WEBVTT - Elliott Murphy 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:12.920 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back and Bob Left Step Podcast. My 0:00:13.119 --> 0:00:18.320 guest today is singer songwriter author Elliott Murfy. Elliot, good 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:20.759 to have you on the podcast. Good to be here, Bob, 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:23.079 to see you again on this side of the ocean here. Yeah, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:26.759 well that's my first question. You live in Paris, but 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.120 when we were setting this up, you said, we're going 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:31.520 to be in the US. Why are you in the States. 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:34.239 I just had a two week break and this is 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.159 literally my first flight out of France and since the 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.519 COVID started, and I had a two week break, and 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:42.360 my wife as well, so we decided to come here 0:00:42.360 --> 0:00:46.320 and see friends and family. And we're in Brooklyn, where 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.040 my father grew up, and I'm staying a block away 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:52.080 from a thing called the Brooklyn Navy Yard, which is 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.640 where my father worked during World War Two. So everything 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.960 has become full full circle here. Okay, why did you 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:00.400 move to Paris? To begin with? In what year did 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:04.600 you move? I moved France permanently in UH nineteen nine, 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:10.319 but it was kind of a transitional event. I played 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.720 my first show in Paris in nineteen seventy nine, and 0:01:14.760 --> 0:01:18.160 by that time, my career in America was kind of 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:22.040 on the down Sling and uh, I did this show 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:24.760 in Paris, my first show ever. I thought it was 0:01:24.760 --> 0:01:26.360 going to be in a little club with a couple 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.720 hundred people. Have turned out to be like a fifteen 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.399 hundred people. I did six encourse. They knew all the 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.560 words to my songs, and I said, WHOA, I might 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:38.720 have a second act in this business. And in the 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:42.200 ten years between nineteen seventy nine and nineteen eighty nine, 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:45.319 my career totally shifted to Europe. When I was touring 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.720 in Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, not so much the UK. I'm 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:53.280 that rare example of American artists who didn't enter into 0:01:53.360 --> 0:01:57.880 Europe through the u K. And by nine it was 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:01.160 just time to move. Is your wife of American? Her Parisian? 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.680 My wife is a hundred percent she's French. I mean, 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:07.760 I don't know if she'd call herself Parisian. She calls 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:09.919 me Parisian now because she said, all I do is 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:12.800 complained about Paris, like all the rest of the Parisians. 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:14.840 So how did you meet your wife? Well, you're gonna 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.639 hear my side of the story. Sometimes you'll hear her 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:22.560 I was on tour bomb in three in France, in 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:27.040 a city called Cone, which is in Normandy, very near 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:31.280 the Normandy beaches there where they where d date took place. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.440 And my wife is an actress and she was touring 0:02:34.760 --> 0:02:37.040 with a little acting troop and I was on tour there, 0:02:37.040 --> 0:02:38.760 and of course in a town like that, there's one 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.080 restaurant that's open late, and I ended up in there 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:46.320 and she was in there with her with her acting colleagues, 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.080 and we started talking and we had we did a 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.000 couple of dates. Then I went back to America and 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:55.840 I did not see her, are communicating with her for 0:02:55.960 --> 0:03:00.600 six years. And when I moved back to France. When 0:03:00.639 --> 0:03:04.160 I moved to France in nineteen eighty nine, I looked 0:03:04.200 --> 0:03:07.880 for and I found her through France at that time 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.760 had an amazing little thing in every house with a 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:14.720 telephone called the minitel, where you could find phone numbers 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.200 and even book flights and things like that was right 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:19.680 way ahead of its time, and I found her on 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:23.480 that and we've been together ever since. And we have 0:03:23.520 --> 0:03:26.520 a son, gas Bar who's thirty one years old. So 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.640 moving to France had nothing to do with her. You 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:34.800 moved completely independently. I certainly did like French women that 0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:38.440 was but you know, that was not a problem. But 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.640 you know, the European I my first trip to Europe, 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:47.240 just to go back a little further, was Ine and 0:03:47.280 --> 0:03:51.160 I came to Europe, you know, a long haired hippie. Uh. 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.920 San Francisco was kind of over, but Amsterdam was still 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:59.240 in its heyday, and uh I played on the streets. 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:02.760 I started to write a lot of songs. Whatever creative 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:06.960 juices I had in me just on froze and started flowing. 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.280 And that was I wrote a lot of the songs 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:12.800 during that trip that I actually used on my first album, 0:04:12.840 --> 0:04:15.920 Acquid Show, a few years later. So I liked Europe 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:18.680 right away. I liked the lifestyle. I like the sense 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:24.159 of history all around me. Uh I came from, you know, 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:28.400 a very difficult family situation. My father had passed away 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:31.640 when on sixteen on Long Island. So I was happy 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.160 to get away from all that, and Europe was it 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:37.800 was the new world for me. Okay, let's focus in 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:41.800 a little bit. Certainly, France recently had an election. Lapine 0:04:41.920 --> 0:04:46.120 is the right wing candidate. Her father was a candidate 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.840 before her, and it was always a fringe thing. Even 0:04:49.880 --> 0:04:53.839 though McCrone won handily. What is going on with the 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:59.479 politics in France. Well, first you gotta understanding it. The 0:04:59.520 --> 0:05:02.920 election shin system is totally different from America. They don't 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:07.240 have this electoral college. It's a very centralized government. It's 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:12.039 not a federal system with different states. And they have 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.360 two runs. They have the first run. Almost anyone who 0:05:15.360 --> 0:05:19.360 can get five mayors in France to sign their sign 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.400 off on them can run for presidents. So you go 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.960 for your first vote and there might be twelve candidates 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:29.080 running all over the spectrum, all over the political spectrum, 0:05:29.120 --> 0:05:31.240 and then the two win if none of them get 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.200 the two winners from that runoff, and the two winners 0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:39.039 were Macron, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Penn, who was 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:43.280 the daughter of the her father ran against had also 0:05:43.400 --> 0:05:47.080 run for president for many years. So I mean, just 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:52.720 speaking personally, I am just so happy Macron one because 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.280 we're big supporters of him. He's a forward looking president. 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.480 He's he seems to be neither left nor right. He 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.839 just and he's young and it's great to see a 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.800 young face there. But to what degree is their right 0:06:06.839 --> 0:06:10.559 wing incursion in France? Because her percentage of the vote 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:12.520 has been going up, it has been going up and 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:17.120 when her father, Jean Lepin ran, he ran against Jacques 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.279 Sharek and he only got twenty of the boat, but 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.320 she got much more than that. You know, Bob, It's 0:06:23.320 --> 0:06:26.839 a lot of the same issues as here, fear of immigration. 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:29.800 You know, there's a lot of immigration coming into France 0:06:29.839 --> 0:06:33.760 from from Africa and from and from the East of Europe, 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:39.000 and it's the same fear factor that uh that is 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:43.040 going on in America, you know. And and I think 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:46.799 when things change as fast as society is changing, people 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.200 are looking for simple answers, and unfortunately they get those 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:54.560 answers from people like Leapin. Over the years, there's been 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.200 a lot of anti Semitic attacks Muslim issues. To what 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:02.080 degree is that something that penetrate society or we just 0:07:02.160 --> 0:07:04.719 reading about that from a distance In the US, well, 0:07:04.800 --> 0:07:09.440 the major event was, of course the terrorist attack Batta Clone, 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.880 which is a a concert venue there that an American 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.520 band was playing. I forgot their name, we're playing, and 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.160 you know, over a hundred people were killed and were 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.160 shut down during that attack. So that was that really 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.720 galvanized France in a lot of ways. And there has 0:07:28.760 --> 0:07:33.800 been some anti Semitic attacks as well, uh not, Uh, 0:07:36.640 --> 0:07:40.240 I mean I think I think it's really France is 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.880 Mike is, this is a reflection of what's happening in 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.920 America at the at the same level, it's a little 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:51.400 more educated of a country. I could say higher education 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:53.720 is free in France. If you want to go to 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.280 the university, you can go. I I also, I always 0:07:56.320 --> 0:07:59.760 think the problem in America's higher education just became too expensive. 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.360 A lot of people can't afford to go to college, 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:08.520 so they get their education from reality TV. But it's 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:13.000 a little commer in France, and it is here. Um, 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.400 I don't know. I think and on the talk shows 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.640 is much different than in America. You know, there it 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.440 tends to be less headline news, breaking news. It tends 0:08:24.480 --> 0:08:27.679 to be more you get five different people talking about 0:08:27.720 --> 0:08:31.560 what's going on. So what's the difference between France and America? 0:08:31.600 --> 0:08:34.800 Those are some specifics, but generally tell us some more 0:08:34.880 --> 0:08:39.560 what the differences. It's a very very old country, you know, 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.800 they've been around forever France. There was France before there 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:46.320 was an Italy, before there was a Germany, before there 0:08:46.360 --> 0:08:49.080 was in Spain. I mean, they've just been around forever. 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:54.400 They are the cultural epicenter of Europe, you know, for centuries, 0:08:56.800 --> 0:09:00.800 and I think that sense of history. You know, every 0:09:00.800 --> 0:09:03.480 French person walks a little bit of pride, I guess 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.720 about that. And there's this fear that this new wave 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:11.400 of immigration, they're losing their identity as as French people. 0:09:12.320 --> 0:09:14.480 A lot of Americans go to France and they think 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:19.320 that they're rude, you know, but I think it's more 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:22.600 they're very polite and you have to say, you know, 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.960 when you walk into buy bread, you have to say 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.679 bonjeur before you ask for the bread. And you know, 0:09:29.000 --> 0:09:31.160 the first time I came to New York with my wife, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:33.439 I think I walked into a gap to buy some 0:09:33.520 --> 0:09:36.120 clothes and the sales girl come over to me and 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.960 she says, hey, how you guys doing today, Great to 0:09:39.000 --> 0:09:41.440 see you. And my wife turns me and just do 0:09:41.480 --> 0:09:49.240 you know her? God? So they're they're different in that way. Uh, 0:09:49.520 --> 0:09:53.760 they are more Uh, their lifestyle is more regimented. You know, 0:09:53.840 --> 0:09:56.320 they eat meals at a certain time. They don't eat 0:09:56.360 --> 0:10:01.800 between meals very much. U. Even though they're not a 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.559 religious country, there's supposed to be a separation of state 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:07.680 and religion. They have more religious holidays than you could 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:10.880 count about. All I can say is they have certainly 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:15.280 been very good to me and recognizing me. And they 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.240 actually have a history of recognizing a lot of American 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:24.440 uh talent that is not as recognized in their own country. 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:29.360 I mean, for example, a director like John Cassavetti's He's 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:33.840 huge in France, you know, And there was a point 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:36.640 you could watch a John Cassavetti's movie in some theater 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.840 in Paris and the unit of the week, you know, uh. 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.760 And in my case, you know, they really have supported that. 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:46.840 That was the beginning of me kind of being able 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:49.360 to work as a as a musician, as a singer 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:52.479 and a songwriter. But if I remember correctly, you yourself 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:59.720 do not speak French fluently. Now I speak French. I 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:01.920 mean I can hold a conversation, I can go to 0:11:01.920 --> 0:11:05.240 dinner conversations. If I have to write in French and 0:11:05.240 --> 0:11:07.280 there's a lot of accents and things you got to 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.440 do like that, I need my wife's help, but I 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:14.559 can certainly my French has described as almost fluently. Okay, 0:11:14.600 --> 0:11:18.720 pretty good. So let's just broaden the conversation a little bit. 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:22.680 What is the view of France and the EU. I 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:25.400 was talking to Bob Geldoff, and he said that the 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:29.880 UK was the buffer between France and Germany, and as 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:33.880 a result of Brexit, you know, the whole issue was 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:39.080 in question. What's the French viewpoint on Brexit, the EU, etcetera. 0:11:39.160 --> 0:11:43.199 Or is it just calm and this is just hogwash? 0:11:43.480 --> 0:11:48.240 We'll all due respect to Bucks or who I love. Uh, 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.920 I would say the UK was more the thorn in 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:56.120 the side of the EU than the buffer between you know, 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.280 the EU began between Germany and France. I think it 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:02.880 was a treaty for Cole or something like that. That 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:07.520 was the first step in creating the EU. Energy between 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:12.440 France and England didn't join until much later. Uh, I think, 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.959 and it is it is. I don't know why England left. 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:21.040 All my English friends don't know why they left. They 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:24.200 don't know what's gonna happening with the Northern Ireland, you know, 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:28.600 is part of England the UK. Southern Ireland is still 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:31.200 in the EU and there's a border there. They don't 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.720 know how they're going to handle that. I don't know. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.280 I just think the English, you know, they wanted to 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:39.320 keep driving on the right, whatever side of the road 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:42.400 they drive on. They were never gonna give up their 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:47.920 pound for the euro uh, you know, and they were 0:12:47.920 --> 0:12:51.199 a little there an island. They're an island, Okay, needless 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:54.560 just say there's a war going on in Ukraine. To 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.719 what degree is that a major issue in France. Anybody's 0:12:57.720 --> 0:13:00.160 been to Europe knows that these countries are not that 0:13:00.360 --> 0:13:04.040 far away, So to what do we use it impacting? 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.600 And in part of conversation in France to put it 0:13:06.640 --> 0:13:11.520 in context, the distance between Paris and Kiev, Kiev is 0:13:11.559 --> 0:13:14.640 the same as the distance between New York and Dallas, Texas. 0:13:15.600 --> 0:13:19.040 So it's it's very close. Uh. We have a lot 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:22.880 of refugees coming in from the Ukraine into France, and 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.840 you know, I think I think it's a big Everyone's 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:31.120 very fearful. They don't know quite what to do, you know, 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.800 how to how to keep a lid on this without 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:40.920 it just turning into something, you know, monumental. Ah. I'm 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:42.840 not sure what's going to happen at this point, but 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:47.120 it is a major issue in France and in Germany especially, 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:51.080 they're very close. Is there any fear that this will 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:53.560 I mean the fear on an individual level that while 0:13:53.640 --> 0:13:56.560 this could spread and effect us directly, I think the 0:13:56.679 --> 0:14:02.520 fear is that if either by mistake are on purpose, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.080 any NATO country was attacked in any way, you know, 0:14:07.280 --> 0:14:11.439 a drone gone off course into Poland or something like that, 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:15.280 that I think by the agreement, the NATO agreement, if 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.880 one members attacked, the others have to defend it. I 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:22.680 think that's a big fear. Uh. And I think they 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:26.480 don't really well of course I don't know, but they 0:14:26.520 --> 0:14:29.920 don't really know what Putin's motives are, how far does 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.240 he want to go? You know? But I think what 0:14:32.320 --> 0:14:35.040 the reason the Ukraine has really hit home is because 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:39.600 they look like Europeans. When you watch those scenes, they 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.560 look like they're dressed like the rest of the Europeans. 0:14:42.560 --> 0:14:45.680 Those cities look like European cities. I mean, there were 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:49.080 a few countries within the old USSR, which I think 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:52.600 Chechna and a couple of others which but they didn't 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:54.880 really have They didn't identify with them as much as 0:14:54.920 --> 0:14:59.560 with the Ukraine. And you know who knows they certainly 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:03.080 you know, as I said in my last show, which 0:15:03.120 --> 0:15:05.160 I did in Paris a couple of months ago, I said, 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:07.520 you know, I really enjoyed the five minutes between the 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:13.960 pandemic and World War three. Okay, one more political question. 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.520 You know, we read about strikes in France. Unions have 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:20.800 been busted in the United States are making a little 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:25.320 bit of a comeback. Is this ultimately good for workers 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.800 or is this just something that is constantly putting a 0:15:29.120 --> 0:15:33.680 stop in regular society both. I would say the syndicates, 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:38.640 which is what they call the unions in France, are powerful. Uh. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:46.040 France never went through the violent labor movement that America did. Uh. 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:49.200 You know in those early days of when they were 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.440 really when they bring in the Pinkerton's I mean and 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:54.360 shoot down the strikers. France never really went through that. 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.840 It evolved, and I think it's evolved in a good 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:03.160 way where there's a power sharing between the two. Uh. 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.440 But if you're a touring musician like me and that 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.040 the strikes there's a trained strike, it's really a pain 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.760 in the ass, let me tell you. But they do 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.560 protect the workers. Sometimes. You feel in France that when 0:16:17.600 --> 0:16:20.520 you go into a store, you're more into that store 0:16:20.560 --> 0:16:24.000 to help the worker work than to buy something. You know, 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:28.560 it's a different mentality, but you know, the motto of 0:16:28.640 --> 0:16:33.200 France is egality, fraternity and I think they take that 0:16:33.280 --> 0:16:35.840 to heart in a certain way. And of course, if 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:41.440 you're in Europe France, supposedly everybody's on vacation in August, 0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:46.960 and they say they observe. It's unlike America, where they 0:16:47.000 --> 0:16:49.520 work seven days a week and everybody's available. What is 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:52.840 it really like you're there. It's changed. The American work 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:55.200 life has really changed. People don't take a month off 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:58.760 in August anymore. I mean they take more than in America, 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:01.560 and that's for sure. They don't take two hour lunches 0:17:01.560 --> 0:17:06.119 with two bottles of wine anymore either, you know. Uh 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:10.760 to this to the shame of the French, the second 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:16.400 biggest market from McDonald's outside of America is France. So 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.880 you can see, uh no, it's very it's very much. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:24.640 You know, there's Paris and there's France, and that's important 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:26.680 to remember. Those are two different things. You know. It's 0:17:26.760 --> 0:17:28.800 kind of like New York and a lot of the 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.640 rest of America. You know, Paris is a very international 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:36.720 city and it changes as the world changes. The rest 0:17:36.720 --> 0:17:39.040 of France is a little slower. Oh yeah, let's switch 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.240 to your music career. At this point, do you have 0:17:42.400 --> 0:17:44.919 an age and do you have a manager or do 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:47.040 you do it all yourself or what do you do 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:51.040 or not do personally? I do some of it myself, 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:55.240 but I do have an agent in usually each country 0:17:55.440 --> 0:17:59.760 who manages, who finds the shows and organizes them. In France, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.640 I went in Spain, Italy, Germany. Uh. So I don't 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:08.639 do it all myself in terms of touring. Uh. And 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.359 that's possible. You can really, you can't do that. You know, 0:18:13.400 --> 0:18:17.119 when I started out, how far you want to go back? 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:23.280 But go back to the beginning. It's a long winding road. 0:18:23.320 --> 0:18:25.760 You know. I did my first album in nineteen seventy 0:18:25.880 --> 0:18:29.399 three on on Polydor, which I've heard you talk about 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.560 what Polydor was like in the seventies, And of course 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.480 I owned that album and I bought it because you know, 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.000 the press was unbelievable. It was unbelievable, and it kind 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:40.600 of shot me out of the counton in a way 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:42.920 that I've been able to stay up, stay up in 0:18:42.960 --> 0:18:46.160 the air ever since. But that album, Acqua Show, which 0:18:46.200 --> 0:18:51.520 came out on Polydor, got tremendous critical acclaim and you know, 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.760 Rolling Stone proclaimed me and Bruce Springsteen the new Bob Dylan's. 0:18:57.240 --> 0:19:02.360 Our albums were reviewed together and Uh, and it was tremendous. 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:06.440 You know, I really went overnight from you know, kind 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.040 of living on food stamps to uh staying at the 0:19:10.080 --> 0:19:15.760 Beverly Hills Hotel. Ah, but it was an interesting time, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.439 as you know. You know, I feel very fortunate that 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:21.880 I came about in this golden age of music. I mean, 0:19:21.920 --> 0:19:26.200 we really did showcases in New York with my band, 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:29.720 knocked on doors of record companies. Half the time you 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:33.240 were ludden, you could give someone your demo. That's what 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:36.160 we did at Polydor. In fact, we walked into Polydor, 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.120 we had just come from w Warner Brothers, and we 0:19:40.119 --> 0:19:42.240 were we got a kind of positive reaction there, but 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:43.840 we were told they had to send it out to 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.320 the West Coast and see what they thought. But we 0:19:46.400 --> 0:19:49.240 knocked on the Lord Polydor and we asked their receptions 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.760 as that's what we wanted us with my brother Matthew Uh, 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.560 who's had an amazing career as a tour manager. He 0:19:55.600 --> 0:20:00.639 works for Steve Martin now and the Seven says how 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.040 can I help you? And I said, is there anyone 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:04.280 who can listen to our demo? And she calls someone 0:20:04.320 --> 0:20:06.560 and someone from A and R KM out brought us back, 0:20:06.680 --> 0:20:09.960 listened to our demo, said listen, can you guys do 0:20:10.000 --> 0:20:14.639 an audition at Bill's Musical Instrument Rental. If there's anyone 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.400 listening here from the old days, they will remember that name. 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:20.919 Two days later we did that audition in front of 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.360 Peter Siegel, who was the head of A and R there. 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:29.200 He said, you got a deal, We got a lawyer. Uh, 0:20:29.520 --> 0:20:32.920 we got a contract. And to show you how innocent 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:36.359 we were, Bob, when I got the check for the advance, 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.280 I had no bank account. I had to go to 0:20:40.359 --> 0:20:44.720 Polydor's bank and cash the check. And it wasn't that 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:47.600 much anyway, but well, do you remember how much it was? 0:20:47.800 --> 0:20:50.240 It was ten thou and you took that in cash. 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:51.960 That's a lot of cash. Would you do with it? 0:20:52.080 --> 0:20:55.280 Ten tho much? It's only about this thick actually, well 0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.199 we don't have video, but he showing about this about 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:00.280 an inch. Well. I gave some of it to the 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:03.520 guys in the band who helped me get to that point. 0:21:03.560 --> 0:21:05.560 But Polydori didn't want to sign the rest of the 0:21:05.600 --> 0:21:07.520 guys in the band. They just wanted me and my 0:21:07.600 --> 0:21:11.840 brother Matthew, because I thought we had the hair. They 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:14.399 thought we looked like the new Allman Brothers or something. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:17.200 And then they sent us out to l A to 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.119 record our album and I recorded started to do an 0:21:20.160 --> 0:21:25.359 album with producer named Thomas Jefferson Kay, who was no 0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.960 longer with us, but me and him did not see 0:21:28.000 --> 0:21:31.440 eye to eye. How did that even happen? Which part? 0:21:31.560 --> 0:21:34.240 How did you get hooked up with Thomas and Jefferson Kay. 0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:37.600 Thomas and Jefferson Ka had just had a hit with 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:40.639 loud and Wainwright called Dead Skunk in the Middle of 0:21:40.720 --> 0:21:44.600 the Road, and Louden was also in that new Bob 0:21:44.680 --> 0:21:48.560 Dylan category. So I think Peter Siegel, who was the 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:50.560 head of A and R, he thought it was It 0:21:50.640 --> 0:21:54.520 was an obvious move. And Thomas Tommy Kay heard us 0:21:54.560 --> 0:21:57.119 play in New York and he liked it, and he 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.119 brought us out to l A. And we did one 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:02.160 day in the studio, but he was heading much too 0:22:02.240 --> 0:22:05.040 much in a country direction for me and I wanted 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:07.800 to sound like Blonde Blonde Our Highway sixty one or 0:22:07.840 --> 0:22:12.879 something like that, our exile on Main Street. So something 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.320 happened that trip. It was after the first day in 0:22:16.320 --> 0:22:19.880 the studio we were sitting in was it the Rainbow 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:23.840 I think the Rainbow was that still exists absolutely, and 0:22:23.880 --> 0:22:27.920 it's not much different. And we're sitting there and I'm saying, 0:22:27.960 --> 0:22:29.840 what am I gonna do. I'm gonna call the record 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:32.280 company and tell them this is not working out. I'm 0:22:32.280 --> 0:22:35.040 a nobody, you know. I just got signed. And I 0:22:35.119 --> 0:22:37.200 put my arm up like this. It was like those 0:22:37.240 --> 0:22:40.600 banquet kind of seating. Maybe those are still there, absolutely, 0:22:40.720 --> 0:22:43.800 and I bumped into someone behind me. It was Bob 0:22:43.880 --> 0:22:48.359 Dillan Okay, I swear I bumped into his shoulder. I 0:22:48.480 --> 0:22:52.560 turned for out an excuse me. He was sitting at 0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:56.000 a star studded table with Joni Mitchell and Jack Nicholson, 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:59.840 and and that just I don't know, it was like 0:22:59.840 --> 0:23:02.320 an epiphany, you know. I said, wow, okay, I'm gonna 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:05.200 call them. We did. When Bob left, we did try 0:23:05.200 --> 0:23:07.679 and follow him in his car, but he lost us 0:23:08.640 --> 0:23:10.399 pretty pretty I think he might have been with Bobby 0:23:10.480 --> 0:23:13.000 Neworth that I can't stay for say for sure. And 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:15.800 I called up Polydor and I said, listen, this is 0:23:15.840 --> 0:23:18.320 not working. We came back to New York and Peter 0:23:18.400 --> 0:23:22.760 Siegel himself decided he would produce the album. Put together 0:23:22.800 --> 0:23:26.440 a great team of musicians. Gene Parsons from The Birds 0:23:26.800 --> 0:23:29.960 was the drummer. We had Frank Owens on the keyboards, 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:33.840 who played on Highway sixty one on that album. Uh. 0:23:33.880 --> 0:23:37.000 We recorded at the record Plant. And this was also 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:39.600 at the time the New York glam scene was happening, 0:23:39.600 --> 0:23:42.320 you know, so the New York Dolls were also recording 0:23:42.320 --> 0:23:44.720 at the record Plan. You know. They were down on 0:23:44.760 --> 0:23:47.000 the first floor and it was like a Mardi Gras. 0:23:47.000 --> 0:23:49.280 I mean it was just wild, you know, them all 0:23:49.320 --> 0:23:52.560 their girlfriends and boy, it was just packed with people. 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:54.400 We were up on the tenth floor in the other 0:23:54.480 --> 0:23:57.760