and he found you where. 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:43.320 Well that's another long story, but we have time. I'll 0:14:43.360 --> 0:14:46.600 try and and and truncated. But we were locked in 0:14:46.640 --> 0:14:51.720 this messed up relationship with a songwriter producer guy in Philadelphia. 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.520 We were trying to get an album deal and he 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.400 was failing us miserably. And uh he was involved with 0:14:58.480 --> 0:15:01.880 Chapel Music in New York through his catalog. And we 0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:03.960 went up to New York one time and met this 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:09.240 young kid who was only twenty named Tommy Mottola, two 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.000 years younger than us and and and he said, hey, 0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.880 well he's this guy is not doing anything for you. 0:15:15.120 --> 0:15:17.760 Let me do something for you. He's twenty years old, right, 0:15:18.120 --> 0:15:22.280 And uh wait, So he had connections because he had 0:15:22.280 --> 0:15:25.200 an office the size of this table in Chapel Music. 0:15:25.400 --> 0:15:27.440 But he did have A contacts, so he sent us 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:30.360 out to California to have a chapel rep take us 0:15:30.360 --> 0:15:34.040 around two various people in California and we sort of 0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.120 we're planning for and went shiitting basically, and uh, we 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:39.440 found this guy, Earl McGrath who was a really great 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:44.120 guy and was into sort of developing new talent and 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:47.680 he wanted to sign us immediately, which was great. And 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:50.680 then he was connected with Almedar again and all those 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:54.160 people in Atlantic, and he sent us back to Atlantic 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:59.120 and we auditioned for Ahmed and I sat there at 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.880 a piano and half the keys were stuck, they wouldn't work, 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:07.520 so well, you know, it was this was like my big, 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:09.520 my big day. I'm in front of Atlantic Records. I 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.480 couldn't play. Yeah, I think I had the flute glasses 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:18.040 on the piano. So I played badly and we sang 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.600 a couple of songs, and uh, I said, okay, we 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:23.560 blew that completely. Two days later I found out that 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:27.160 they had called Errold said Earl, we want these guys. 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.120 They're not gonna be on your label, They're gonna be 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.200 on our label, and and and they signed us to 0:16:31.240 --> 0:16:34.880 Atlantic Records. So then we were off to a start 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:38.520 of some sort. We were immediately thrust into I mean 0:16:38.600 --> 0:16:41.520 I completely was thrust into a different group of musicians, 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.000 all those Atlantic studio musicians, uh everybody from Dr John 0:16:46.040 --> 0:16:50.600 to uh pretty you know, Ralph McDonald to you name it. 0:16:50.640 --> 0:16:53.600 That that that whole New York R and B scene, 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:58.080 And they were all unbelievable musicians. And they're the guys 0:16:58.120 --> 0:17:01.360 that played on our first records, especially on the abandoned 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.760 Lunch of Net record. I mean, that's the musicianship when 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.080 that record is unbelievable. So I was in that world 0:17:07.160 --> 0:17:09.720 in that scene. I mean a Wreatha was wandering in 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:12.080 and out and Bob Dylan was wandering in and out. 0:17:12.119 --> 0:17:14.119 I mean we're just like that's going on. It's a 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:16.840 big machinery, you know. I mean it's it's it's Atlantic Records. 0:17:16.880 --> 0:17:19.879 Back when people were buying records, they choose you, if 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.840 they believe in you, and they get their marketing behind you. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.520 It's kind of hard to fail, correct if you have 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.240 some talents. Well, it wasn't quite like that, not in 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:33.680 those days. It was. It was still a lot freer 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.359 and looser. And I remember I'm saying to me and John, 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.040 he said, just just make just make music. We'll figure 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.440 out how to sell it. That's what he said. And 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:44.679 he said, don't worry about hits or don't worry about it, 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:48.080 you know that. That's he said. Don't worry it. Literally 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:50.199 said that, don't worry about hits, marriage just do you 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:51.840 just do what you'll make it a hits, do what 0:17:51.880 --> 0:17:53.920 you do. But they didn't. That was the thing. We 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.480 were a little strange for the world at that time. 0:17:56.560 --> 0:17:58.159 We're I won't say we're ahead of our time. We 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:01.720 were out of our time, but so we I don't 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:03.800 know what what what was. First of all, we were 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.879 doing a hybrid of Philadelphia soul and other kinds of 0:18:06.960 --> 0:18:09.480 R and B and mixed with this other eclectic kind 0:18:09.480 --> 0:18:11.719 of thing that John brought in, you know, like country 0:18:11.800 --> 0:18:14.440 music and all kinds of other stuff, singer songwriter kind 0:18:14.480 --> 0:18:17.320 of things, and dance music, you name it. It was 0:18:17.400 --> 0:18:21.520 hybrid eized and and and also in those days, they 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.960 had no idea how to label us because we were 0:18:25.160 --> 0:18:29.320 popular on black radio, not even known on white radio. 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:34.000 And the whole idea of musical integration was not ready 0:18:34.040 --> 0:18:36.200 for the world. I mean we were we were pioneers 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:43.760 in that Darryl Hall. Did you know that there are 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.480 more than two d and fifty episodes in the Here's 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.399 the Thing Archive. If you like these kinds of in 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:54.040 depth conversations with other actors, policy makers, and performers, go 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.480 to here is the Thing dot org and have a 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.399 look around. After the break, we'll hear more of my 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:13.040 conversation with Darryl Hall. I'm Alec Baldwin and this is 0:19:13.040 --> 0:19:16.919 Here's the Thing. It was nineteen seventy six. Hall and 0:19:17.000 --> 0:19:19.960 Oates were signed to Atlantic Records, but they didn't have 0:19:19.960 --> 0:19:22.720 any big hits to show for it. They soon left 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:26.560 for Our c A, which quickly released Sarah's Smile. It 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.600 became an R and B hit and then a crossover hit. 0:19:29.960 --> 0:19:34.000 From there, Hall and Notes took off. I enjoyed touring, 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:39.440 especially because we became popular all over the world very early, right, 0:19:39.600 --> 0:19:43.560 I mean England embraced us like from the beginning from 0:19:43.600 --> 0:19:46.200 seventy I think seventy four seventy five is when we 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:49.240 first started playing in England, and so we started doing 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:52.879 a lot of touring in Europe and that it just 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.240 you know, opens up your brain and we're kids, right, 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:58.080 We had a lot of fun that changed you and him, 0:19:58.320 --> 0:20:03.399 sex symbolism, rock stardom. It was fame. If you're in 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:06.119 your mid to late twenties and you're running around the 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:10.240 world and people are throwing there whatever at you, uh, 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.040 you indulge that unless you're crazy. You know. I took 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:18.200 advantage of whatever was opportunities where I was having fun. Man, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:20.679 I was you know the one thing though, I was 0:20:20.720 --> 0:20:24.320 never into cocaine. I just didn't have a very sensitive 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.879 nervous system. It doesn't work for me, so do I 0:20:26.920 --> 0:20:29.040 But I let that stop? Well, I I did it, 0:20:29.320 --> 0:20:32.200 just I didn't like it. So you guys were dancing 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:34.920 around coke daddy your brains and I was completely home 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:37.960 sleeping thinking it. Now, I wasn't sleeping sex, drugs and 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:40.280 rock and roll without the drugs. But when you so 0:20:40.400 --> 0:20:42.639 you go on tour, do you get sick of it? 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:44.360 Do you get sick of the attention? Do you get 0:20:44.359 --> 0:20:47.120 sick of going on the road? You know? I mean 0:20:47.160 --> 0:20:49.719 then mean when you're resting and everything and you're becoming 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:52.040 this huge musical act. At one point you would look 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:53.720 at each other and go, I really want to stop 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.080 for a while. You know, it's funny. I look back 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.160 at it, and it it feels like I had more 0:20:58.240 --> 0:21:02.360 time off than I do now. I don't know why. 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:04.640 I must have. I felt like I would go out 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:07.119 and I would tour, and I would go balls to 0:21:07.200 --> 0:21:10.639 the wall for whatever a month and we'd work, you know, 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:14.320 every day. It was no days off for and and 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:18.160