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Speaker 1: Melbourne. Welcome to them, Christian No Common Show podcast.

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Speaker 2: So on Monday we announced the great news Billy Joel

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Speaker 2: is returning to Australia for one night only right here

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Speaker 2: in Melbourne, the only show he's doing in Australia this

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Speaker 2: year at the MCG Saturday Night with Billy under the Lights.

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Speaker 2: It's going to be incredible. December tenth in an always

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Speaker 2: Live exclusive. Tickets go and sell in about a week

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Speaker 2: and a half time. July the fourth more information at

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Speaker 2: fronted Touring dot com and during the next twenty minutes

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Speaker 2: we have Billy Joel on the show. So when I

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Speaker 2: was chatting to Billy, we kicked off in America over

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Speaker 2: the weekend. It'd just been Father's Day, so I started

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Speaker 2: off by asking Billy how was Father's Day for him?

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Speaker 1: Billy Joel, Well, they woke me up and then we

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Speaker 1: went fishing. I live on the water, so we went

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Speaker 1: out in Oyster Bay and went fishing.

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Speaker 2: You've got three daughters, Billy, can you feel how it's

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Speaker 2: shaped you over the years.

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Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, It's one of my favorite things. And what

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Speaker 1: I'm doing is no, I'm getting to relive when my

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Speaker 1: oldest daughter was a baby all over again. It's so cute.

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Speaker 1: You tend to forget over time how adorable they are

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Speaker 1: when they're small, and that's what I'm having right now now.

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Speaker 2: It's amazing news you come into Australia. Australia is very,

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Speaker 2: very excited. Was this decision to come back to Australia

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Speaker 2: got anything to do with your kids being into Bluey.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it does. They're big Blue fans. We've been watching

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Speaker 1: Blue for a while now and I keep telling them, Look,

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Speaker 1: that's Australia, that's Australia. So I'm excited to bring them there.

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Speaker 2: And so it's rare for you these days to leave America.

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Speaker 2: This is a big deal. We're lucky to get you

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Speaker 2: on the plane.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't like being on the road that much.

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Speaker 1: I'm a homebody these days. I spend so much time

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Speaker 1: on the road in my younger years that I don't

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Speaker 1: like being away from home. I don't like being away

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Speaker 1: from the family. I don't like being away from where

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Speaker 1: I live, and I rarely go too many places anymore.

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty much a homebody.

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Speaker 2: Why do you still do any of it? You know?

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Speaker 2: Why do you still do some gigs? Biddy? What does

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Speaker 2: it mean into you still now.

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Speaker 1: Well, it's a great job. It's the best job in

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Speaker 1: the world. You get to play for people who really

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Speaker 1: enjoy being with you. You know, you see people's faces

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Speaker 1: light up, they sing along, they're having a great time.

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Speaker 1: They all go yay at the end of your work,

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Speaker 1: and then they give you basketfuls of money. It's a

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Speaker 1: wonderful job. I'm a very lucky guy.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. How many years ago I was lucky enough to

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Speaker 2: interview Mick Jagger and I said the same thing to him, Like,

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Speaker 2: because he goes to this grueling fitness regime, training for

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Speaker 2: hours and hours, and you see him live, he's NonStop.

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Speaker 2: I said, why do you still do it? And he said,

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Speaker 2: this is my job. What else would I do? I'd

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Speaker 2: get bored. This is what my joy is. I guess

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Speaker 2: it must be the same thing for you. When you're

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Speaker 2: up there and you're hearing people still enjoying your music,

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Speaker 2: you're getting a kick that you got to have this life.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I've talked to other artists about it too. I

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Speaker 1: talked to McCartney, I talked to Donn Henley. I've talked

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Speaker 1: to Bob Dylan about what are you guys going to

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Speaker 1: do now? Like, what are you going to do, and

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Speaker 1: they said, we're going to keep doing what we do.

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Speaker 1: You spend your whole life learning how to do it,

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Speaker 1: and you get pretty damn good at it, and it's

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Speaker 1: enjoyable to do. What else are you going to do?

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Speaker 1: Sit around and watch the Telly. I mean it's fun.

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Speaker 2: You know, over the last couple of years, you've had

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Speaker 2: all these big movies, you know, these kind of rock

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Speaker 2: star biopics. You know, you've had Elton John, You've had

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Speaker 2: the Feeddi Murcury story. You ever been tender? Because yours

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Speaker 2: is an amazing story, and so many of your songs

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Speaker 2: are stories in them. You're a storyteller at the Piano

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Speaker 2: you know. You must. People must have approached you the

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Speaker 2: last couple of years about doing the Billy Joel Piano

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Speaker 2: Man movie.

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Speaker 1: That's been asked about a couple of times, and people

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Speaker 1: have sent me scripts called the Piano Man. It's like, okay,

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Speaker 1: that story has been told. You know, I'm not super glamorous.

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Speaker 1: I'm not your typical rock and roll guy. I my

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Speaker 1: home buddy. I tend to be kind of boring, but

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Speaker 1: when we're on stage, we kick it. A bio pic

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Speaker 1: of me. I don't know I don't even know if

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Speaker 1: i'd go see it.

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Speaker 2: I love the honesty, Billy. I love also the fact

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Speaker 2: that you're a period in your life now where you

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Speaker 2: just know what you like. Now you don't need to

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Speaker 2: worry about pleasing everybody else.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that is good about being this age. I'm now

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Speaker 1: seventy three years old, and there's a lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: I don't even care about anymore that I used to

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Speaker 1: get all heated up about. And priorities change and things

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Speaker 1: get a lot clearer and a lot easier, especially when

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Speaker 1: you're this age.

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Speaker 2: To tell me this, do you ever get nervous? So

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Speaker 2: when you come over to the mcg and, I know

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Speaker 2: you're used to playing stadium so many over the years,

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Speaker 2: but do you ever still sometimes get nerves? What happens beforehand?

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Speaker 1: Well, if we've been off for a long time, like

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Speaker 1: during this COVID bit, there was a two year period

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Speaker 1: where we couldn't work at all, And when I was

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Speaker 1: going back to work, we were working on Madison Square Garden,

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Speaker 1: I got butterflies. Are we going to be any good?

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Speaker 1: Can I still sing? Blah blah blah? Yeah I was nervous.

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Speaker 1: I was, but only after a long break. If we've

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Speaker 1: been keeping going and playing on a regular basis. No,

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Speaker 1: I don't get nervous, that's my job.

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Speaker 2: And does it sometimes when you still have the nerves,

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Speaker 2: does it remind you how exciting it is to go

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Speaker 2: and play live, you know, in front of so many people,

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Speaker 2: you're our night out.

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Speaker 1: It's always exciting. I mean, look, I get asked all

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Speaker 1: the time, what do you do? What's your regimen that

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Speaker 1: you do to get psyched up for the show? And

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Speaker 1: I say, who needs to get sacked up for the show?

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Speaker 1: On stage? And there's twenty thousand people going wah. Then

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Speaker 1: you get sacked up. They make a lot of noise

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Speaker 1: and you know, girls are screaming, and it becomes a

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Speaker 1: community and it's really exciting. It's a lot of fun.

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Speaker 1: It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

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Speaker 2: You're right, And I think if there's one thing we

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Speaker 2: learn out of all the money things we learned during

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Speaker 2: COVID and lockdown, there's something special that happens in that

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Speaker 2: live shared experience that's still really magical, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: Belly Absolutely, it's a kind of sorcery. It's almost not

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Speaker 1: being a musician, it's being a magician. Because they're getting

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Speaker 1: hypnotized with what you're doing. And there's a line in

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Speaker 1: piano Man that I get to towards the enders shows,

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Speaker 1: and he knows that it's me. They've been coming to

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Speaker 1: see to forget about life for a while, and the

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Speaker 1: audience comes out with this sound like yeah, like you

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Speaker 1: took them away from the bad news for a while,

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Speaker 1: and that's a great feeling.

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Speaker 2: And who does that for you? Who do you enjoy

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Speaker 2: listening to? Who takes you away for a while? You know,

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Speaker 2: when you're out there on your fishing boat and you

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Speaker 2: stick on some music, who do you listen to?

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Speaker 1: You know what? I listened to classical music nowadays. I

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Speaker 1: don't know a lot of modern pop. I know Taylor Swift,

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Speaker 1: I know Olivia Rodrigo, I know a couple of hits

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Speaker 1: here and there, but I don't listen to it that often.

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Speaker 1: My daughters do. They're the ones who get me to

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Speaker 1: listen to the new pop. But I've usually listened to

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Speaker 1: classical music and I find it to be thrilling.

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Speaker 2: And is that what your mum originally wanted you to do?

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Speaker 2: Does she want to steer you to sort of in

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Speaker 2: a son who played classical music you know, rather than

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Speaker 2: sort of you know, noisy rock and roll. Is that

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Speaker 2: what mom wanted originally for you?

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Speaker 1: No, she just wanted me to be a musician. She

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Speaker 1: wanted me to enjoy music. She loved classical music, but

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Speaker 1: she also loved Broadway. She liked the blues, so she

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Speaker 1: was pretty open eyed about it. She loved the Beatles,

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Speaker 1: and so did I. And you know, I was really

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Speaker 1: lucky that my mom pushed me to do it. You

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Speaker 1: had to learn some classical music to learn how to

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Speaker 1: play the instrument, but that helped me a good deal

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Speaker 1: as far as writing goes. So I love it all.

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Speaker 1: I like all of it.

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Speaker 2: I heard you your version of McCartney's Maybe. I'm amazed

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Speaker 2: you do an amazing version of that? Is that one

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Speaker 2: of your favorite McCartney songs.

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Speaker 1: It's a fun song to sing. It's way up there.

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Speaker 1: He's still singing his original keys. He's eighty years old.

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Speaker 2: How's he doing?

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Speaker 1: Don't must be the vegetarian day?

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Speaker 2: It's all the tofu billy.

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Speaker 1: Maybe so, but it's working for him. I mean, he

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Speaker 1: can still hit those notes. I've had to drop a

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Speaker 1: few keys here and there. I want from being a

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Speaker 1: tenant of being a baritone, but I don't mind. It's natural.

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Speaker 2: And how will you know, Billy, when you don't get

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Speaker 2: that buzz anymore? How will you know when it's when

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Speaker 2: it's time? Do you ever think about that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think the audience is going to let me know.

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Speaker 1: When you finish your show and.

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Speaker 2: You get this, you're never going to get that.

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Speaker 1: Then it's time to get off the bleeding stage.

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Speaker 2: Maybe that's what you call the last shows you ever do?

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Speaker 2: They get off the bleeding stage tour, that's what you

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Speaker 2: call your very last shows you ever do?

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Speaker 1: Billy Well, I have a whole plan for my farewell tour.

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Speaker 1: It's it's going to be like this. You charge you

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Speaker 1: know what you usually charge for tickets, and the stage

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Speaker 1: setup looks like a living room and it's surrounded with

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Speaker 1: bulletproof glass. I come out, ladies and gentlemen, Billy jeg.

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Speaker 1: I have my little TV remote clicker with me, and

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Speaker 1: I sit down and I have a sandwich and I

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Speaker 1: watch TV for a while, and the audience starts to

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Speaker 1: go boo boo boo, and they boo me, and then

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Speaker 1: they throw stuff at the glass, but it's bulletproof so

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Speaker 1: they can't get to me. And then about fifteen minutes

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Speaker 1: into that, I pick up a microphone and say, hey,

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Speaker 1: I just said I was going to be here. I

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Speaker 1: didn't say I was going to do anything. And then

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Speaker 1: you'll know that there's a bond between me and that audience.

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Speaker 1: They will never pay another nickel to see me again.

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Speaker 1: That's a fair belt.

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Speaker 2: I get the feeling. This is what you're planning when

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Speaker 2: you come to Australia in December. Is that the show?

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Speaker 1: Now we'll do a show.

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Speaker 2: Phew, that's good news. People are very very excited about

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Speaker 2: you coming over. Billy. Well, listen, thank you very much

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Speaker 2: for speaking to us. It's been a joy, and thank

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Speaker 2: you for your amazing music over the years. Strangers was

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Speaker 2: one of those you know, there are those certain albums

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Speaker 2: and songs that remind you of your mum and dad.

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Speaker 2: For me, it's that album my mum used to play

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Speaker 2: over and over again, both sides on vinyl when I

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Speaker 2: was a young kid. So you've been a big part

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Speaker 2: of my life as a kid and growing up. Billy

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Speaker 2: and I'll be there in December at the MCG when

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Speaker 2: you when he come to Melbourne. So I'm looking forward

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Speaker 2: to seeing the show.

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Speaker 1: Great, we're looking forward to seeing you.

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Speaker 2: Thank you very much, Billy, you're welcome. Paul A Brighter.

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Speaker 1: Now you're listening to the Christian O Carl Show podcast